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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Monday, October 14, 2002
Break fails to save Eagles, as Jackets post 31-13 win
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
Sometimes a lucky break can turn around a football game. Sometimes it's
just a break in a game-long trend.
The Pecos Eagles got a lucky break late in the second quarter of Friday
night's game at Walton Field against the Kermit Yellowjackets _ a deflected
3rd down pass to running back Bino Barreno that was caught by
tight end Joey Ortega and turned into a 60-yard touchdown reception.
It came after Kermit had just taken a 15-0 lead, and was followed by a
defensive stop by Pecos and a 21-yard touchdown pass from Freddy Torres
to Oscar Parada, set up by a 27-yard screen pass from Torres to Matthew
Levario on a 3rd-and-25 play.
But when the Eagles tried for the tying two-point conversion, Levario
was stuffed at the line of scrimmage, and in the second half, the Jackets
shook off the Eagles' two quick scores to shut down Pecos' running and passing
games, while adding two touchdowns and a field goal of their own to win
31-13 over the Eagles, in the District 4-3A opener for both teams.
"We didn't control the play at the line, and we didn't come off the ball,"
said Eagles' coach Fred Carter. "We didn't play smart ball."
The Eagles had several problems on defense, including stopping Kermit
from running outside and a blown coverage on a 3rd-and-16 play
in the third period, where Landon Forga hit Rick Cabezula on a 42-yard touchdown
pass that helped the Jackets widen their lead to eight points, at 21-13.
But the biggest problem for Pecos remains the Eagles' inability to run the
ball.
Since running for 78 yards, 75 of that on a touchdown drive, in the first
period against Crane on Sept. 20, the Eagles have gained 15 yards rushing
in their last 11 quarters of play, or 1.4 yards per quarter. Some of that
has been due to sacks on Torres _ the Eagles' quarterback ended up with
minus-36 yards rushing on Friday _ but other than a few good gains by Levario
on Pecos' first series and a 17-yard run by Barreno in the third period,
Pecos' running backs also had little success running the ball Friday night.
Levario's gains on the opening drive come on inside handoffs out of the
shotgun formation, but after Torres missed John Parent on a 3rd-and-3
pass and Pecos was forced to punt, Kermit drove 74 yards on 12-plays for
their first score, a 3-yard reversed by Randy Butterfield. He had been stopped
for a 7-yard loss by Pecos on the first play of the series, but Hunter Hardaway
got outside for 11 yards on the next play, and then Forga went around the
left side for a 20-yard gain.
Kermit's second scoring drive covered 58 yards midway through the second
quarter, with the key runs being a 7-yard gain by Hardaway on a 3rd-and-4
near midfield, and a 20-yard run by fullback Erbey Saucedo. Forga scored
on a two-yard quarterback sneak, and Kermit then fooled Pecos on a fake
extra point kick, with Butterfield going around left end for the two-point
conversion.
Ortega's touchdown off the deflection was set up by a 15-yard pass that
was meant for him from Torres on a 3rd-and-12 play. The deflection
came on a 3rd-and-10 situation with 3:47 remaining in the period.
The second TD was set up by a 15-yard return by Barreno of a Lupe Munoz
punt, but Pecos had to survive a sack of Torres by J.R. Hernandez and an
illegal procedure call before Levario took Torres' pass off a center screen
plan, and ran 27 yards down to the Kermit 21.
Pecos' line had their best effort of the night on the next play, giving
Torres plenty of time to look off receivers before throwing back across
the field to Parada to cut the lead to 15-13 with 24 seconds left in the
half.
But while the Eagles hit some key long yardage plays on their two touchdown
series, the Jackets did the same when the second half began. Kermit got
out of a 1st-and-25 hole when Forga hit D.D. Egger and Hardaway
for 11- and 14-yard gains on the next two plays, and a late hit penalty
by Chad Evans on Forga gave the Jackets another first down before Cabezula
was left uncovered in the slot, and went in for an east 42-yard score.
"I thought the inside receiver was on the line and that's what our kids
thought. So that would have made the kid ineligible. But the official said
he was not on the line," Carter said.
Kermit would add to their lead in the fourth quarter on a 29-yard field
goal by Eron Saenz, set up by Cabezula's interception of a Torres pass for
Parent. That made it an 11-point game with 6:26 to play, and the Jackets
tacked on their final touchdown with 1:22 left, on a three-yard run by Michael
Akins to cap a 45-yard drive.
Pecos ended up with minus-5 yards rushing on the night and 163 yards
through the air, but 123 came in the first half and the final 40 yards were
on three passes by Torres after Kermit's final score. The loss dropped Pecos
to 1-5 on the season, while Kermit goes to 2-4 going into their game this
week at home against Greenwood, 28-0 winners over Monahans on Friday.
Pecos will get a win by forfeit this Friday over Presidio, which opted
not to play a varsity schedule this season and forfeited this past Friday's
game to Fort Stockton. The Eagles will have two weeks to make any changes
before going to Monahans to face the Loboes on Oct. 25.
"We've got two weeks. Hopefully, we'll get something going," Carter said.
At Kermit
Pecos 0 13 0 0 — 13
Kermit 7 8 6 10 — 31
First Quarter
Ker. _ Butterfield 3 run (Saenz kick), 7:57.
Second Quarter
Ker _ Forga 2 run (Butterfield run), 0:04.
Pec. _ Ortega 60 pass from Torres (Levario kick), 8:13.
Pec. _ Parada 21 pass from Torres (run failed), 11:36.
Third Quarter
Ker. _ Cabezula 42 pass from Forga (kick failed), 5:18.
Fourth Quarter
Ker. _ FG Saenz 29, 5:31.
Ker. _ Akins 3 run (Saenz kick), 10:38.
Pec Ker
First Downs 8 17
Rushes-Yds. 21-(-5) 42-175
Passing Yds 163 87
Passes 6-18-1 5-13-0
Punts-Avg. 5-30 3-38.7
Fumbles-lost 1-0 0-0
Penalties-Yds. 8-63 7-50
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing _ Pecos, Levario 8-16, Barreno 3-16, Jimenez 1-(-1), Torres 10-(-36).
Kermit, Sauceda 13-81, Hernandez 7-31, Hardaway 5-24, Butterfield 5-19,
Forga 7-10, Cabezula 1-6, Bennett 1-3, Akins 3-1.
PASSING _ Pecos, Torres 6-18-1-163. Kermit, Forga 4-11-0-73, Hardawayl
1-1-0-14, Cabezula 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING _ Pecos, Ortega 2-75, Levario 2-49, Parada 1-21, Parent 1-12;
Mendoza 1-6. Kermit, Cabezula 1-42, Egger 1-14, Butterfield 1-12, Hardaway
1-11, Kittley 1-5.
MISSED FIELD GOALS _ None.
Pecos back in tie for second after quick win over Kermit
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
The Pecos Eagles volleyball team did what they were supposed to do, the
Monahans Loboettes did what they were supposed to do and as a result of
both, the Eagles are back in a tie for second place in the District 4-3A
standings.
Pecos made quick work of the Kermit Yellowjackets on Saturday afternoon
at the Pecos High School gym, defeating Kermit by 15-1, 15-3 scores. Meanwhile,
Monahans was taking care of their home match against Midland Greenwood,
15-7, 15-0, which re-tied the Eagles and Rangerettes for second place after
Greenwood's win over Pecos last Tuesday.
"We really didn't have to do too much. We just had to serve it over to
them, because they were having problems," said Eagles' coach Becky Granado.
"The good thing was we were getting our serves over, and when we've got
our serving game on we can do what we want.
"We got a lot of free balls off that, and we did what we needed to do
when we got them," she said. Pecos got a couple of early points in Game
1 off kills by Stephanie Herrera and Leslie Rodriguez and went ahead 6-0
before Kermit scored on a Pecos error. But the Eagles then broke serve and
would score the game's final nine points, only two of which were not off
Jackets' errors _ an ace serve by Rodriguez and a spike by Jessica Martinez
that was blocked out of bounds by Amber Broadway.
Kermit did stay with Pecos early in the second game, getting three quick
points before their own problems handling the ball allowed Pecos to score
the final 11 points of the match. Martinez, Herrera and Mindi Harrison had
hits for points in the game, which ended with Kermit giving Pecos two points
by touching balls that had been hit by the Eagles but were headed out of
bounds.
Aside from the easy points, Granado was happy with the revised lineup
she put in after last Tuesday's loss to Greenwood, with Harrison moving
to an outside hitter/blocker spot and Danielle Garcia moving into the middle.
"She's going to stay there the rest of the season. She's quicker than
Mindi and a little more aggressive," Granado said. "Mindi also did a good
job hitting from the outside today."
The win puts Pecos at 4-2 in district play and 10-13 on the season going
into Tuesday's trip down to Presidio to face the Blue Devils, whom the Eagles
have beaten twice at home so far this season. Kermit falls to 0-6 in district
play.
The Eagles also won Saturday's freshman match, 15-12, 15-10 over Kermit,
while the Jackets won in three games over the Eagles' junior varsity, 15-9,
12-15, 15-7.
Sanderson storms past Balmorhea
"No pass no play" added up for a tough night for the Balmorhea Bears
Friday night as they made the trip to the Pit in Sanderson to square off
against the Eagles.
Sanderson was favored even before the Bears lost several starters to
grades. With so many holes in the starting line up it took a quarter of
play for the Bears to find themselves and by then it was too late, as the
host Eagles jumped out to a big first period lead on the way to a 59-12 win
over Balmorhea.
At the end of the first quarter the Bears had spotted the Eagles 38 unanswered
points.
Thirteen seconds into the second quarter, however, the Bears offense
began to show some life when they connected on a 35 yard pass from midfield
and found the end zone for the first time.
Points after touchdown kicking is still a bugbear for the Bears and the
kick missed but the points and the short rest seemed to rejuvenate a Bear
defense that came out strong, holding a strong Eagle attack to 5 yards on
the first two plays to force a passing situation.
Bear defenders blitzed on third down and ten yards to go and caught the
Eagle quarterback on his own 20-yard line to force a punt.
The Bears returned the punt to their own 25 and connected on two short
passes to set up a third down and three situation before the Eagles sacked
the Bear quarterback for a loss. Facing fourth down and twelve the Bears
punted.
Jourmaine Matta saved another Eagle touchdown when he tackled the return
man on the Bear 35 yard line.
Three downs later the Eagles had the ball first and goal from the 15-yard
line when the Eagle quarterback floated a perfectly timed passed into the
hands of his receiver in the corner of the end zone. The Eagles added two
more points with the kick and the Bears were one touchdown away from being
eliminated by the 45-point rule, 46-6.
The Bears returned the kickoff to their own 34 and the Bear offense came
out passing _ and it worked.
The Bears put together two consecutive series and after a face mask penalty
against the Eagles faced first down and five at the Sanderson 20 yard line.
After completing a pass for no gain and losing five yards on a running
play the Bears passed again but the play was broken up by the Sanderson
defender.
Looking at fourth down and ten Coach Ennis Erickson went for it. An Eagle
defender found the ball first and tipped it and Bear receiver Matta caught
the ball in the end zone as he fell backwards onto the turf.
The points after kick missed again but the score was 46-12. With less
than two minutes left in the half it looked like Balmorhea might survive
the half and have a chance at coming back in the second half.
Five plays later Sanderson ran a well executed trap up the middle that
caught the Bear defense flat-footed. Sanderson's holder bobbled the snap
on the points after kick attempt but managed to recover and toss a pass
into the end zone for the one point conversion.
With 43 seconds left the score was 53-12.
Sanderson kicked an on sides kick and the Bears took over at the Bear
35 yard line but could not move the ball. With time running out in the half
Erickson decided to pass again on fourth down but the Bears came up empty
and the Eagles took over on downs at the Bear 37 yard line with only 11
seconds left to play.
The Bears broke up a pass on first down that stopped the clock with seven
seconds left.
On the last play of the half the Eagle ran the same trap up the middle
and the Eagle running back managed to turn the corner. Thirty seven yards
later, and a second or so after the gun sounded the end of the first half,
he found the end zone to make the score 59-12 and finish the game under
the 45-point rule.
Sanderson, which has won the last two district six-man titles, remained
unbeaten on the season at 6-0 and 3-0 in district play. Balmorhea falls to
2-1 in district, 4-2 overall and host Dell City this Friday night.
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
Division of Buckner News Alliance, Inc.
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 915-445-5475, FAX 915-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net
Associated Press text, photo, graphic, audio and/or video material shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium.
Copyright 2002 by Pecos Enterprise
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