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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Wednesday, September 3, 2003
Pecos' cross country squad to be young
The 2003 season gets underway on Saturday for the Pecos Eagles' cross
country team at the San Angelo Invitational, with coach Rudy Jurado's team
going with mostly younger runners in both the boys and girls divisions.
After four years of going up against some of the best cross country runners
in the state as a member of District 2-4A, Pecos' boys took advantage of
the move to District 4-3A to claim their first district title. Most of those
runners are gone, but Jurado does have more girls on his team right now,
after qualifying one runner for regionals a year ago.
"We've got seven boys and five girls," he said. "I lost five seniors.
The only ones I have right now that ran before are Jeremiah Mora and Joshua
Cobos."
"As far as the girls go, they're all new. I've got Olivia Marruffo, Cirenne
Fuentes, Michelle Wein, Jasmine Rodriguez and Jennifer Martinez," Jurado
said. Wein ran for part of last season as a freshman, while the only regional
qualifier for the girls from last year, Leslie Rodriguez, is not running
in 2003, he said.
Saturday's meet will start at 10 a.m. near the Carlsbad State School,
northwest of San Angelo. The Eagles' next meet after that will be on Sept.
20 in Big Spring.
Eagles seek to surpass '02 win total against Bucks
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
What happened in last year's game between the Pecos Eagles and the Alpine
Bucks turned out to have no connection whatsoever with the way the remainder
of the 2002 season would go for either team.
The Eagles routed the Bucks, 35-10, but it was Alpine that ended up advancing
to the playoffs, winning their second straight district title after an 0-3
start, while the Eagles wouldn't win another game on the field for the remainder
of the season.
Alpine closed 2002 with seven straight victories to reach the playoffs,
and won their eighth straight regular season game this past Friday, routing
Sonora by a 35-14 final score in their 2003 season opener. Pecos, meanwhile,
ended an eight game regular season losing streak on Friday, beating Midland
Christian, 15-8, in the debut game for new head coach Patrick Willis.
This Friday night, the Bucks will try and extend their regular season
win streak, while the Eagles will try to surpass their on-field victory total
for all of 2002, when they host Alpine in a 7:30 p.m. start.
Oscar Parada ran for over 100 yards and two touchdowns in the first quarter
last season, while the Eagles survived some late-first half punting and
pass defense problems to beat Alpine for the first time in three years.
But they faced a Bucks team that had graduated most of their players from
a year earlier, when they won the District 4-3A title before dropping down
to Class 2A a year ago.
Alpine recovered from their early season losses in time to grab the District
1-2A crown, and coach Brent Evans said most of the key players from the
2002 team are back this season, and the Bucks rolled up over 400 yards total
offense in their opening game win.
"Familiarity with the offense has helped tremendously, and the continuity
with the system has helped a lot, too," Evans said, adding that the Bucks
also had a couple of players miss last year's game, both due to injuries
and disciplinary reasons.
One was quarterback Mario Estrada. "He didn't play last year because
he was hurt, but he's got a lot more experience this year," Evans said.
"They run an option offense and the (wish)bone and have got a good, quick
quarterback," Willis said. "He's a pretty good runner, and was co-MVP of
their district last year."
After earning MVP honors on offense a year ago, Estrada ran for 135 yards,
including a 79-yard touchdown, in the Bucks' win over Sonora last week,
while passing for another 120 yards and a TD to Ryan McWilliams, who had
Alpine's lone score on offense in last season's loss to Pecos.
McWilliams is back as the Bucks' main receiver, as is running back Zack
Dodson, who gained 101 yards and scored twice in the win over Sonora, which
Evans said was the Bucks' first victory over the Broncos in 11 years.
The Eagles allowed just 117 yards rushing and 154 yards overall in their
victory against Midland Christian, though the Mustangs were able to open
up some holes in Pecos' line, mostly during the first half. Willis said
he hoped his players will have eliminated some of their mental mistakes
on defense, going into Friday's game.
"You've got to play good disciplined football when you play an option
team, because they give you so many looks," he said. "My main thing is if
we get lined up in the right places, we'll be all right."
Defensively for Alpine, Evans said he returns eight players, led by linebacker
Bruce Collier. "He was second team all-state last year and had a pretty
good game last week with 11 tackles and a fumble recovery," the Bucks'
coach said.
"They're an aggressive defensive team," Willis said. "He (Collier) worries
me. He makes plays all over the field and is real aggressive. He likes to
do a lot of stunting."
Evans added that Dodson and Steven Rodriguez also played well on defense
for Alpine. They're among nine players listed as two-way starters for the
Bucks, though Evans said, "We try to rotate them in and out a lot, so some
of them may start both ways, but they're not playing all the time. Probably
the ones we play that don't get a whole lot of rest is about four."
The Eagles gained over 300 yards last week, with quarterback Saul Pina
throwing for 148 yards while Booker Fobbs ran for 87 yards and a touchdown.
However, he also had a TD called back by a penalty, one of 14 on the night
for Pecos. The Eagles also had three turnovers and a blocked punt, but those
were offset by Midland Christian's five turnovers, including one on a 4th-and-3
from the Pecos 5-yard-line with a minute to play, after the blocked punt
had set the Mustangs up at the Eagles' 12-yard-line.
"I'm glad to get one behind us," Willis said. "I think the more experience
we have the better our offense is going to be, and we've worked on a lot
of little things this week."
The Eagles did suffer one loss, when sophomore lineman Julio Orosco broke
his ankle during workouts on Labor Day. However, Willis said some of the
other Pecos linemen who didn't begin practicing until late August should
be able to contribute more on Friday against Alpine.
Starting Lineups
Alpine Pecos
Offense Defense
QB (16) - Mario Estrada 165 DE (56) - Chad Evans
210
RB (20) - Zac Dodson 175 DT (54) - Jacob Marquez
180
WR (33) - Steven Rodriguez 150 DT (66) - Victor Reyes
165
TE (41) - Lamar Keller 181 DE (47) - Booker Fobbs
210
RT (69) - Patrick Carrillo 180 LB ( 5) - Alex Orosco
165
RG (50) - Angel Carillo 188 LB (33) - Joe Marruffo
170
C (58) - Jason Loeffler 210 LB (20) - Bino Barreno
160
LG (73) - Todd Peters 260 CB (30) - Jose Garcia
150
LT (52) - Bruce Collier 180 R ( 9) - John Parent
175
WB (31) - Jonathan Wood 145 S ( 2) - Oscar Parada
180
SE (88) - Ryan McWilliams 151 CB ( 6) - Simon Castillo
155
Defense Offense
DE (58) - Jason Loeffler 210 QB (10) - Saul Pina
165
DT (73) - Todd Peters 260 RB (22) - Rashad Terry
160
DT (50) - Angel Carrillo 188 SE ( 9) - John Parent
175
DE (33) - Steven Rodriguez 150 WB ( 2) - Oscar Parada
180
LB (24) - Lorenzo Lujan 190 LT (56) - Chad Evans
210
LB (41) - Lamar Keller 181 LG (62) - Travis Burkholder
225
LB (52) - Bruce Collier 180 C (71) - Daniel Medina
160
CB (31) - Jonathan Wood 145 RG (55) - Adrian Barreno
195
SS (20) - Zac Dodson 175 RT (66) - Victor Reyes
165
FS (88) - Ryan McWilliams 151 TE ( 5) - Alex Orosco
165
CB (38) - Daniel Stokes 180 SE ( 6) - Simon Castillo
155
K (82) - Gerry Lujan 170 P (32) - Eddie Vela
155
P (88) - Ryan McWilliams 151 K (55) - Adrian Barreno
195
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 2003 by Pecos Enterprise
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