Tourism|__|News|__|Opinion|__|Scores|__|Lifestyles|
Golden Years|__|Living off the Land|__|Subscribe Enterprise|
Advertising|__|Alpine Avalanche|__|Monahans News|__|E-Forum|__|Lotto
Links|__|Photos|__|Archives|__|Classified|__|ENTERPRISE HOME PAGE
Van Horn Advocate
(This story was originally posted on Sept. 13)
ALPINE, Sept. 13 -- They endured and survived, which may not sound like
much. But Friday's 20-16 victory by the Pecos Eagles over the Alpine
Bucks was the kind of game Eagles teams in recent years wouldn't have
won.
The are fewer flags flying at the Olympics than what the Eagles had
tossed at them Friday night, nullifying one touchdown and stopping two
other drives inside the Bucks' 10-yard line. Pecos dominated the first
21 minutes of the game, rolling up 221 yards in offense, but it only
amounted to a 7-0 halftime lead.
They would make it 13-0 early in the third period, but the Bucks and the
penalties continued to take the Eagles' momentum away. Alpine finally
got on the board in the opening minutes of the final period, cutting the
lead to 13-8, and after Richard Gutierrez was forced to run with a high
punt snap and was tackled on the Eagles' 37, it looked like the Bucks
would take command.
But Pecos' defense stopped quarterback Jason Garcia for just three yards
on three runs, and then after a fumbled snap on fourth down gave the
ball back to the Eagles, they used a couple of big runs by Gutierrez to
get into Alpine before Jason Abila and Manuel Contreras hooked up on
their second touchdown of the night, a 33-yard strike on 4th-and-4 which
clinched the victory.
"We did show a lot of character. That was a big, big stand by our
defense," Eagles' coach Mike Belew. "They bowed up, because the momentum
was fixing to shift there and go over to Alpine, but our kids bowed up
and got it back."
"We let them hang around, and when you let a good football team hang
around that long, they're going to comeback," said Belew, who was also
upset about the 13 penalties for 125 yards (140 had one on the game's
final play been marked off) the officials flagged Pecos for.
At least six of the 10- and 15-yard flags were thrown far past the line
of scrimmage against Pecos receivers, and several were called on action
10- to 15-yards away from the play. "We got a lot of penalties, and some
were our fault. But on the others, I'm just going to have to look at the
film, because I didn't see it," Belew said
Equally as unusual -- for Pecos, anyway -- was the fact that despite
rolling up their big numbers on the ground, all of the Eagles'
touchdowns Friday came through the air. Backup quarterback Oscar Luna,
operating out of the halfback slot, found Moses Martinez on a 10-yard
scoring strike in the first period to give Pecos the lead, while Abila
found Contreras over the middle for a 20-yard scoring pass on a
3rd-and-11 play, anticipating the similar TD pass they would link up on
in the final period.
"Jason Abila's got a good arm and cam throw the ball well, and Jay's
getting better with every snap," Belew said. "He's getting used to the
offense, and getting comfortable with it, so he's able to take it to
another level."
Jason's brother, Mark did get into the end zone in the first period, but
that was nullified by a clipping call, and the Eagles wound up failing
on a Gutierrez' field goal try, when Luna was forced to run with a high
snap.
The Eagles' senior fared much better with his running game than with his
kicking game Friday. Gutierrez ran for 110 yards in the first half, two
more than in Pecos' opening game win over Lamesa, and finished with 168
yards on 25 carries.
"I'd like to thank the offensive line, because without them I wouldn't
be rushing like that," Gutierrez said.
Alpine's Garcia ended up with 85 yards on 24 carries with most of his
success coming in the middle periods. A fake punt first down run by
Garcia near midfield jump-started Alpine's offense late in the first
half, and they were able to drive inside the 20 before seeing Richard
Vernaglia's 33-yard field goal try come up short.
Garcia would have some big runs in the third period, but not until after
his bad option pitch to Jason Morales was recovered by Luna at the
Alpine 19 on the third play of the half. The Eagles were immediately hit
with a holding call, but this time, got a flag to go their way as well,
when Samuel Stratton was whistled for interference on Martinez on a
4th-and-13 at the 19. Two plays later Abila found a wide-open Contreras
for the score.
Pecos then had another chance to put the Bucks away when Gutierrez
recovered his own short kickoff at the Alpine 27. Abila hit Martinez for
a first down at the Bucks' 6, but then it was flag time again, and the
Eagles wound up turning the ball over on downs at the 15.
This time, the Bucks would go 85 yards for the score, the key play a 36
yard pass from Garcia to Cougar McBride on a 3rd-and-12 at the Bucks'
38. Garcia would sneak the ball in from a yard out, and Morales the ran
in for two, cutting the margin to five points.
But when the Bucks got the ball back after the failed punt, Garcia ran
out of running room. Alonzo Valencia cut him off on a sweep left for no
gain, and then Luna stopped him at the line on a second down scramble.
Garcia would gain three yards on third down, but when he mishandled the
snap on fourth down, the Eagles had dodged the bullet.
Alpine wound up gaining 246 yards on the night, but 73 of that game in
the final 43 seconds of play, as Garcia hooked up three times with Adam
Llanez, then found McBride on an 11-yard scoring strike as time expired,
with Morales getting the two-point conversion run.
"They made a couple of big plays on us, but it shows a lot about our
character that we were able to overcome all our problems and win," said
Belew, whose team will go to Monahans this Friday at 7:30 p.m.
The Loboes won Thursday night at Lubbock High, 27-10, while all of the
Eagles' District 4-4A rivals also came out on top. Big Spring pulled off
a miracle finish to edge Ballinger, 11-9, San Angelo Lake View beat
Lamesa, 30-12, Fort Stockton shut out El Paso Ysleta, 42-0, Sweetwater
downed Snyder, 27-7, and Andrews routed Brownfield, 43-9.
at Alpine
Pecos 7 0 6 7 - 20
Alpine 0 0 0 16 - 16
First Quarter
Pec. -- Martinez 10 pass from Luna (R. Gutierrez kick), 10:15.
Third Quarter
Pec. -- M. Contreras 20 pass from J. Abila (kick failed), 4:37.
Fourth Quarter
Alp. -- Garcia 1 run (Morales run), 1:09.
Pec. -- M. Contreras 33 pass from J. Abila (R. Gutierrez kick), 8:22.
Pec. -- McBride 11 pass from Garcia (Morales run), 12:00.
Pec Alp
First Downs 16 13
Rushes-Yds. 47-277 32-125
Passing Yds 99 121
Passes 7-10-0 10-18-0
Punts-Avg 0-0 2-38
Fumbles-lost 2-0 5-2
Penalties-Yds. 13-125 4-31
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING -- Pecos, R. Gutierrez 25-168, M. Abila 11-62, J. Abila 11-21,
Florez 4-14, J. Aguilar 5-9, Luna 1-1. Alpine, Garcia 24-85, Morales
4-23, Gonzales 4-17.
PASSING -- Pecos, J. Abila 6-9-0-89, Luna 1-10-10. Alpine Garcia,
10-17-0-121, Morales 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING -- Pecos, M. Contreras 2-53, Martinez 5-46, Florez 1-(-1).
Alpine, Llanez 3-51, McBride 2-47, Yarborough 2-11, Morales 1-3,
Gonzales 2-0. MISSED FIELD GOALS -- Alpine, Vernaglia 33.
Down 35-15 at the half, the Bears scored 24 unanswered points in the
third period to grab a 39-35 lead. But that left the Wildcats with
plenty of time for a comeback of their own, and they scored just over a
minute into the fourth quarter, then shut out the Bears the rest of the
way to earn a 41-39 victory.
"We kind of played one quarter and that was all, and one quarter just
won't do it," said Bears' coach Ennis Erickson, who said the team made a
series of mistakes in the first half, while fumbled hurt Balmorhea in
the final period.
Vincent Soliz and Davey Daniel were the main problems for the Bears'
defense. Daniel had three touchdowns, including the game-winner from
three yards out, while catching one of Soliz' three touchdown passes on
the night. That TD was from four yards out, and Soliz also hit Thad Rich
with 60- and 16-yard scoring strikes and ran over from six yards out
with under a minute left in the opening period.
"They did pretty much what we expected them to do, but we just continued
to make mistakes," Erickson said.
The mistakes helped give Westbrook a 20-point lead, but Balmorhea wiped
that out by scoring 24 points in just over two minutes. Debiasie Mendoza
hit Patrick Craven and Jermiah Lozano with 15- and 67-yard touchdown
passes, around 1-yard run by Arturo Miranda, with Zane Rhyne adding all
three two-point conversions, while setting up the final TD by
intercepting a Soliz pass.
Rhyne was injured on the play, which kept him from playing quarterback
on offense, though Erickson said the injury wasn't serious. "He's just
hobbling around a little right now."
He said the injury hurt the Bears' offense "A little but," but added,
"As much as anything it was a continuation of our mistakes."
In the first half, Miranda ran in from 17 yards out to give Balmorhea a
brief 7-6 lead, while Mendoza had a 1- yard TD run in the second period.
The Bears are now 1-1 on the season, and will play their next three
games at home, starting on Friday, when El Paso Faith Christian comes to
town.
at Grady
Balmorhea 7 8 24 0 - 39
Westbrook 21 14 0 6 - 41
First Quarter
Wes. -- Daniel 4 pass from Soliz (kick failed), 2:30.
Bal. -- Miranda 17 run (J. Lozano pass from Woodruff), 6:38.
Wes. -- Rich 60 pass from Soliz (Rich pass from Daniel), 6:52.
Wes. -- Soliz 6 run (Daniel kick), 9:12.
Second Quarter
Wes. -- Rich 16 pass from Soliz (Daniel kick), 2:51.
Bal. -- Mendoza 1 run (Rhyne kick), 4:01.
Wes. -- Daniel 2 run (kick failed), 6:59.
Third Quarter
Bal. -- Craven 15 pass from Mendoza (Rhyne kick), 4:28.
Bal. -- Miranda 1 run (Rhyne kick), 6:17.
Bal. -- J. Lozano 67 pass from Mendoza (Rhyne kick), 7:53.
Fourth Quarter
Wes. -- Daniel 3 run (kick failed), 1:05.
Bal Wes
First Downs 14 14
Rushes-Yds. 39-147 23-47
Passing Yds 118 200
Passes 6-16-0 12-27-1
Punts-Avg 1-35 2-47
Fumbles-lost 2-2 0-0Penalties-Yds. 7-73 8-70
Playing in Greenwood, the Eagles lost to the Rangerettes, 15-5, 15-8,
then defeated San Angelo Central, 15-12, 15-3. And coach Becky Granado
said the scores indicated the way her team played.
"Against Greenwood we played awful. We were half asleep on the court
and just dragging around. We couldn't react to the ball."
The Rangers controlled things from the outset of the opener, then broke
open the second game with a 10-2 run after the teams were tied at 4-all.
"I think some of them stayed out late Friday, and I scolded them about
getting a good night's rest. I hope that's not indicative of how all the
Saturday games are going to be."
The quick defeat did wake the Eagles up, and they took control late in
the first game, wiping out an 11-9 Central lead, then running away with
the second game against the Bobcats.
"I told them I wanted them to play against Central the way they planned
to play against Andrews (in Tuesday's District 4-4A opener), and they
came out and played ball, so I want to say they'll be ready for Andrews."
Lori Marquez had seven kills against Greenwood and four against
Central, while Gail Taylor had three kills in both matches and Ivy Thorp
and Shirhonda Bell added a pair in the win over Central, which gave
Pecos an 11-7 record.
District 4-4A play opens for Pecos on Tuesday at home against the
Mustangs, who won their own tournament title this past weekend, downing
Fort Hancock, Snyder and Grandfalls on Saturday to claim first place.
Granado said Pecos' freshman team won a pair of matches over
Greenwood's freshman and junior varsity teams on Saturday. There were no sub-varsity matches against San Angelo Central.
DALLAS, Sept. 15 -- A 24-year-old woman pleaded innocent today to
charges she fabricated sex-assault allegations against two Dallas
Cowboys players.
At her arraignment, Nina Shahravan also told County Criminal Court Judge
Dan L. Wyde she wanted to have a jury determine her punishment if she is
found guilty.
Authorities say Ms. Shahravan recanted allegations that spawned two
lawsuits and a change in Dallas police policy regarding naming suspects.
Jury selection began for a six-member panel.
The former topless dancer faces a year in jail and a $4,000 fine if
convicted of the Class A misdemeanor.
``What do you think is appropriate punishment for something that could
have resulted in an innocent man going to prison for life?'' Assistant
District Attorney Clark Birdsall said last week when asked about the
punishment he would seek against Ms. Shahravan.
``I'm asking for a year in jail, which is as much as I could give her.''
Ms. Shahravan told police Dec. 30 that she had been raped the night
before by Cowboys offensive tackle Erik Williams and an unidentified man
at Williams' home while wide receiver Michael Irvin held her at gunpoint
and videotaped the attack.
A day later, KXAS reporter Marty Griffin reported her allegations and
police later held a widely broadcast news conference. Ms. Shahravan
conceded on Jan. 10 that Irvin was not present and that she willingly
had sex with Williams and another man, according to a police affidavit.
Police cleared the players later that day.
Police had obtained a videotape of Ms. Shahravan having sex with
Williams and another man during a search of Williams' home, but they
said that what they saw didn't constitute sexual assault.
``Based on our investigation, (Ms.) Shahravan made malicious and false
criminal allegations of sexual assault against three men,'' police said
Jan. 14 in announcing they were filing charges against the Mesquite
woman.
Ms. Shahravan's lawyer, G. David Smith, did not return telephone
messages from The Associated Press seeking comment. But he has
challenged his client's statement recanting her allegations, saying she
was not given the opportunity to consult with counsel prior to signing
it.
He also said his client stands by her contention that she was raped.
Williams and Irvin sued KXAS, the station that first reported the story,
for defamation. In July, the players settled the lawsuit in a deal
reportedly worth at least $2 million.
A federal suit brought by the players accusing the Dallas Police
Department of civil rights violations is pending. In the wake of the
perjury case, police have adopted stricter rules about identifying
suspects. The policy calls for police officials to wait for a charge or
arrest before releasing names.
Pecos Enterprise
Mac McKinnon, 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. Neither these AP Materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and non-commercial use. The AP will not be held liable for any delays, inaccuracies, errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing.
Copyright 1997 by Pecos Enterprise
We support Newspapers in Education