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Sports

Friday, November 14, 1997

Eagles' Sadler happy with scrimmage play

By JON FULBRIGHT
Sports Editor
PECOS, Nov. 14 -- Pecos Eagles' coach Mike Sadler was happy
with the work of his shorthanded boys basketball squad
Thursday, in their preseason scrimmages against Crane,
Monahans and Ozona.

Meanwhile, girls coach Brian Williams is hoping for the
same results on Saturday, when his team plays their second
and final preseason scrimmage starting at 9:30 a.m. in
Odessa, against the Permian Panthers and Lovington Wildcats.

"We played three times around, and the first quarter we
played Monahans it ended in a 20-20 tie, when Fernando
(Navarrette) goal-tended a shot at the end. The rest of the
time we beat everybody," Eagles' coach Mike Sadler said.

Pecos played without two of their returning starters, guard
Jason Abila and forward Fabien Adame, and minus forward
Moses Martinez, who was a part-time starter last season.
Both Abila and Martinez are recovering from football
injuries, while Adame was bothered by eye problems, but
should be back for the Eagles' season opener Tuesday at
Monahans.

"Omar (Hinojos) and Fernando both played good, and Oscar
Luna had about 20 assists and five or six steals during the
whole thing," Sadler said. "The thing about Omar this year
coach (Crane's Chad) Terry said was when his big man went
out to take him Omar went to the hole, and when he stayed
back he was able to hit it from the outside. If he can keep
doing that, we'll be in good shape."

Defensively, Sadler said the main problem was defending the
perimeter shots. "We just need to get out on the 3-point
shooters. Frank Perea defensively in the halfcourt looked
good running out at the 3-point shooters, but on the press
he played the wing and he's not used to getting back down
yet. But that will come as time goes on."

The girls got in their first scrimmage action on Tuesday
against Fort Stockton. Eagles' coach Brian Williams said his
team worked mainly on their offensive plays prior to that
scrimmage, but would try to run the press on defense against
Panthers and Wildcats.

The boys' junior varsity also scrimmaged at Crane Thursday,
and the girls' JV will make the trip with the varsity to
Odessa on Saturday, though the freshman Eagles will remain
at home.

Both Pecos teams open their seasons on the road Tuesday,
with the boys traveling to Monahans while the girls go back
to Odessa, to face the Odessa High Bronchos.

Road work paves way to MVP for Walker

DENVER, Nov. 14 (AP) -- Well aware of previous snubs of
Colorado sluggers, Larry Walker finally quashed the Coors
Field bias.

In hitting .366 with 49 homers and 130 RBIs for the Rockies
this season, Walker did much of his damage outside the
mile-high atmosphere and was rewarded Thursday with the
National League Most Valuable Player award.

``I never really got too excited,'' Walker said of
predictions he would win the award. ``I wasn't going to be
let down if it didn't happen. We've seen what happened in
the past with Dante Bichette and Ellis Burks.''

Bichette finished second in the NL MVP voting two years ago,
while Burks was a distant third in 1996. Walker had no such
trouble, gaining 22 of 28 first-place votes, three seconds
and three thirds to outdistance Los Angeles Dodgers catcher
Mike Piazza and Houston Astros first baseman Jeff Bagwell.

Walker became the first Canadian to win the award. He
followed a sweep by Canadian teams in Cy Young voting, with
Montreal's Pedro Martinez winning the NL award and Toronto's
Roger Clemens winning the AL honor.

``I've done something good for me personally, and even
better, I've done something good for my country,'' Walker
said. ``I hope kids can look at me and say one day, `I want
to play as good as Larry Walker did.' Hopefully kids look up
to me and it will push them to reach for their goals.''

Walker prevented voters from using hitter-friendly Coors
Field as a crutch, hitting .346 on the road with 29 homers
and 62 RBIs -- up from a .142 average with six homers and 13
RBIs on the road in his injury-shortened 1996 season.

``I knew I was having a good season as I was going along,''
Walker said. ``Just day after day, I shocked at myself with
some things I was doing. I'd go home at night or to the
hotel room and say, `I did that again? I can't believe this.
This is fun!'''

Walker's remarkable year was in sharp contrast to 1996, when
he missed 79 games after breaking his collarbone crashing
into the center field fence. A month after the season,
Walker slipped while fishing in Vancouver, British Columbia,
and needed surgery on his right shoulder.

Forget MVP, Walker could have been the comeback player of
the year.

``Larry Walker just put together a year that they could not
deny,'' Rockies manager Don Baylor said. ``Coming off a
shoulder injury, just to do the things he did was pretty
incredible.''

Walker became the first person since Hank Aaron to have 400
total bases, and he led the NL in homers, slugging
percentage (.720), extra-base hits (99) and on-base
percentage (.452).

His 143 runs trailed only Houston's Craig Biggio, and his
RBI total was No. 3 in the league. Defensively, he won his
third consecutive Gold Glove in the outfield.

``As far as numbers, the overall season was so much fun,
it's tough to pinpoint one thing,'' Walker said. ``To be in
the same sentence with Hank Aaron is a great honor for me.
Not so much the numbers themselves, but the names that are
involved in some of things I did really hit home.''

Walker put his name in the MVP race from the season's first
week, when he hit six homers in a four-game span and built
an average that didn't drop below .400 for good until July
19.

``I believe it started one day in Montreal when Larry hit
the three home runs,'' Baylor said. ``He had such a
confident look about him that it continued not only
throughout that entire month of April but for an entire
season.''

Officials' meeting Saturday

PECOS, Nov. 14 -- A meeting for all sub-varsity basketball
officials will be held Saturday evening at the Pecos High
School gym, Pecos Eagles' coach Brian Williams said
Thursday.

The meeting will be at 6 p.m. at the PHS gym for anyone
wanting to referee junior varsity, freshmen and/or junior
high girls and boys basketball games for the 1997-98 season.

Junior high girls teams will begin their 1997-98 home
seasons on Monday, with the freshman and junior varsity
squads starting next Friday. Junior high boys are scheduled
to play their first home basketball games on Dec. 1.

For further information, contact Williams, either at the
Pecos High School gym (447-7235) or at home (447-6494).

Green set for rivalry with Irvin

By DENNE H. FREEMAN
AP Sports Writer
IRVING, Texas, Nov. 14 -- Darrell Green hounding Michael
Irvin. It's a sideshow at Dallas-Washington games usually
worth the full price of admission.

There's 15-year veteran Green, all 5-8, 184 pounds of him,
dogging every move of the 10-year veteran Irvin, a strong
6-2, 207 pounds with big hands that can put a claw grip on a
football.

It would seem Irvin has the advantage. But Green is faster
and can read routes like no other cornerback in the NFL. His
anticipation, timing and athleticism puts him on the ball
like radar.

This battle will be on display at 3 p.m. Sunday when the
Redskins come calling in Texas Stadium in a crucial NFC East
matchup unless the coaches decide to switch Cris Dishman to
Irvin's side.

Irvin respects Green like no other defensive back in the
league.

``I've had some big games against him and he's had some big
games against me,'' Irvin said. ``He brings a lot of wisdom
into the games. Sometimes you don't know where he is until
the ball is in the air and he comes out of nowhere to get
it. He's always been faster than me and even though he's 37
years old he's still a speedster. He's something else.''

Green also admires Irvin, one of the toughest receivers for
him to handle.

``He's always exciting to go against one of the top players
in the league,'' Green said. ``He's just a great player. I
consider him one of the top five receivers I've ever played
against in the league. We've had a pretty good rivalry,
that's for sure.''

This year Irvin hasn't had a banner season by his standards
as the Cowboys struggle at 5-5.

He's caught 46 passes for 717 yards and five touchdowns and
he's averaged 15.6 yards per catch. But Irvin and
quarterback Troy Aikman haven't hooked up for critical
touchdowns like in the past.

Green has been dynamite again in Washington's 6-4 campaign.
He leads the team with 16 passes defensed although he hasn't
intercepted one. He's the sixth-leading tackler on the team
with 31.

``We're just trying to get our success up there where the
Cowboys are,'' Green said. ``The Cowboys have been in the
playoffs the last umpteen years and that's where we would
like to get. I do look forward to these games with the
Cowboys.''

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