Area Newspaper and Travel Guide for Reeves County, Ward County, Trans-Pecos, Big Bend of West Texas

Sports

Friday, December 12, 1997

Bears get past Panthers, Longhorns

PECOS, Dec. 12 -- The Balmorhea Bear boys remained perfect
for the 1997-98 basketball season, while Balmorhea's girls
snapped a five-game losing streak Thursday night, as both
teams won their first round games in the Longhorns Classic
at Imperial.

The boys improved to 6-0 on the season with a 74-47 victory
over the Jal Panthers, and the girls defeated the host Buena
Vista Longhorns, 71-63, to improve their record to 3-5 on
the year.

The boys were led by Zane Rhyne, who scored 20 points, while
Kevin Castillo added 19 and Debe Mendoza 16. Kirk Walters
topped the Panthers with 14 points.

The victory moves the Bears into a 5 p..m. semifinal game
today against another group of Panthers, Fort Stockton's
junior varsity. They downed the Bears' district rival
Grandfalls, 51-43, in their opening round game. Sanderson
routed Marfa, 60-39, and Buena Vista did the same with
McCamey's JV, 65-31, in the other two quarterfinal matches.

The girls won their first game in five season over Buena
Vista, as Brenda Dutchover scored 25 points and Cherry
Garcia added 20. Denise Graham led Buena Vista with 26
points and Julie Soto put in 22.

The win sends Balmorhea into the semifinals at 6:30 p.m.
tonight against Sanderson, which beat Grandfalls, 48-37, in
their game Thursday.

Meanwhile, Balmorhea's JV had a rough time in the other half
of the bracket against Kermit, as they dropped a 72-22 game.
Cathy Garcia had six to lead the Bears, while Macy Walker's
25 points topped Kermit.

Kermit will face Jal for the right to play the
Balmorhea-Sanderson winner for the title on Saturday, while
the Bears' JV will face Marfa, 56-20 losers to the Panthers,
in tonight's 8 p.m. consolation semifinal.

JV scores win, freshmen split at tournament

PECOS, Dec. 12 -- Bad roads west of Pecos resulted in the
first win of the season for Pecos' junior varsity basketball
team Thursday, while Pecos' freshmen won and lost a pair of
two point decisions in their bracket of the West of the
Pecos Shootout.

The JV replaced Van Horn in their tournament opener against
Kermit, after Van Horn couldn't make it to town due to the
icy road conditions on Interstate 10. And the Eagles ended
up defeating Kermit, 64-39, as Omar Rodriguez scored 26
points and Cesar Coria had 16.

The freshmen also won their opener over Kermit, 39-37, then
were beaten by Alpine, 46-44. David Chavez and Alex Garcia
had 14 and 11 points against the Yellowjackets, then put in
15 and 12 in the loss to the Bucks.

Today, Pecos' varsity will face Odessa High's JV and
Presidio at 4:30 and 7:30 p.m. in their division of the
tournament, while the split varsity takes on Alpine and
Lydia Patterson at 12 noon and 3 p.m.

Pecos' girls, meanwhile, will face San Angelo Lake View at
3 p.m. today, in the semifinals of the Monahans Sandhills
Tournament. The Eagles beat El Paso Coronado, 70-42, in
their opener, while Lake View rallied for a 69-62 victory
over Fabens.

Eagles swimmers go to Seminole

PECOS, Dec. 12 -- The Pecos Eagles swim team will close out
the pre-Chrsitmas portion of their 1997-98 schedule on
Saturday at the Seminole Invitational.

Pecos' boys won their first meet of the season last week in
Odesaa, while the girls lost out to San Angelo Central by
only one point for the meet title. Eagles' coach Terri Morse
said five of the Eagles' District 4 rivals will be in
Seminole, along with both Abilene schools and Artesia, Hobbs
and Carlsbad, N.M.

Diving will begin at 9 a.m., with the swimming finals set
for a 12 noon start.

New faces, old Cowboys, on Pro Bowl team

By BARRY WILNER
AP Football Writer
NEW YORK, Dec. 12 (AP) -- Who are these guys?

They're the new wave of stars in the NFL, and 25 of them are
headed for their first Pro Bowl.

Ted Washington, Jimmy Smith, Jessie Armstead and rookie
Warrick Dunn are going. So are Todd Steussie, Dorsey Levens,
Aaron Glenn and Tom Nalen.

Not many household names there.

``That's what winning will do for you,'' said Tampa Bay
defensive tackle Warren Sapp, one of a league-high seven
Buccaneers voted to the game Thursday by fans, coaches and
players. ``The more we win, the more people we'll take over
there. Pretty soon, maybe we'll have 22 guys over there.''

``I never imagined I would ever be a Pro Bowl player,'' said
Smith, a Jaguars wide receiver. ``I always thought the Pro
Bowl players were the elite, like Jerry Rice and Michael
Irvin. I never considered myself as being in the same class
as those guys. My dreams came true.''

There are plenty more like them who were selected for the
Feb. 1 game at Aloha Stadium. The AFC has 13 first-timers,
including starters Washington of Buffalo and Joel Steed of
Pittsburgh at defensive tackle; linebacker Chris Slade of
New England; tackle Jonathan Ogden of Baltimore; cornerback
Glenn of the New York Jets; and free safety Darryl Williams
of Seattle.

``It happens that way,'' Washington said. ``You not only
work to make it to the playoffs, but you have individual
goals of making the Pro Bowl. That was one of my goals. At
least I accomplished one out of the two.''

The newcomers starting for the NFC are Minnesota tackle
Steussie, Green Bay running back Levens, Giants defensive
end Michael Strahan and linebacker Armstead.

``This is something just to show the people who stuck with
me,'' Armstead said. ``My story's not proven, I still have a
lot of things to prove.''

Not all of the Pro Bowlers are just reaching the top. Reggie
White, the Green Bay Packers' star defensive end, was
selected for a record 12th time. He has played in 10 of the
games at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu, missing 1994 with an
injury.

``It is definitely an honor to be picked, but to be picked
12 straight years is an extreme honor and I really
appreciate it,'' said the NFL's career sacks leader. ``There
were some games that I had that were great games and there
were some games that weren't great. That happens every year.
I wouldn't say this was one of my better years, but it's
been a good year for me.''

As for most of the Pro Bowl players. As usual, there was
complaining about the voting process by those who didn't
make it and their supporters.

``I can imagine some guys saying, `Don't vote for that guy
because it won't help our guy's chances,' '' Denver
cornerback Ray Crockett said. ``Coaches are probably guilty
of doing the same thing. You have to imagine that other
teams do it, too.''

The Broncos had starters John Elway at quarterback, Terrell
Davis at running back, Shannon Sharpe at tight end and Neil
Smith at defensive end among their five selections. But they
were upset that outside linebacker John Mobley was
overlooked.

One of the Broncos who did make it, defensive end Neil
Smith, also was critical of the voting.

``It's a shame that, for defensive ends, you base everything
off of just sacks,'' Smith said. ``You can be a complete
player, but if your sack total is down, you don't make it to
the Pro Bowl. Voters don't look at run support or tackles.
They look at who's leading in sacks. You know there are
defensive ends in this league who aren't good run-stoppers
and who can only rush the passer.''

Does that mean some players will turn down the invitation?
Not likely.

``It's an honor that never gets old,'' Steelers center
Dermontti Dawson said. ``The guys select you, and you can
never take it lightly. I really enjoy going.''

Manning defeats Woodson in award vote

ORLANDO, Fla., Dec. 12 (AP) -- Peyton Manning made a clean
sweep of the college football awards not named the Heisman
Trophy.

Manning, Tennessee's All-America quarterback who is the
favorite to win the prestigious Heisman on Saturday, won
three major awards Thursday.

Manning outpolled Michigan defensive back Charles Woodson
for the Maxwell Award, which goes to the best all-around
player, and also took the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback
Award and the Scholar-Athlete Award.

In the Maxwell balloting, Manning edged Woodson by 55 votes
out of a total of 2,500 cast by the Football Writers
Association. Washington State quarterback Ryan Leaf was
third. Leaf and Cade McNown of UCLA trailed Manning for the
O'Brien award.

``It's really an honor to receive this (O'Brien) award when
you hear the names of some of the other great
quarterbacks,'' Manning said. ``That's really a great
fraternity of former players.''

Manning set career records for passing yardage (10,669) and
touchdowns (84) at Tennessee and had the most 300-yard
passing games in SEC history with 17.

Woodson, who had seven interceptions to push his career
total to 17, won the Chuck Bednarik Award as the defensive
player of the year, beating out Dre' Bly of North Carolina
and Andy Katzenmoyer of Ohio State. He also captured the Jim
Thorpe award, topping Bly and Fred Weary of Florida as the
top defensive back.

Ricky Williams of Texas, who led the nation with 1,893
rushing yards, won the Doak Walker Award as the top running
back, beating Curtis Enis of Penn State and Ahman Green of
Nebraska.

The Biletnikoff Award for outstanding receiver went to
Randy Moss of Marshall, who had 90 catches for 1,647 yards.
He beat out Troy Edwards of Louisiana Tech and Jacquez Green
of Florida.

Moss said the award ``is not big on my list, but I think
it's great for the university, having the first Biletnikoff
there. It's big for them.''

Aaron Taylor of Nebraska won the Outland Trophy as
outstanding interior lineman, beating out Alan Faneca of
Louisiana State and Jason Peter of Nebraska.

``We have a great tradition at Nebraska and it's just a
great honor to be on that line with those guys,'' Taylor
said. ``I think we'll have some more (Outland winners) in
the future.''

The coach of the year award went to Mike Price of
Washington State, who led his team to the Rose Bowl for the
first time in 67 years.

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