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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Friday, September 18, 1998
Eagles split, junior high left out
By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer
PECOS, Sept. 18 -- It was a good night for the Pecos Eagles'
and Fort Stockton Panthers' sub-varsity high school football
teams playing at home, while it wasn't a good night to
travel for the Crockett Middle School team, but for a
different reason.
The Eagles' freshmen got their first win of the season,
scoring once in each of the first three quarters for a 19-6
victory over the Panthers at Eagle Stadium.
Down in Fort Stockton, the Panthers' JV defeated the
Eagles, by a 20-0 final score, while Pecos' eighth graders
made the 54-mile trip to Fort Stockton, only to find the
Panthers taking on Del Rio's eighth grade team.
The freshmen were stopped once on downs inside Fort
Stockton's 5-yard-line, but they also stopped the Panthers
deep in Pecos' territory on three drives, including once in
the second quarter, when Ricky Plummer returned an
interception 98 yards for Pecos' second touchdown of the
evening.
Earlier, the freshmen took a 7-0 lead on Kendrick Evans'
29-yard touchdown run and Benny Juarez' extra point kick
midway through the first quarter. In the third period, the
Eagles got an insurance score when quarterback Richard
Rodriguez hit Plummer for a 50-yard scoring strike.
The freshmen, now 1-2 on the season, lost their shutout
with 1:54 to play when Fort Stockton scored on a 9-yard
touchdown run.
The JV is also 1-2 after their loss, in which coach Tino
Acosta said it was Fort Stockton that came up with the long
scoring plays.
"We gave up the long plays," he said. "We stopped them four
times on fourth down, but they hit a couple of long plays.
Our kids gave a great effort, we just have to cut down on
our mistakes."
Tonight at 7:30 p.m., Pecos' varsity will try for its
second straight win when they host Fort Stockton, which is
seeking its first victory after two season-opening losses.
The Panthers will also be seeking both their first win in
Pecos and their first back-to-back victories over the Eagles
in a decade, since consecutive wins in the 1987-88 seasons.
The Eagles' District 2-4A rivals all are playing in the El
Paso area tonight, with Fabens and Mountain View seeking to
remain unbeaten, while San Elizario tries for its first win
in four tries this season. Clint, like Pecos, will be hoping
to improve to 2-1 on the season, while 0-3 Canutillo takes
the night off.
El Paso Parkland (1-1) at Fabens (2-0): With Presidio and
Santa Teresa, N.M. up next, the Wildcats will probably go
into their district opener against the Eagles undefeated if
they win this one. Fabens took advantage of El Paso
Cathedral turnovers last week to score an easy 31-8 victory,
and also took to the air, as Jaime Valezuela threw for 213
yards.
This is Parkland's third game in as many weeks against
District 2-4A teams. They routed San Elizario in their
opener, and were edged by Mountain View a week ago, 23-22.
The Matadors' Alex Ross has carried the ball just 14 times
so far, but has gained 336 yards and scored four touchdowns.
Mountain View (2-0) at Santa Teresa, N.M. (2-1): This is
the second of three games for Santa Teresa against 2-4A
teams. They edged San Elizario three weeks ago, and
surpassed their win total for all of 1997 last week, with a
victory over New Mexico Military Institute, 16-3. That makes
them a little better than the same squad that was
annihilated by Fort Stockton the past two seasons, but they
should still have trouble with a fired up Mountain View
team, that fought back from a 19-0 first quarter deficit to
win last week.
Adolfo Villa's 10-yard TD pass to Ebert Munoz won it with
6:48 to play. Villa has thrown for over 500 yards so far,
but the Lobos' had a more balanced attack in Week 2, with
Villa accounting for just 173 of Mountain View's 311 yards
through the air.
El Paso Cathedral (0-2) at Clint (1-1): Clint's D.J. Check,
on the other hand, took the 2-4A passing lead with a
298-yard night, but were outgained on the ground by El Paso
High, 267-33 and saw a penalty wipe out a late scoring
chance.
They should do better on the ground tonight against
Cathedral and better on defense, too, as the Fighting Irish
managed minus-19 yards offense in the first half against
Fabens and got their only score on a late punt return.
Deming, N.M. (1-2) at San Elizario (0-3): Deming didn't do
such a hot job running the ball on Fabens, either, when the
Wildcats scored a 20-6 road victory two weeks ago. In
contrast, San Elizario has allowed almost 280 yards rushing
per game so far this season. They lost last week to El Paso
Americus, 30-8, but quarterback Mike Perez did score early
from two yards out, to give the Eagles an 8-3 lead.
Rangers' rally regains first from Angels
ARLINGTON, Texas, Sept. 18 (AP) -- After trying to catch the
Anaheim Angels for a month, the Texas Rangers are back in
first place in the AL West.
And if they can stay there for 10 more games, they'll be in
the playoffs for the second time in their history.
It won't be easy. The Rangers and Angels meet Monday through
Wednesday in Anaheim for three games that are likely to
determine who wins the division.
Texas should go into that series with a bit of a mental edge
after beating Anaheim 7-6 Thursday and 5-3 Wednesday.
Both teams will remember the way the Rangers won Thursday.
Anaheim led 4-0 in the first inning against Rick Helling,
Texas' best starter, but the Rangers tied it in the bottom
of the inning. The Angels went up 6-4 in the second,
knocking out Helling and forcing manager Johnny Oates to go
to a bullpen that had lost five of its last seven decisions.
But Al Levine, Greg Cadaret, Tim Crabtree (6-1) and John
Wetteland combined for 7 2-3 scoreless innings. Anaheim put
only one runner as far as second base against them.
``We knew once they put up the four-spot, Rick wasn't going
to be out there long,'' said Crabtree, who didn't allow any
hits over a career-high four innings, striking out four and
walking one. ``We figured that as a bullpen we were going to
need to get some big outs. We did an outstanding job.''
Texas hitters did a good job, too, knocking out Anaheim
starter Steve Sparks in the second and tying the game at 6
with solo homers from Todd Zeile in the third and Juan
Gonzalez in the fourth.
Lee Stevens opened the eighth with a single off the
right-field wall against Pep Harris (3-1). Then Milt Cuyler
pinch-ran and scored the winning run from second when Tom
Goodwin doubled to right-center off Rich DeLucia.
``It's too late in the year to feel sorry for yourself,''
said Sparks, who beat the Rangers twice this year. ``We have
10 games left and we have to finish one game better than the
Rangers.
``We're as close as you can be without being tied. We play
them three more times and play the same teams they do
(Oakland and Seattle). We have to take care of business
ourselves.''
Angels manager Terry Collins is keeping his hopes up.
``I told our guys if we play as well as we can over the next
10 days, we'll be in first place,'' Collins said.
Anaheim hasn't done that lately. The Angels went 1-6 on the
just-completed road trip and have lost seven of nine to blow
the division lead they had held since Aug. 14. Anaheim led
by as many as four games on Aug. 26.
Texas, meanwhile, enjoyed its 41st comeback victory. It was
the 15th time the Rangers have won in their last at-bat.
They also did that on Tuesday, erasing a five-run deficit in
Baltimore and beating the Orioles 6-5 on a ninth-inning,
two-run homer by Ivan Rodriguez.
``I think you're starting to see a lot of veteran players
stepping to the forefront,'' said Will Clark, who is playing
with a broken right big toe.
Rusty Greer drove in two runs for Texas and Clark had one
RBI, putting each of them at 100. Greer, Clark and Gonzalez,
the AL RBI leader at 153, give the Rangers the AL's only
trio of 100 RBI men.
Ivan Rodriguez also drove in a run before leaving the game
in the fifth inning with muscle spasms in his lower back.
Oates said he's more worried about Royce Clayton, who was
hit in the back of the left shoulder in the eighth inning.
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
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Copyright 1998 by Pecos Enterprise
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Pecos Enterprise