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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Tuesday, January 5, 1999
Eagle cagers face Ponies and Rangers
PECOS, Jan. 5 -- The Pecos Eagle girls will be hoping to
reverse the results of their first meeting with the Andrews
Mustangs tonight, when they host Andrews in their final
pre-district game.
Pecos' boys also have a rematch tonight, and will be hoping
for the same results as last month, as they play their
next-to-last pre-district basketball game tonight, in
Greenwood against the Rangers.
The girls host Andrews, with the freshman and junior varsity
games set for 5:30 p.m. starts in the old and new gyms, with
the varsity game to begin about 7 p.m. The boys will play at
Greenwood, starting with the ninth graders at 4:30 p.m., the
JV at 6 and the varsity at 7:30 p.m.
Pecos' girls lost to another former District 4-4A rival on
Saturday, losing by a 73-32 score at home to Sweetwater. The
Mustangs pulled away in the second half, and coach Brian
Williams said he was hurt by the absence of both his point
guards and post Lindsey Hathorn.
"Defensively the kids are coming along, but right now, I'm
just trying to get them back into shape after the holidays,"
said Williams, who'll have Hathorn and guard Katrina Quiroz
back for tonight's game.
Andrews beat Pecos at home back on Nov. 27, by a 70-30
score, but come into the game off a 39-32 loss on Saturday
at Monahans, in which the Mustangs were outscored 22-8 in
the second half.
The boys will be trying to get back to .500 tonight with a
win over the Rangers, whom they defeated at home three weeks
ago by a 55-49 final score. Fernando Navarette had 19 points
in the win, and led Pecos with 15 on Saturday, when the
Eagles beat Sonora by a 56-49 score.
Frank Perea broke out of a shooting slump with a pair of
3-pointers in the final period, after Sonora had cut Pecos'
42-28 lead to 43-41. Mark Marquez took up the scoring slack
inside in the first half, with 10 of his 14 points, most
while Navarette was on the bench in foul trouble.
Vols take title with victory over Seminoles
By ROB GLOSTER
AP Sports Writer
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Tee Martin stood amid an ocean of orange and
celebrated Tennessee's first national championship since
1951. Marcus Outzen slumped in a corner, head in hands,
dismayed by Florida State's defeat.
Martin, who spent the previous two seasons in the shadow of
top NFL draft pick Peyton Manning, had touchdown passes of
79 yards to Peerless Price and 4 yards to Shawn Bryson to
cap the Volunteers' perfect season with a 23-16 Fiesta Bowl
win Monday night.
``We had to prove to everybody we were the No. 1 team in the
nation,'' said Martin, whose Vols were underdogs in the game
despite being undefeated and top-ranked. ``We had a chip on
our shoulders. We won all our games. And we still didn't get
our respect.''
The Volunteers, 13-0 for the first time in school history,
received all 70 first-place votes in the final Associated
Press media poll. Ohio State was second, followed by Florida
State.
Under the new Bowl Championship Series format, Tennessee was
crowned national champion in the USA Today/ESPN coaches'
poll immediately after the game.
But the meeting of the nation's top two teams was far from
the classic that organizers had envisioned when they set up
a No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown in the Fiesta Bowl. It featured
seven turnovers and 165 yards in penalties, and very little
offense at times.
In many ways, the very imperfect victory was a microcosm of
a Tennessee season in which the Volunteers stumbled but
never fell.
``All year long we've been called a team of destiny,'' coach
Phillip Fulmer said. ``During the course of the year, we did
what we had to do. It wasn't always perfect, it wasn't
always pretty, but they found a way to get it done.''
Florida State, which has finished in the top four in the
final poll for the past 12 seasons, made too many mistakes
and couldn't generate much offense.
Sophomore quarterback Marcus Outzen, making his third start
in place of the injured Chris Weinke, was harassed into a
9-of-22 performance for 145 yards. He threw two
interceptions, one of which was returned 54 yards for a
touchdown by Dwayne Goodrich, and was dropped for 54 yards
in losses.
``I think I did some good things. Of course, I did some bad
things,'' Outzen said. ``In every aspect of the game, our
team made mistakes.''
Florida State coach Bobby Bowden said his team showed the
effects of not having played in 44 days.
``We were a very, very rusty football team,'' Bowden said.
``They made more big plays than we did. We had a hard time
getting the ball to our threat, and they deserved to win.''
The Seminoles' threat, wide receiver Peter Warrick, was held
to one catch for 7 yards -- though he did add an
electrifying 51-yard punt return, evading four tacklers, to
help set up one of Florida State's scores.
Martin, who had thrown just 16 passes the past two years in
a backup role, did what Manning couldn't -- win a national
title. He was 11 of 18 for 278 yards against the nation's
toughest pass defense, while Price caught four passes for
199 yards and was voted the game's MVP.
``(Martin) played an outstanding game,'' Fulmer said. ``He
knows how to manage a game. As the season has gone along,
he's gotten better and better. I would not trade Tee Martin
for anyone in the country.''
The Vols took a 14-0 lead on a pair of touchdowns in a
25-second span of the second quarter and led 14-9 at
halftime. Neither team scored in the third period.
Martin threw his second touchdown pass, the 79-yarder to
Price, with 9:17 to go to put the Vols ahead 20-9 and Jeff
Hall kicked a 23-yard field goal with 6:01 left.
But the Seminoles (11-2) rallied.
Florida State cut the lead to 23-16 on Outzen's 7-yard
scoring run with 3:42 left. Sebastian Janikowski's ensuing
onside kick was recovered by Florida State, but officials
ruled the ball hit the kicker's hand after it had traveled
only 7 yards and the Vols took possession.
Florida State recovered a Tennessee fumble two minutes
later, giving the Seminoles a final chance. But on the first
play after the fumble, Outzen's long pass was intercepted by
Steve Johnson and the Vols ran out the clock.
``It feels great, it feels great,'' Martin said in the
middle of a wild celebration at midfield. ``All the
adversity we faced -- all the guys that went to the NFL last
year, all the shoes we had to fill.''
Said Price: ``Nobody believed us.''
They probably do now.
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 1999 by Pecos Enterprise
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