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Daily Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Sports
Tuesday, September 21, 1999
Eagles look to continue road streak
PECOS, Sept. 21, 1999 -- The District 2-4A opener for the Pecos Eagles
wasn't much fun last season. But they were playing at home, where most
of their problems occurred in 1998.
Tonight, the Eagles will travel to Fabens to open the 2-4A volleyball
schedule against the Wildcats, and they'll try and see if they can be as
successful on a long weeknight road trip as they were in their five Saturday
visits to El Paso a year ago.
Fabens came back to beat Pecos in three games on the Eagles' home court
last season, before the Eagles went out to Fabens and downed the Wildcats,
as part of a nine game winning streak that gave them the district title.
This season, the Eagles are about where they were a year ago, coming
into play with an 11-8 season record after a 16-14, 15-10 win at Wink on
Saturday. Eagles' coach Becky Granado was happy with the improvement of
her team's defense, though she said Pecos still needs another hitter to
come through when Philonicus Fobbs rotates to the back line.
Fabens has had a similar problem on offense this season, but comes into
the game with just a 4-6 record. They lost their No. 1 hitter from a year
ago, Beverly Alarcon, to graduation, leaving Cindy Arrieta as the Wildcats'
main threat.
"Hopefully we can stop their big girl. If we can do that, that should
be the key to the game," said Granado, who added she might make a lineup
change to help slow Arrieta down.
"I'm thinking about putting D'Andra (Ortega) and Philly up on the front
line together to take her out of the game," Granado said. Ortega has played
middle blocker this season when Fobbs has rotated to the back line.
Bears to face Coyotes in semifinals rematch
PECOS, Sept. 21, 1999 -- The Balmorhea Bears were behind again in their
second football game of the season. But this time the deficit was brief
and the comeback far less exciting that their last-season win over Whitharral
two weeks earlier.
The Bears improved to 2-0 on the season with a 56-6 win at Marathon
on Friday over the Mustangs, in a non-district game between the two schools.
The Bears will host Marathon to close out the home portion of their season
in District 7-A six-man play in November, but before then, Balmorhea has
a pair of tough games coming up in their home openers the next two Fridays,
against Borden County and Grandfalls.
Borden County beat Balmorhea twice last season, 57-24 at Gail and then
70-24 in Kermit, in the six-man state semifinals. The Coyotes used their
air attack to beat the Bears, and while Borden County did lose several
players to graduation, Bears' coach Ennis Erickson said, "They've still
got a bunch back."
"They're kind of like we are. They had several seniors, just like we
did, but they still have several of their players out there from last year,"
Erickson said. Borden County beat Highland this past Friday by a 26-14
final score.
Marathon was looking for their second straight non-district win over
a district rival _ the Mustangs opened the season by defeating Sierra Blanca
_ and took a 6-0 lead on the Bears in the opening quarter on 63-yard touchdown
pass from Erik Estrada to Johnny Samudo. But Balmorhea used two touchdown
passes to Rudy Guebara and Ryan Clark from Billy Lozano to grab the lead
before the period was over.
"We played good, but it was still close in the first half. We were only
up 20-7 and then in the second half was when we took off on them," Erickson
said.
Josue Mendoza, who had a 56-yard touchdown run in the second period,
had TD runs of 6 and 45 yards and a 55-yard kickoff return for a score
in the third quarter, after Adriel Ramon recorded a safety. Chris Cook
also had a 55-yard scoring run in Balmorhea's 30-point third period, and
the Bears ended the game in the fourth under the 45-point rule on Isaiah
Rodriguez' 60-yard punt return for a touchdown.
Erickson said he only had about half his squad in Marathon for the game,
while most of his younger players faced Midland Trinity on Saturday and
scored a 64-18 victory. "We had about 13 in Marathon, so everybody got
to play eventually," Erickson said.
The win kept Balmorhea at No. 4 in this week's six-man football poll
rankings. Borden County is unranked so far this season.
Falcon's attack grounded by Cowboys' defense
By JAIME ARON
AP Sports Writer
IRVING, Tex., Sept. 21, 1999 — Walking off the field after a season-opening
victory in Washington, the Dallas Cowboys defense didn't feel like a winner.
They knew their offense had bailed them out and vowed to repay the favor
— quickly.
Dallas' defense did that Monday night, rattling Atlanta's backup-filled
offense into mistake after mistake and overcoming a bad night for the offense
in a 24-7 Cowboys victory.
"It was really important to get off on the right step and play with
confidence," said defensive end Chad Hennings, who had two of Dallas' six
sacks. "We got after them early. This is a big momentum-booster."
The Cowboys are 2-0 for the first time since 1995, their last Super
Bowl season. The Falcons are 0-2, as are the Denver Broncos, marking the
first time both defending conference champions have been winless after
two games.
Atlanta has an excuse: injuries. The Falcons started the game without
quarterback Chris Chandler, and six minutes after kickoff, they lost Pro
Bowl running back Jamal Anderson.
Anderson is hopeful he can return by Sunday. Ditto for Chandler, although
coach Dan Reeves said it's too early to tell on either player.
Reeves isn't buying the injury alibi.
"I was embarrassed by our play," Reeves said. "The way we went out there
was not what I expect."
Once Anderson went down, the Cowboys were able to focus on quarterback
Tony Graziani. Defensive coordinator Dave Campo tested him with a variety
of blitzes, and he failed miserably.
"I believe this is an injury league," Campo said. "When they lose a
great player, you've got to get after his backup."
Dallas held Graziani to 7-of-16 passing for 90 yards in two quarters,
plus two possessions. That was somewhat of a milestone for him considering
he was benched at halftime of his other two career starts.
The left-hander almost burned the Cowboys on his first play. A flea
flicker turned into a bomb to a wide-open Chris Calloway, but he dropped
what would've been a sure touchdown, and things were never that good again.
Graziani's next pass was intercepted, leading to a 23-yard field goal
by Richie Cunningham. On the third play of the third quarter, Graziani
fumbled during a scramble, setting up the score that put Dallas ahead 17-0.
Atlanta's defense kept the game close, but the Falcons simply couldn't
sustain drives.
Part of the problem was Byron Hanspard not being able to convert on
third-and-short the way Anderson usually does. Atlanta failed to convert
three of them while trailing 10-0, including once when Hanspard was stopped
for no gain.
Danny Kanell replaced Graziani, but wasn't able to work the same magic
as in 1997 when he beat Dallas twice while with the New York Giants.
He had some highlights, such as throwing a 45-yard touchdown pass to
Tim Dwight with four minutes left and hitting another long pass to set
up first-and-goal from the 4.
But after two incompletions, Kanell threw a pass directly to defensive
end Greg Ellis, who returned it 87 yards for the Cowboys' final points.
"I looked up and there was 80 yards to go," Ellis said. "I wanted to
pitch to someone. It was a long, hard run and I didn't think I was going
to make it."
Dallas had three interceptions, two off Kanell, and returned them for
154 yards.
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
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Copyright 1999 by Pecos Enterprise
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