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Pecos Eagles coach Mike Belew will be trying to eliminate those first
two ugly numbers and extend the third Friday night, when he takes his
first shot as Eagles' head coach at the Monahans Loboes.
Pecos plays the second of three straight home games, and should get
their first good indication of how they stack up against the top
District 4-4A teams, when they meet Monahans in a 7:30 p.m. kickoff at
Eagle Stadium.
They'll be seeking to end Monahans' 13-game winning streak over Pecos,
which dates back to a 31-16 victory in 1982. That's also the only home
win by Pecos over Monahans since 1958, a streak added to by last year's
season-ending 32-16 Loboes' victory.
All of those games were in district play, but Friday's contest will be
the first non-district matchup between the two schools in 51 years,
after the Loboes slipped down from District 4-4A into District 3-3A for
the 1996-98 school years.
In non-district play at least, the Eagles hold a modest two game win
streak, with the last one coming by a 33-6 Pecos victory in 1945. They
also won in 1944, while Monahans took the non-district matchup in 1943,
as the teams met twice each season during World War II.
Eagle fans wouldn't mind seeing that 1945 score repeated, but it's
unlikely, since many of the Loboes' key players from last year are back,
and the team is off to an impressive 2-0 start with home victories over
Big Spring and Lubbock High.
"They've got good athletes, they're well coaches and they have a lot of
tradition," Belew said. "They definitely have a good football team."
Loboes' head coach Windy Williams sat out six of his players a week ago
against the Westerners, and Monahans was still able to post a 28-7
victory. Fullback Lucas Jaquez had a 70 yard touchdown run and
quarterback Brandon Stephens threw a pair of touchdown passes late in
the fourth quarter to break things open.
Against Big Spring, Monahans jumped out to a 27-7 lead, saw the Steers
rally for a 28-27 lead with under two minutes to play, the drove the
length of the field for Stephens' game winning 15-yard touchdown run
with less than 30 seconds to go.
"Our two starting linebackers (Tyler Lee and Garrett Williams) got hurt
in the first quarter, and they other guys saw they'd have to play
without them and really stepped it up in the second quarter, and
especially in that last drive," the Loboes' head coach said. "We got the
ball with 1:41 to go and drove it about 70 yards without any time-outs."
Lee and Garrett Williams were among those to sit out last week, while
two other returning players, T.J. Bustos and Kevin Douhit, filled in for
them. Last season, Lee ran for 67 yards and a touchdown in last year's
win, while Douhit had a key fumbled punt recovery and Stephens added a
touchdown run and TD pass to Zack Stevenson, whom he also hooked up with
for a score last week against Lubbock High.
"Lee's a big, strong kid, and going into the game I'm looking for both
of them (Lee and Williams) to be playing," Belew said. "Jaquez is a
butterball type of runner like Robert Newhouse. He's quick off the ball
and has a quick start."
Jaquez had over 100 yards last week, and the Loboes gained 200 yards on
the ground even without Lee and despite an offensive line Williams calls
"really pretty new. We've got one guard and one tackle back, and one of
our others, (tackle) Trey Franco, is really playing more defense this
year."
Defense is where the Loboes took command last year against Pecos,
forcing seven punts and stopping an Eagle comeback that cut an 18-0 lead
to 25-16 in the final period. The Loboes held Pecos without a first down
for the first 21:21 of the game using their `split-6' defense.
"It's basically an eight-man front that put a lot of pressure on the
running game," Belew said. "They dare you to throw the football, so
we're going to have to do a good job executing on the pass and not let
them tee off on our running backs."
So far, the Loboes haven't been burned through the air this season.
They've already picked off five passes and have allowed only 84 yards,
while giving up just under 400 yards on the ground. Over half of that
came from Big Spring's Antwoyne Edwards after Lee and Garrett Williams
went down.
The Eagles have gambled more with the pass in their first two games so
far this season. They've thrown on fourth and short four times already
this season and converted twice, scoring their only touchdown in a 21-6
loss at Lamesa and setting up the go-ahead score in last week's 21-12
victory over Alpine.
All three of Pecos' scores last week came on long drives, and the
Eagles held the Bucks to only a lone touchdown after a fumbled punt
until the game's final play.
The Eagles come into the game with three of their four main running
backs -- Ray Parada, Mark Abila and Chris Reyes -- averaging 10 yards or
better per carry. Parada gained 114 yards and scored twice on only nine
carries a week ago, while the Eagles' other runner, Richard Gutierrez,
had 79 yards and a score after a 115-yard performance against Lamesa.
Defensively, Pecos has done a good job the first two weeks of the
season stopping the run up the middle, but have been hurt to the outside
by Lamesa running back Kevin Larry and Alpine quarterback Jason Garcia,
while the Tornadoes' play-action passes also caused the Eagles problems.
"In order for us to have a legitimate chance at winning the game, we
have to eliminate our execution mistakes and eliminate our turnovers,"
Belew said. "If we can execute the way we're supposed to offensively,
defensively and in the kicking game, I feel like we have a good chance
of winning."
PECOS, Sept. 19 -- After a month of preseason practice, the wait is
finally over for the Crockett and Zavala junior high football teams, as
they open their 1996 season today against Monahans.
The seventh graders face the Loboes here in games scheduled for 4 and
5:30 p.m. starts, while Crockett's eighth graders go to Monahans for `A'
and `B' games at the same times.
Meanwhile, up on the high school level both the Eagles and Loboes will
be trying to maintain their perfect records so far this season, when the
Eagles' JV hosts Monahans while the ninth graders play on the road, both
in scheduled 6 p.m. starts.
After going winless a year ago, Pecos' JV has taken advantage of their
early-season schedule (five straight games at home) to post wins over
Lamesa and Alpine. They beat the Tornadoes, 28-12, and come off a 29-8
victory last Thursday over the Bucks. Monahans' JV defeated Midland High
a week ago, 33-14, after a season-opening 27-0 victory over Big Spring.
Pecos' freshman opened their season with a 24-20 victory at Lamesa, then
blanked Alpine at home last week, 18-0. Monahans, meanwhile, began with
a 37-6 victory over Big Spring and defeated Kermit's ninth graders last
Thursday, 28-18.
Along with being Pecos' seventh and eighth grade openers, today's games
are also the first of the year for Monahans' junior high squads. The
junior high and high school sub-varsity teams will also switch home
sites next month, for their second meetings of the season on Oct. 24.
PECOS, Sept. 19 -- Balmorhea Bears' head coach Michael Barrandey didn't
have to go very far to scout this week's opponent for his team.
All he had to do was walk down the block last Saturday to get a look at
the El Paso Faith Christian Lions, as they took on the Bears' District
8-A six man rival Grandfalls in a neutral site meeting.
However on Friday, the Bears will be taking a lot longer trip to face
the Lions, when they go to El Paso to meet Faith Christian in an 7:30
p.m. start.
Grandfalls defeated El Paso by a 50-21 final score, but Barrandey said,
"They had penalties go against them. It was a pretty close ballgame
(29-21 midway through the third quarter) until the end, when they got
behind and got a little frustrated."
Quarterback Chris Pacheco ran and threw for two of the three touchdowns
scored by the Lions, 0-2, who lost 22 players from a year ago to
graduation and opened their 1996 season with a 21-6 loss to Sanderson.
Balmorhea has barely played one full game in their first two games of
the year. They needed only a minute of the third period two weeks ago to
end their 52-7 victory at Marathon under the 45-point rule, and took
just one half to do the same in their home opener a week ago, beating
Carlsbad Victory Christian, 61-6.
"This game will give us a good measurement of how we stand against
Grandfalls and Sanderson," Barrandey said. "We really haven't been
tested yet, so we're hoping to get a better test this week. The kids are
getting tired of knocking the dog out of each other in practice."
Faith Christian gave the Bears all they could handle a year ago, banging
up Balmorhea, then rallying from a 62-31 deficit with 24 unanswered
points in the final quarter before the Bears escaped with a 62-55
victory. A touchdown pass from Zane Rhyne to Scott Clark turned out to
be the game-winning score, while the Bears' defense stopped a last
second scoring attempt by the Lions that could have tied or won the game.
PECOS, Sept. 19 -- The Pecos Eagles' tennis team will try again this
afternoon to get in their first District 4-4A match of the season, when
they travel to Andrews for a 4 p.m. contest.
Hurricane Fausto rained out the Eagles and Mustangs last Saturday, and
rain again is in the area forecast for this afternoon. Both teams
already have matches set for Saturday, with Pecos playing their home
opener against the San Angelo Lake View Chiefs.
The Eagles come into play today with a 2-3 mark after a Sept. 7 loss at
Monahans. Pecos will be trying to repeat their results of two years ago,
when they won at Andrews to claim a regional tournament berth, while the
Mustangs won in Pecos last year to claim a playoff spot.
State and Regional Sports Pages--San Angelo Standard-Times
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