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Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas

Tuesday, November 2, 2004

Good start can’t save Pecos in Monahans

By JON FULBRIGHT
Staff Writer

Like an avalanche or a boulder rolling downhill, when things begin going wrong for the Pecos Eagles football team in District 3-3A play, the problems pick up momentum in a hurry. Friday night’s 47-0 loss in Monahans was the latest example.

The Eagles and Loboes were actually deadlocked in a scoreless game 16 minutes into the first half when Chris Roberson took a pitch and went around the right end for a touchdown to put Monahans ahead. The Loboes would then add five more scores over the next 17 minutes of play, and tacked on a final TD with their second string unit in the final quarter.

“I question myself. This is the first time I’ve felt like this. I didn’t feel like this last season,” said Eagles’ coach Patrick Willis of the team’s problems that have led to a seven-game losing streak. “I know we’ve got the assignments, the problem for the kids is we’re just not getting it out of them, I guess.”

While turnovers have been the Eagles’ main problem during the 2004 season, Pecos didn’t have one giveaway on Friday night, a first for them this year. But they still had problems holding onto the ball, recovering all six of their fumbles, and in place of the turnovers, the Eagles committed a rash of penalties - 13 in all - that helped Monahans build up its big lead.

Almost half the penalties were personal fouls, and two Pecos players would be ejected for fighting in the second half. But the problems started when the game was still scoreless, as a late hit on Pecos following good punt coverage got Monahans out of a hole deep in their own end of the field.

Kevin Kenyon then hit Sergio Franco with a short pass that Franco turned into a 28-yard gain, and connected with Tyson Carter on a deeper pass down the right sideline for another 28 yards on the next play. Facing a 3rd-and-5 two plays later, Kenyon pitched the ball to Roberson, who was able to make it into the end zone.

The two passes by Kenyon were part of a 234-yard night by the Loboes’ quarterback, 194 of that in the first half. That included a 60-yard touchdown pass to Franco on the next series, a play in which the Eagles missed a chance to intercept the ball, and then missed Franco, as he faked out the defense and went untouched into the end zone.

That play seemed to take the heart out of the Eagles, who had stopped Monahans on downs on their first scoring attempt, inside the Pecos 10 midway through the opening period. Another personal foul call on the Eagles sparked the Loboes’ third scoring drive, just prior to halftime, which was capped by a 3-yard run by Carter after Pecos had given Monahans a first down on a 3rd-and-2 offsides play.

Kenyon’s only pass completion of the second half pretty much summed up the night for Pecos. Facing a 4th-and-11 from the Pecos 40, Kenyon was able to break free of the grasp of Pecos tacklers four times before finding Jimmy Wright behind the defense for the Loboes’ second TD pass of the night. That came after Sam Graves went up the middle 10 yards for a score two minutes into the third period, following a 35 yard punt return by Carter to the Eagles’ 10.

Meanwhile, the Eagles’ passing game was in the deep freeze for the second week in a row. Pecos netted just 39 yards through the air on 4-for-16 passing, while the running game was shut down from the start of the second quarter until the midway through the final period.

“They played eight guys in the box, which is what I was expecting. We had everything game-planned, but we’ve got to be able to take advantage of the situation,” Willis said. Fobbs had one 32-yard run up the middle in the opening period, but Pecos drive stalled at midfield following an illegal procedure penalty. Fobbs ended up with 52 yards rushing, all in the first half, while Luis Ortega was able to get untracked against Monahans’ reserves and ran for 137 yards, all but seven of that in the final two quarters.

The loss left Pecos with a 0-4 district record and a 1-8 regular season mark, while Monahans is 2-2 in district and 4-3 on the year. The Loboes need a win over Greenwood at Midland this Friday to have a shot at a playoff berth, while the Eagles are out of the playoff picture, but could still deny Fort Stockton a trip to the playoffs with a win in their final home game, Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Fort Stockton lost to Seminole 34-27, and both teams are tied with Greenwood, 34-0 winners at Lamesa. Depending on this Friday’s results, as many as four teams could end up tied for first in the final District 3-3A standings.

Pecos 0 0 0 0 - 0 Monahans 0 21 20 6 - 47 Second Quarter Mon. - Roberson 9 run (Covington kick), 4:13. Mon. -- Franco 60 pass from Kenyon (kick failed), 6:42. Mon. - Carter 3 run (Jasso pass from Kenyon), 11:48. Third Quarter Mon. - Graves 10 run (kick failed), 2:00. Mon. - Wright 40 pass from Kenyon (Covington kick), 4:59. Mon. - Arredondo 2 run (Covington kick), 9:22. Fourth Quarter Mon. - Franco 34 run (kick failed), 6:15. Pec Mon First Downs 15 18 Rushes-Yds. 40-226 25-190 Passing Yds. 38 243 Passes 5-16-0 13-23-0 Punts-Avg. 8-34.8 2-28.5 Fumbles-Lost 6-0 1-0 Penalties-Yds. 13-118 7-55 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -Pecos, Ortega 27-137, Fobbs 8-52, Terry 2-11, Pina 3-16. Monahans, Graves 6-71, Franco 3-40, Kenyon 8-33, Covington 1-13, Gonzales 1-13, Roberson 1-9, Wright 1-5, Carter 3-4, Arredondo 1-2.

PASSING -. Pecos, Pina 5-16-0-38. Monahans, Kenyon 12-21-0-241, Franco 1-2-0-2.

RECEIVING -Pecos, Castillo 4-28, Terry 1-11. Monahans, Carter 3-68, Ortega 3-41, Franco 2-88, Graves 2-5, Wright 1-40, Arredondo 1-7, Covington 1-2.

MISSED FIELD GOALS - None.

Presidio ends Pecos’ playoff streak

The Pecos Eagles volleyball team saw its run of eight consecutive trips to the playoffs come to an end in Alpine on Friday, as they lost a third place playoff match in four games to the Presidio Blue Devils.

The Eagles rallied after an opening game 25-22 loss to Presidio to even the match at a game apiece with a 25-14 win, but couldn’t put the Blue Devils away twice with game point in the third game of the match. Presidio rallied from 24-23 and 25-24 deficits to win by a 27-25 score, then shut down a Pecos comeback effort in the fourth game to win, 25-20 and advance to the bi-district round of the Class 3A playoffs.

Presidio will play the team Pecos has faced the past two seasons in the playoffs, Lamesa, in a game scheduled for 7 p.m. on Tuesday at the Pecos High School gym. The Eagles lost to Lamesa each of the past two seasons, and fell to the Tornaodes as well in the area round eight years ago, when their playoff string began.

“If we had just pulled out the third game I think the outcome would have been different,” said Eagles’ coach Becky Granado, who said unforced errors on offense did in Pecos on Friday.

“We had a lot of offense, but we made mistakes hitting. We had 21 missed hits and that was almost the game right there,” she said. “We stepped it up in the second game, and I thought it would carry over to the third game and we’d come out with a lot of momentum, but we did not.”

Granado said Pecos also missed a couple of serves and had some problems passing the ball to their setters. “Our passed half the time weren’t there. The setters had to come from behind the 10-foot line to set the ball, and the hitters had to adjust to a different angle. But a lot of them were good sets, and we just didn’t hit the ball in.”

The Eagles had a chance in the fourth match, when they cut a five-point Blue Devils lead down to 22-20. But Presidio was able to break serve and Pecos never got the ball back on offense.

“They started dinking the ball over our front line after they realized we had changed our defense,” Granado said. “They hit the ball a little, but they weren’t overpowering us.” “We never got going , and that’s been the story for a lot of our season,” she added.

Pecos ended up losing their final five matches of the season to finish with an 18-19 record, 1-6 in District 3-3A play. Presidio improved to 2-5 and will face Lamesa, which wound up losing a first place playoff to Sweetwater for the District 4-3A title.

Greenwood beat out Snyder for third in that district and will face 3-3A runner-up Fort Stockton, while District 3-3A champ Monahans earned a first round bye.

Granado said aside from Tuesday’s Pecos-Lamesa playoff match, the Pecos High School gym may host a playoff match on Thursday between Fort Davis and Van Horn, though that depended on the outcome of Fort Davis’ playoff for first in District 2-A tonight against Marathon.

Sub-varsity squads lose games to Loboes

The Pecos Eagles’ sub-varsity football teams all came up short on Thursday in games against Monahans, with the junior high squads losing on the Loboes’ home field while the JV was beaten in Pecos.

The JV was up a few players from the previous week, when they had just 13 suited out in their loss to Greenwood. Pecos got a few back from ineligibility, but couldn’t get into the end zone on offense, and ended up losing by a 39-0 final score.

Over in Monahans, Pecos’ seventh grade purple team lost by a 30-0 score, while the seventh grade gold team fell, 12-6. In the eighth grade games, the purple team lost 14-6, and the gold team was beaten by a 52-6 score.

The seventh graders’ lone score was on a fumble return of 35 yards by Nicholas Granado, while the gold team’s touchdown in the eighth grade was on special teams, on a Ariel Jimenez kickoff return. The lone score by the offense was in the purple game, on a touchdown by Jeremy Martinez.

“We went in at halftime leading 6-0, but in the second half we had trouble moving the ball, said eighth grade coach Orlando Matta.

The losses left the eighth grade purple team with a 5-2 record, while the gold team is 2-3-1. the seventh grade purple team fell to 2-5, and the gold team is 1-3-1, while the JV saw their record slip to 0-9 with their loss.

The final games of the season for the sub-varsity teams are this Thursday. Pecos’ seventh and eighth graders will host Fort Stockton, beginning at 4 and 5:30 p.m., while the JV closes out their season with a 5 p.m. game on the Panthers’ home field.

Swimmers 2nd in Abilene despite struggles in relay

The Pecos Eagles’ swim team had some problems with their times and relay events on Saturday in Abilene, but both the boys and girls squads still managed to come out in second place overall at the Abilene Invitational, thanks to some good finishes in their individual events.

The girls took second by a wide margin over meet host Abilene Wylie, finishing with 251 points, to 132 for the Bulldogs and 131 for Big Spring. San Angelo Central won the meet with 333 points.

Central also won the boys’ division with 352 points, but the second place margin for the Eagles was much closer there. They finished with 161 points to 155 for Monahans and 153 1/2 points for Fort Stockton.

The Loboes beat the Eagles in the 400-yard freestyle relay and the Panthers finished ahead of Pecos in the 200 free, while both teams beat the Eagles in the 200 medley relay. The girls fared better, placing behind Central in second both in the 200 medley and 400 freestyle relays. But Pecos placed behind district rivals Wylie and Big Spring in the 200 freestyle relay.

“Monahans has a few boys who swam good relays, and right now we don’t have enough depth, so I’m working on some changes,” said Eagles’ coach Terri Morse, who added that a bad turn on the final leg of the 200 medley relay cost the boys a chance at a medal, as they placed fourth there and in the 400 freestyle relay and fifth in the 200 free relay. “In Big Spring we had some people cut their times. We had a few with better times (in Abilene) and had some good swims, but our times were a little off from what we swam a week ago.”

“The girls seemed to do better. It helps to have some back who weren’t out,” said Morse, who was short a couple of swimmers recently due illness and ineligibility. “Now I’ll see what we can do to get them back in shape.”

The boys offset their relay problems with two first place efforts and several other medals in the individual events to earn second overall. Matt Oglesby won the 200 medley wit a time of 2:12.83 and Matt Elliott took the 100-yard butterfly in 58.21. Kyle Winkles was second the 100 yard freestyle with a time of 51.99 and in the 100 yard backstroke, though there he placed behind district rival Zac Vaughn of Monahans.

“He was on this week, and he’s a senior and wants to do well this year,” Morse said. Kyle was a little off and he had a good meet.”

Oglesby was also third in the 100 fly for Pecos’ other medal of the meet. The Eagles’ other finishes included 12th and 13th place efforts by Alonzo Garcia and Matthew Florez in the 200 freestyle; a fifth by Dustin Windham in the 1-meter diving; a 16th by Windham and a 29th by Luke Serrano in the 100 free; a sixth by Florez in the 500 free and a 20th by Serrano in the 100 backstroke.

The girls picked up a quartet of first place individual finishes, two by Lindsey Shaw in the 200 medley and the 100 breaststroke. She won that race in 1:18.15 and took the 200 medley with a 1:53.06 time. The other medals were by Susan Moore in the 100 fly and Teddie Salcido in the 500 freestyle. Moore took the fly and was second in the 50 free, while Salcido won with a 6:04.57 and was second in the 200 free.

Amie Reynolds picked up a third place medal in the 100 breaststroke, while Ashley Mendoza was third in the 500 free and fifth in the 200 free; Cassandra Matta was eighth in the 200 medley; Catherine Minjarez was fifth and Amanda Contreras 20th in the 50 free; Contreras was eighth in the 100 fly; Reynolds was fifth and Matta 16th in the 100 free; Cynthia Marmalejo was 13th in the 500 free; Minjarez was seventh and Marmalejo 22nd in the 100 backstroke for Pecos’ other points.

The Eagles will get another chance to see Monahans on Thursday, when they host the Loboes in a dual meet at the Pecos High School pool. The swimming events will start at 6 p.m., while diving will take place at 4:30 p.m.

Eagle hoop teams starting seasons at home

The Pecos Eagles basketball teams will be starting district play in December for the first time in a decade, and will be starting their 2004-05 seasons with home games, a week from Tuesday for the girls, and in 2 1/2 weeks for the boys.

The Eagles will also be starting the year with two new coaches at the helm of the varsity squads. Art Welborn takes over as head coach for the boys, after Joe Flores took the vacant head coaching job in Fort Stockton over the summer, while Lisa Lowery is the new head coach for Pecos’ girls, replacing Veronica Valenzuela, who is now the head girls track coach for Pecos.

Lowery’s team will be the first to begin regular season play, as the girls open and close their season a week before the boys, a change from previous years, when both girls and boys teams started their seasons on the same week. Pecos’ opening game will be on Tuesday, Nov. 9 at home against the Eldorado Eagles, and they’ll follow that up three days later with their first road contest, in Alpine against the Bucks.

Welborn’s boys will have a scrimmage at Odessa Permian on Nov. 9, but their season won’t get underway for another 10 days. They’ll host former district rival Kermit in their regular season opener on Nov. 19, which will also be the first of nine doubleheader games at home for the Eagles this season, as the girls also will take on the Yellowjackets that night.

With the early start to the girls’ season, and with seven teams in District 3-3A for basketball, the district opener for the girls will be on Dec. 13 in Fort Stockton, followed by their home opener on Dec. 17 versus Monahans. The boys will be hosting Wink that night in their final pre-district contest. Their 3-3A opener will be on Dec. 21, when they travel to Presidio to face the Blue Devils.

Both teams will also have three tournaments this season, two prior to district and one over the Christmas-New Year’s holiday. The boys will be going back to the Gym Bice Tournament in Andrews and to the Monahans Sandhills Tournament the first two weekends of December, while the girls also will be going back to their same tournaments as a year ago, in Lamesa on Dec. 2-4 and at Stanton on Dec. 9-11.

The boys will go to Lamesa for the Holiday Tournament on Dec. 28-30, while the girls will go to the Reagan County Tournament on Dec. 27-29. Both teams will then be going back to Lamesa for district games on Jan. 11. Pecos and Lamesa are in the same district for the first time in 16 years, though both the boys and girls faced each other last season, while this will be the first time in 26 years Pecos has been in the same district with Seminole, who’ll be in Pecos on Jan. 14 and host the Eagles on Feb. 8, in the girls’ final regular season contest.

Aside from the new district rivals, the seven 3-3A teams will also have a district tournament for both the junior varsity and freshman squads at the end of January. The JV tournament will be held in Seminole, while Fort Stockton will host the freshmen tournaments for the boys and girls.



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