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Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Sub-varsity gridders go 2-3-1 in games against Ft. Stockton
Pecos’ junior high gold teams picked up two wins on Thursday at home, while the purple teams had a loss and a tie hosting the Fort Stockton Panthers.
Pecos’ junior high gold teams won their games, with the eighth grade team defeating Fort Stockton, 22-14, while the seventh graders won 20-0. The seventh grade gold team played a scoreless tie with the Panthers while the eighth graders lost to Fort Stockton, 19-6.
Down in Fort Stockton, the freshmen Eagles were forced to go with a much smaller squad and were beaten by the Panthers, 19-6, while the JV lost by a 42-6 final score.
The ninth graders had to borrow a JV quarterback Maurice Johnson to play their game, after losing 20 players to grades. Pecos fell behind by a 12-0 score, then got a 65-yard touchdown run by Dylan Garcia in the second period. Fort Stockton then made it 19-6 before the Eagles got their final TD, on a 70-yard pass from Johnson to Edmundo Dominguez.
“We had a lot of new players out there because we lost so many starters, so I thought we did pretty good for all the players who hadn’t been out there as much this year,” said coach Eric Garcia.
In the eighth grade games, Ben Dominguez had a 45-yard touchdown run and a TD pass to Mark Quintana for the gold team, while Josh Hernandez scored on a 55-yard fumble return. Geronimo Ornelas had two-point conversion passes to Mark Martinez and Ronnie Licon.
In the purple game, the Eagles had three turnovers in the first quarter. Fort Stockton converted one into a nine-yard touchdown run, then scored late in the second period on 17- and 22-yard touchdown passes. Pecos’ score came early in the final period, on a 15-yard pass from Pedro Cano to Larry Martinez.
The seventh grade purple team missed on a couple of early scoring chances and held off a late threat by Fort Stockton to get the tie, while in the gold team’s win, Aaron Castillo, Zack Ramirez and Alvaro Dominguez had touchdowns for the Eagles.
Halftime hole traps Bears, Vaqueros escape with win
A series of second quarter mistakes put the Balmorhea Bears in a four-touchdown hole at halftime they were almost able to climb out of in the second half of their District 1-A six-man football opener at Sierra Blanca on Friday night.
But after cutting a 49-20 lead to 57-54, the Bears weren’t able to overtake the host Vaqueros, as Sierra Blanca would score twice in the closing minutes for a 69-54 victory.
“Offensively, we did terribly in the first half. I think we had five turnovers,” said Bears’ coach Debiasie Mendoza, whose team fell to 3-3 overall on the season. “I think we had 86 yards and five turnovers, and they had 346 yards.
“We had two fumbles and an interception one receiver just tipped right into their hands,” Mendoza said. The biggest problems came right at the end of the half, when the Vaqueros converted two turnovers into touchdowns after the Bears had stayed within two scores up until that point.
Sierra Blanca led 13-0 when Nigel Lozano returned a kickoff 51 yards for a touchdown, while Gabriel Jurado had a touchdown run set up by a 40-yard kickoff return by Russell Garlick.
In the third quarter, Mendoza said the Bears were able to stop Sierra Blanca, and got a 40-yard TD run from Garlick, followed by a 33-yard fumble return by Lozano to get back into the game. The Vaqueros then got their first touchdown of the half to make it 57-36, but Balmorhea responded with three straight scores, two on passes of six- and three-yards from Garlick of Harry Barron at the end of the third period and early in the fourth quarter, around a 26-yard TD run by Garlick.
“We brought it all the way down to three early in the fourth quarter, but then we ran out of gas, I think. It was just too big a hole to climb out of,” Mendoza said.
Sierra Blanca scored to widen the lead to 63-54, then added a final touchdown while the Bears turned the ball over once on downs and the second time on their final interception of the game.
Sierra Blanca, which lost its district opener the previous week to Sanderson by a 50-13 score, is 1-1 in district and 3-4 on the season. Balmorhea is scheduled to play at home this Friday against Marathon, which fell to Sanderson on Friday, 64-0, but Mendoza said that game is in doubt.
“They only had six players, and one of them was injured (against Sanderson). So right now we’re looking at Marathon might not play the game,” he said. If the Mustangs have to forfeit, Bears would then be idle until Nov. 2, went they travel to Dell City, unless they can find a replacement game in the next few days.
Pecos swimmers capture first, third at Big Spring meet
The Pecos Eagle boys swimming team took home first place from their first invitational meet of the 2007-08 season on Saturday, while Pecos’ girls placed third out of eight teams at the Big Spring Invitational.
The boys scored 384 points, 177 more than runner-up Andrews, while the girls had 185 points, behind Midland Lee (253 points) and Midland High (205), but ahead of District 4-4A rivals Big Spring (157) and Abilene Wylie (155).
It was the first time this season Pecos had faced Andrews, Big Spring and Wylie in a regular meet, though coach Terri Morse said none of the teams were at full strength on Saturday.
“We had some out for band, so we had to change a few things,” she said, adding that the other schools had the same problem, due to Saturday’s UIL area marching competitions.
“It actually may have helped some of our girls place who don’t normally place, because so many band kids were out. I know Andrews had a lot of their kids in band,” she said.
Pecos did have most of their swimmers available on the boys’ side, and the Eagles picked up two medals in the 400-yard freestyle relay, with the ‘A’ team of Josh Elliott, Hector Roman, Derek Teague and Matthew Florez winning with a 3:39.19 time, while the ‘B’ relay of Frankie Morin, Edward and Carlos Navarro and Luke Serrano taking third.
The boys’ relay team of Elliott, Carlos Navarro, Florez and Roman also won the 200 medley with a 1:52.87 time, while the Eagles’ ‘B’ relay of Gus Mendoza, Brian Carrasco, Abraham Lujan and Sammy Sandoval were sixth. In the 200 free relay, Pecos had only one team, with Morin, Serrano, Edward Navarro and Teague placing second by .05 second behind Big Spring, with a 1:43.45 time.
“I put Carlos back on the 200 medley ‘A’ because I needed Derek on the 200 free,” Morse said. “Overall the times were OK. They may have been a little off on a few of them, but we’ve had quite a few kids sick.”
Individually, the Eagles got firsts from Elliott, who took the 200 freestyle with a 2:02.93 time and the 100-yard backstroke with a 59.34 time; Serrano, who won the 200 individual medley with a 2:24.47 time; and Teague, who won the 100-yard breaststroke with a 1:14.33 time. In 1-meter diving on Friday, Ramon also took first place, with a 180.50 score.
Carlos Navarro was just one second in back of Teague in the 100-yard breaststroke to earn second, while Florez was second in both his races, the 50- and 100-yard freestyles and Morin was second to Elliott in the 100 back. Pecos other medals came from a third place finish by Carrasco in the 200 medley and a third by Teague in the 50 free.
The other points for Pecos came from fifth and sixth place finishes by Edward Navarro and Mendoza in the 200 free; a fourth by Carlos Navarro in the 200 medley; a sixth by Mendoza, eighth by Carrasco and a ninth by Lujan in the 100-yard butterfly; a fourth by Roman and an eighth by Edward Navarro in the 100 free; a fifth by Morin and a sixth by Serrano in the 500 free; and a fifth by Sandoval in 1-meter diving.
The girls had one first place finish on the day, from Allyson Reynolds, who took the 100 medley with a 2:25.78 time. Reynolds, Conner Armstrong, Anatalia Hernandez and Adrianna Roman earned second in the 200 medley relay, with their 2:09.40 time .07 in back of Midland Lee, while the same four girls took third in the 400 freestyle relay. Reynolds also had a second place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke, while Armstrong was third in the 100-yard backstroke and fourth in the 50 free; Hernandez was fourth in the 100 fly and 500 freestyle and Roman was fifth in the 100 free.
“We had a couple of DQs we need to take care of, and work out some things, so the kids don’t make the same mistakes, but overall it wasn’t bad,” Morse said.
The 200 freestyle relay team of Tiffany Hunter, Dakota Hegar, Maggie Hernandez and Stephanie Lucas were ninth, but later placed sixth as Pecos’ ‘B’ relay in the 400-meter finals. Individually, Lucas was seventh in the 100 fly and 10th in the 100-yard backstroke, Hunter was seventh in the 500 free and 11th in the 200 free; Hegar was 11th in the 100 free and 15th in the 50 free; and Maggie Hernandez was ninth in the 200 medley.
The Eagles are off this week, and will swim next on Nov. 1, when they host Monahans for a dual meet. Pecos will be at home as well for their next invitational meet, the Pecos Invitational on Nov. 9-10.
Mistake-prone Eagles fall to Lions, 37-22
A little bit of this and a little bit of that added up to a sixth straight loss for the Pecos Eagles on Friday night in Clint.
Penalties and blown pass coverages helped the host Clint Lions jump out to an 18-8 lead at halftime, while four second half turnovers allowed the Lions to stop a comeback attempt by the Eagles, and then pull away for a 37-22 victory.
Pecos failed to score twice after getting inside the 20-yard-line in the first period, thanks to a turnover at midfield and a defensive stand by the Eagles that gave them the ball inside Lions’ territory. Clint Quarterback Danny Soto then hooked up three times with receiver Anthony Aguilar for touchdowns in the second period, and Aguilar would grab a Nathan Duke fumble out of mid-air in the third period and race 46 yards for his fourth touchdown, after Pecos had cut their deficit to 20-15.
“We should have been up 14-0 in the first half,” said Eagles’ coach Chris Henson. “But penalties took care of that. We keep shooting ourselves in the foot over and over.”
Duke quarterbacked the Eagles in the second half in place of starter Paul Zubeldia. He threw for 134 yards and a touchdown in the first half, but left the game due to problems with the knee injury he suffered last month against Denver City that sidelined him for the Eagles’ earlier trip to El Paso, a 26-6 loss on Sept. 28 against Anthony.
“He didn’t think he could go any more, so we decided not to push it,” Henson said. “We didn’t want to jeopardize a kid just for one game.”
Duke had a 21-yard completion to Timo Reyes on the first drive of the second half, which was capped by Chris Sotelo’s 30-yard touchdown run. But the junior had problems holding onto the ball, fumbling three snaps, along with the fumble on a bootleg run that ended up in Aguilar’s hands.
“We’ve been working him with Justin (Contreras) in practice on snaps,” said Henson, who said the quarterback-center exchange has been a problem in practice.
Zubeldia was hit hard a couple of times while trying to pass deep in Clint territory in the first period. The Eagles took possession when Efrian Soza recovered a fumble by Edgar Martinez, and drove inside Clint’s 20 on first down runs by Hector Ramirez. But an illegal procedure call set the Eagles back, and a bad snap on a 27-yard field goal try by Luis Morales ended up giving the Lions the ball at the 19.
Pecos’ next series started at the Clint 43 and reached the 15 when Timo Reyes was stopped for a loss, Zubeldia was flagged for intentional grounding on pressure by Eddie Soto, and he was forced to throw early on a fourth down pass to Reyes at the goal line, due to pressure by Aguilar.
The Lions then started the second period with an 83-yard touchdown drive. A 12-yard run by Danny Soto got things going, and the drive ended with Soto finding Aguilar behind Pecos’ defense for a 35-yard score.
Pecos’ next series ended with the Ramirez being stopped short on a 4th-and-4 run at the Clint 43. The Eagles had a first down pass to Jonathan Dominguez wiped out by a motion penalty, then had a 10-yard run by Zubeldia called back on a holding call. Clint took over and needed just five plays to score, with Aguilar again getting in back of Pecos’ secondary, this time for a 40-yard TD catch and a 12-0 lead.
Pecos would answer back in 51 seconds, with Zubeldia connecting with Morales on a 30-yard touchdown. It was set up by a 40-yard pass play from the quarterback to Sotelo, and came on a 4th-and-10 play, after a dropped pass and two incompletions. Jonathan Soto, who had the drop, would then make a diving catch on a two-point conversion pass by Sotelo, who was able to elude Clint tacklers after another failed kick on the extra point.
But the Lions would then score with 3.4 seconds left in the half on another pass from Soto to Aguilar. This time the coverage was good, but the 6-foot-2 Aguilar was able to use his height advantage to go over Reyes and make the catch in the back corner of the end zone. Victor Villalobos added a two-point run to put Clint back up by 12 points as the half ended.
Reyes was seeing his first action of the season at defensive back, after Pecos saw starters Vincent Palomino and Drake Bradley become ineligible following the Eagles’ Oct. 5 loss to Monahans.
“We had three people back there who hadn’t played all year, so the ineligible guys hurt us. But I thought they overall did a good job. It was just a couple of times we got our feet mixed up, and the other time it was their 6-2 guy against our 5-7 and I knew they would look at that,” Henson said. “We thought about putting Paul back there to give us a little more height, but then he was hurt.”
When the third quarter opened, the Eagles were able to recover the first two fumbled snaps right before Sotelo’s touchdown run, when he again eluded a group of Lion defenders and scored two minutes into the period. Pecos then stopped Clint on downs at the Eagles’ 33 and had a 2nd-and-3 at their own 46 when Aguilar’s fumble return for a touchdown occurred, as Duke was hit from behind and had the ball knocked forwards into the linebacker’s hands.
“We had set that play up because they weren’t checking the quarterback, but it seemed like on that play, they had everybody up, and Nathan had the ball in the wrong arm and got hit,” Henson said.
That was followed two plays later by another fumbled snap that Jon Mendez recovered at the Pecos 44. A holding call set the Lions back and forced a punt, but Chris Villalobos’ short kick would bounce off t he helmet of Pecos’ Wayne Sparkman, with Mendez again recovering, this time at the Eagles’ 35. From there, the Lions used the running of Edgar Martinez and Luis Sanchez to drive inside the Pecos 10-yard-line, where Victor Villalobos capped things off with a nine-yard touchdown run.
The Eagles would hold the ball for only three plays on their next series, before Luis Morales was hit on a wide receiver reverse and fumbled, with Mendez again recovering. Pecos would allow Clint to drive inside the 10 before holding, but Aguilar connected on a 29-yard field goal with 2:59 to play.
Pecos then closed out the scoring with a one-yard run by Reyes with 27 seconds left to play. A 34-yard pass from Duke to Morales set up the score, following a 14-yard run by Sotelo.
The loss put Pecos at 0-3 in district and 0-6 on the season, while Clint improved to 2-2 in district and 5-3 overall. Fort Stockton and Monahans, winners over Anthony and Fabens, both are 3-0 in district, while Anthony and Fabens join the Lions in a tie for third with 2-2 marks.
The Eagles will host Fabens this Friday at 7:30 p.m. The Wildcats also are and 5-3 overall following their 35-0 home loss on Friday to Monahans. The Loboes are 3-0 and tied for first with Fort Stockton, 48-8 home winners over Anthony.
Eagles seek second place clincher Tuesday
The Pecos Eagles volleyball team will be trying to clinch second place in the District 2-3A standings on Tuesday, when they take on the Presidio Blue Devils in their final home game, and their final game of the 2007 regular season.
The Eagles will face the Blue Devils starting about 6 p.m., following the freshmen and junior varsity matches, scheduled for 4:30 p.m. starts.
Monahans clinched the District 2-3A title last Tuesday with a 25-14, 25-15, 25-14 win over Pecos, while Presidio was eliminated from the playoff race with a 25-23, 25-19, 25-10 loss to Fort Stockton. It dropped the Blue Devils to 0-5 in 2-3A play, while Pecos is 3-2. The Eagles can clinch second either win a win on Tuesday or a loss by Fort Stockton to Monahans.
A win would also clinch a bi-district match-up for the Eagles probably against Tornillo for the second year in a row. The Coyotes are in third place in the District 1-3A standings, while Clint defeated Fabens on Friday in a battle for first place in that district. The Wildcats will take on the third place team out of District 1-3A.
While Tuesday is the final regular season match for the varsity, Pecos’ seventh grade junior high teams still have one week to go in their seasons. The seventh and eighth graders both hosted Crane on Monday, and the seventh graders end their year next Monday with a trip to Fort Stockton.
Pecos’ seventh graders split matches this past Thursday against Monahans, with the seventh grade purple team defeating the Loboes, 17-25, 25-11, 25-23, while the gray team lost to Monahans, 25-20, 25-22.
Pecos Enterprise
York M. "Smokey" Briggs, Publisher
324 S. Cedar St., Pecos, TX 79772
Phone 432-445-5475, FAX 432-445-4321
e-mail news@pecos.net
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