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Newspaper and Travel Guide
for Pecos Country of West Texas
Friday, November 9, 2007
PHS golfers show improvement in Andrews
Pecos Eagle girls golf coach Tina Doan was happier with her team’s performance last weekend at the Andrews Fall Invitational than she was with their efforts a week earlier at Abilene, while boys coach Gaylon Doan was happier with his players’ second-day efforts in Andrews, as both squads closed out their brief fall seasons.
Pecos’ girls placed fifth in Andrews, shooting a 362-373-735 score. Senior Carolina Briones shot an 85-88-173 for the Eagles’ low score of the tournament, while senior Rica Pino had the low round on Saturday, with an 85 and finished at 176 overall. Freshman Tatum Windham shot an 88-97-185, while Ari Alligood had a 98-103-201 and Katrina Hinojos shot a 104-114-218 for the Eagles’ other scores.
“I was proud of them. They improved and got in there and fought this time, and got a little more confidence,” Tina Doan said.
Briones cut 11 strokes off her total the previous week in Abilene, while Pino improved by 20 shots from a week earlier.
“Carolina held up on her part both days. Tatum had a little problem the second day, but she’s a freshman and is trying to adjust to a different level of competition, and we’re going to work on that,” Doan said. “Rica finally understands that she can break 90, and I’m going to expect that from her all the time.”
Andrews easily won the tournament, shooting a 299-311-610 on their home course. Doan said the Eagles were fourth after the opening round, but were caught by Frenship on the final day of play and placed three shots in back of the Tigers.
Hinojos was one of five Pecos golfers also to make the trip on Monday to Sweetwater, where the Eagles placed third in a junior varsity tournament, with a 438 score for 18 holes of play. Odessa Permian shot a 364 to win first, while Snyder placed six strokes ahead of Pecos for second with a 432 score.
Samantha Sparkman shot a 99 to lead the Eagles, while Rina Pino shot a 111, Cynthia Ramirez had a 116, Hinojos shot a 116 and Heather Matta shot a 135.
“Samantha broke 100 for the first time, so she was real excited,” Doan said. “For some of the other girls, this was their first tournament, so they were nervous, but they did a good job and were real excited about getting third.”
Pecos’ boys only had three players make the trip to Andrews, one short of the minimum for a team score. “I thought we were going to have four, but one of mine went to a CrimeStoppers convention,” said Gaylon Doan.
He said sophomores Richard Dutchover and Mateo Tarango and freshman Coe Duke were the only golfers to make the trip. “They didn’t compete very well on Friday, but they did a lot better on Saturday,” Doan said. “They still have to learn the mental aspect of the game, but they’ll get better.
“This was their first tournament on a tough golf course that’s totally different from what they’re used to, so they had a hard time on Friday but came back and competed a lot better, so I was pleased with the outcome,” he said.
The boys’ next tournament won’t be until late January, when they compete at the El Paso Cathedral Tournament. The girls’ next action won’t be until the San Angelo Girls Classic the opening weekend of February.
Eagles host Coyotes to close season
The Pecos Eagles had their problems on defense a week ago against the Fort Stockton Panthers, while the Tornillo Coyotes had even more problems against the Monahans Loboes. And both teams had problems defensively when the teams faced each other a year ago.
So the Eagles and Coyotes will be trying to come up with better defensive showings Friday night, as well as improving on their offensive efforts from a week ago, when they teams close out their 2007 football seasons with a 7:30 p.m. game at Eagle Stadium.
Pecos comes in with a 1-7 season record, 1-4 in district play, following their 49-13 loss at Fort Stockton last Friday, while Tornillo is 3-5 on the season and 0-5 in district play after a 62-0 home loss against Monahans. But coach Chris Henson said several Tornillo players were absent from the Coyotes’ game a week ago.
“I talked with coach (Monahans’ Mickey) Owens, and he said they suited out 16 Friday night,” Henson said. Among the missing was quarterback Carlos Ortiz, who the Eagles had all kinds of problems stopping a year ago.
Ortiz was held out on offense in one other game this season, and in six starts has thrown for 713 yards and seven touchdowns, while running for another 327 yards and two scores. Last year he ran for 87 yards and a touchdown against Pecos and threw for 162 yards and two scores.
“He played the week before against Anthony and had a great game, and he did a great job against us last year,” Henson said. “He’s very mobile and throws well on the run. We’ve got to keep him in the pocket, because he’s more efficient when he scrambles and runs.”
Their top receiver this year has been Jesse Cardiel, who has caught 17 passes for 381 yards and five touchdowns, but also missed last week’s game. Last season, he caught a 37-yard TD pass from Ortiz midway through the final quarter to give the Coyotes a 36-33 lead, before the Eagles rallied in the final five minutes for a 47-36 victory.
With Ortiz absent last Friday, Henson said Manny Rodriguez played quarterback, moving over from his regular spot at fullback. “He played both ways at fullback and linebacker, so we’ve got to know where he is at all times.
Pecos needed a 327-yard rushing night by Luis Ortega last season to pick up their win at Tornillo, and big rushing nights have been big factors in the Eagles’ last two games. Pecos’ Hector Ramirez ran for 287 yards and five touchdowns two weeks ago in the Eagles’ lone win of the season, a 41-8 victory over Fabens, while they allowed Fernando Jacquez to run for 265 yards and three scores in last week’s 49-13 loss at Fort Stockton.
Tornillo allowed Monahans just under 400 yards rushing in their 62-0 victory, and have been allowing over 500 yards per game on defense during district play. Pecos gained over 500 yards in their win over Fabens and allowed over 500 last week in losing to Fort Stockton.
“They’ve run two different defenses. Against Monahans they came out in a 4-2-5 defense with three deep. The week before against Anthony they ran a 26 with a two deep secondary, so we’ve worked on both of those, but we expect them to stay in the 4-2-5 because Monahans stayed in the wing set, which is what we run,” Henson said.
“They’re all right in the size area, but their front line doesn’t move that well,” he added. “Their linebackers, Rudy Hernandez and Rodriguez, are their strength, so we’ve game-planned to cut down their linebackers, and we should be able to run the ball effectively if we do that.”
Pecos will be without senior starting linebacker Wayne Sparkman, who injured his knee in last week’s loss to Fort Stockton. Henson said Daniel Sotelo and Efrain Sosa would take his place. “Daniel and Efrian both start on the offensive line, so we’ll be alternating them to give each one a breather,” he said.
Henson said Brian Mora was sick earlier this week and would split time at running back with Michael Tarin and Timo Reyes. All three, along with wingback Chris Sotelo, will also be playing some in the defensive backfield. “We’re just really thin in the secondary right now,” he said.
One player who won’t be available is junior wide receiver Jeremy Martinez, who broke his foot in the first half of the Eagles’ season opener against Alpine back in August. Martinez, who led the district in receiving last season with 30 catches, had hoped to return for Pecos’ final game, but Henson said, “If this was going to extend our season, he would play, but our trainer Joel Birch said he wants to have him rest and get some more time off so he can get completely healthy next year.”
Friday’s game will also be “Senior Night” for the Eagles. Parents of the 14 Eagle seniors and senior members of the PHS Band and Eagle cheerleaders will be recognized during a ceremony scheduled to start at 7 p.m.
Eagles to have crowded pool for meet
The Pecos Eagles swim team will be hosting 19 other schools for the annual Pecos Invitational, with diving set for Friday evening at the Pecos High School pool and up to nine hours of races on Saturday, starting shortly before 11 a.m.
Class 5A teams from Midland, Odessa, Abilene and Lubbock will be entered in the meet, along with Pecos’ five District 4-4A rivals. El Paso Bowie, El Paso Jefferson, Pampa and Clovis, N.M. will make up the rest of the field of 20 teams and nearly 400 swimmers that coach Terri Morse said would be at the pool on Saturday.
“We may start a little early because of all the races,” she said of the normal 11 a.m. opening of the meet, with a first heat of the girls 200-yard medley relay. The final race isn’t expected to finish until shortly before 8 p.m., while the diving finals will start on Friday at 5 p.m.
Pecos defeated Monahans in a dual meet last Thursday at the PHS pool, and two weeks ago in Big Spring the boys placed first and the girls third in their first invitational meet of the season.
Pecos was minus several people last Thursday, but Morse said, “Right now everybody’s well.” She said that would include senior Matthew Florez, which will allow her to return to her normal lineups for the ‘A’ relays, though she added, “I’m going to try to speed up the second medley relay team, to see if I can get them into scoring range. So I’m going to make a couple of changes to see what happens.”
Pecos’ girls didn’t field a 200 or 400 freestyle relay team last week due to illness, but will have their regular swimmers back there, along with a couple of others, according to Morse.
“I do have two more girls. Neyva (Rodriguez) is going to be swimming and Nikki (Lindemann). Neyva’s definitely going to be swimming individual events, and Nikki I don’t know about. I’m going to have to talk to her first.”
The large field means the times finals will include a large number of heats in most races. There will be 14 heats in the girls 50-yard freestyle and 12 in the boys 50 free and in both divisions of the 100 free, but Morse said, “Those races won’t take as long as some of the others with a lot fewer heats.”
Pecos will have one more meet before the Thanksgiving holidays, next weekend at the Monahans Invitational.
Pecos girls face Alpine in basketball season opener
Less size, more speed will be the Pecos Eagles’ main changes in girls basketball for the 2007-08 season, as they try to advance to the playoffs for two straight years for the first time since 5-on-5 girls play began in the late 1970s.
The Eagles opened their 2007-08 season on Thursday night in Alpine with a game against the Bucks, and will play their home opener next Friday against the Kermit Yellowjackets. Friday’s game will be the first for Donna Gent as the Eagles’ coach, as she takes over from Debbie Garcia, whose 2006-07 team went 7-16 on the year and 4-3 in District 2-3A.
Pecos shared the 2-3A title last year with Monahans, advancing to the playoffs last year for the first time since 1991. They lost a playoff for the opening round bye to the Loboes, but got their first-ever playoff win in 5-on-5 basketball, defeating Tornillo in the bi-district round before losing in the area round to Snyder.
Gent will have two starters back from last year’s team, in juniors Gabby Garcia and Jasmine Rayos. But both, along with several other Eagles, were members of Pecos’ varsity volleyball team that just ended its 2007 season this past Saturday.
The Eagles will be mostly an underclass squad this season, but Gent said the addition of senior Diana Parada should make a big difference in the backcourt for Pecos.
“Diana is going to be a big asset for us. She is an excellent ball-handler and she knows the game. She’s an overall leader on the court,” Gent said.
Parada played for the Eagles at the junior high level, but had spent the past three years at Midland Lee. Gent said her return will allow Garcia to switch from guard to post this season.
“She was our second-leading rebounder last season playing at guard, so she’s very aggressive inside,” the Eagles’ coach said.
“We’re going to be a very quick team, which will help us, considering we won’t be very big,” Gent added. Aside from Garcia and Rayos, guard Brittany Palomino and post Claire Weinacht are the other two returning players off last year’s squad. Both are juniors, while Gia Lujan will be the only other senior besides Parada on the varsity this season.
“Right now I have three sophomores, Ally Salcido, Brittany Quintana and Olivia Castillejda, up to see if they can help with the quickness on the court,” Gent said. Pecos will have one other sophomore on the varsity, in post Veronica Tarin, along with two other juniors, in forward Kristen Ikeler and post Catherine Moore.
Overall, Pecos will have 28 players this year, and Gent said that will allow the Eagles to have both junior varsity and freshman squads. “The only way we’ll have two teams is if we have some failures I’m not expecting and I have to combine the JV and freshman teams,” she said.
The Eagles have upgraded their pre-district schedule a bit this season, though most of the schedule is similar to a year ago. They’ll go to Midland Greenwood for tournament play in late November instead of the Sandhills Tournament in Monahans, and in December have added two games prior to Christmas, including a Dec. 21 contest against Midland Lee.
District play for Pecos will start on Jan. 18 in Presidio, where the Eagles also have a non-district game set for Nov. 20. Their 2-3A home opener will be on Jan. 22 against Monahans, and their regular season will wrap up with a Feb. 5 game in Fort Stockton.
Pecos’ boys will open their 2007-08 season a week after the girls’ start their season. Pecos’ first game is set for Nov. 16 at home against Sweetwater at the Pecos High School gym. The Eagles will also host Alpine the Monday before Thanksgiving, and will have tournaments in Coahoma, Wink and Alpine this season, with their district opener on Jan. 25 at home against Fort Stockton.
Pecos Enterprise
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Phone 432-445-5475, FAX 432-445-4321
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