Report From Pecos

By Lew
September 23, 2004

The following entry is the last entry posted about the Pecos Eagles from the PECOS FREE ENTERPRISE.

Lew


The Pecos Eagles unveiled their new artificial turf field Friday night for homecoming fans against the Kermit Yellowjackets. But the Eagles’ problems against Kermit were pretty much the same as a year ago on natural grass before their homecoming crowd.

The Eagles, who committed five turnovers in a loss to Kermit last season, turned the ball over six times Friday night against the Jackets. Combined with a bad punt snap that led to a safety and Hunter Hardaway’s big night on offense, it send the Eagles down to a 23-8 loss in their first official home game of the 2004 season.

Pecos had to play their scheduled home opener last week against Denver City in Monahans, and despite four fumbles and 10 penalties, the Eagles were able to rack up enough rushing yards to come away with a 31-13 victory. But playing against a tougher defense on Friday, the Eagles were held to under 100 yards rushing, and when a potential game-tying touchdown was called back late in the second quarter by a holding call, Pecos was unable to get the score back. Instead, they saw Hardaway take a screen pass from Landon Forga and turn it into a 94-yard touchdown with 1:26 left before halftime for a 14-0 Kermit lead.

“We can’t do that against good teams like that. We just left people running free,” said Eagles’ coach Patrick Willis. “We just need to grow up and compete against good teams and cut out those kind of mistakes in big games.”

Luis Ortega’s five-yard score was nullified by a penalty. Three runs after that netted just five yards, and Saul Pina couldn’t connect on a 10-yard fade pass to Rashad Terry in the corner of the end zone on fourth down. The Eagles would stop Cooter Green for a four-yard loss on the next play, but the Jackets then took advantage of Pecos’ aggressive pass rush, with Forga just dumping the ball over the line to Hardaway, who escaped two Eagle tacklers before breaking clear on his long scoring run.

Kermit had taken a 7-0 lead in the opening period when Hardaway connected with Cedric Thompson on a 28-yard option pass, which was set up by a 41-yard pass by Forga to Green. The score came after Randy Castillo picked off his second pass of the game by Pina, after a Gabby Saucedo fumble had given Pecos back the ball one play after Castillo’s first pickoff on the Eagles’ opening drive of the game.

The big first half passes turned out to be the only completions of the night for the Jackets, as Forga’s first two passes of the second half were picked off by the Eagles. Pina deflected a pass by Forga that was intercepted by Jonathan Carrasco, while Terry stopped in front of a pass to Hardaway and picked it off, both coming in the first 2 1/2 minutes of the third quarter.

But in between, the Eagles saw Kermit add another two points to their lead thanks to the punt snap over Eddie Vela’s head, and it came after another holding call wiped out a seven-yard gain by Ortega and Luis Licon couldn’t hold onto a long pass by Pina after getting behind Kermit’s secondary.

“They had a good defensive scheme, but we dropped one touchdown pass, and in a couple of crucial situations fumbled the ball or got a penalty,” Willis said.

Licon had pulled in a 43-yard pass from Pina in the second quarter, on the drive that was stopped by the holding penalty, while after Terry’s interception Pina would hit him with a short pass that turned into a 23-yard gain, setting up Ortega’s 8-yard TD run 6 1/2 minutes into the third period. Booker Fobbs added the two-point conversion run, which got Pecos within a touchdown and another conversion of tying the game, and the Eagles would stop Kermit on their next two possessions.

However, after Hardaway was stopped for an eight-yard loss by Chad Evans on a 3rd-and-9 play, Castillo‘s punt was muffed by Terry and recovered by Raul Resendez at the Eagles’ 15-yard-line. Four plays later, Hardaway got outside the Eagles’ defense on the left side for his second touchdown of the night, a 5-yard run. Michael Kittley’s extra point gave the Jackets a 15-point lead with 5:39 to play.

Pecos had one last chance to get back into the game, and drove down to the Kermit 25-yard line. But on a 2nd-and-10 play Pina tried to hit Terry down the right sideline, only to have Forga come over from his safety position to intercept the pass at the 4-yard-line to seal the victory.

GoFridayNight Team Pages