The Skyline Newspaper

Photo: Larry Lovato led the Lobo's to fifth place at Saturday's cross country competition. Photo by Jason Hennington

Lovato Finishes 12th at CC Competition

Larry Lovato's 12-place finish (28:33.34) led the Sul Ross men's cross country team at Saturday's Division III Championships hosted by McMurry University in Abilene.

Led by Lovato, Lubbock, the Lobos finished at fifth place out of nine teams competing. Sul Ross' women's team did not place in the team scoring as just four runners finished. Dorothy Quiroz, Alpine, was the fifth runner and was unable to finish due to an injury.

Freshman Crispin Salais, El Paso, finished 18th with a time of 29:13.53 despite running off course for a short bit after being misdirected by a course official. Other finishers for Sul Ross were Peter Ojeda ,Del Rio, 41st, 32:30.30; David Torres, El Paso, 46th, 33:45.11; and Jose Luna, Del Rio, 51st, 34:36.32, out of the 71 runners competing.

"We were looking to run under 28:00 but the hot humid conditions seemed to slow everyone down a bit," coach Don Cook said after Saturday's competition.

In women's competition, Karen Hancock, El Paso, finished 42nd with a time of 28:52.93. Other Sul Ross finishers were Christina Solis, El Paso, and Stephanie Gutierrez, El Paso, placed 59th and 60th, respectively, with times of 31:17.95 and 31:20.91. Devin Shrier, Port Aransas, finished 69th, 33:36.71.

"Overall, all the teams looked good and should be very competitive in the conference meet," Cook said. "This was the first meet with most of the in-state conference schools attending and we held our own."

Both teams will be in Odessa Saturday, Oct. 6, at the University of Texas Permian Basin Invitational.

Lobos Lose Lead, ASC Hopes to ETB

This week, Coach Steve seeks to Wright his wrongs.

Sul Ross State University's head coach assumed the blame for Saturday's (Sept. 22) 41-28 setback to visiting East Texas Baptist University. The Lobos, 2-2, 0-2 in American Southwest Conference action, led 21-7 midway through the second quarter before stumbling.

"Probably the area we need the most improvement in is Coach Wright," said Wright.

"I did a very poor job at critical times on play calling, personnel that needed to be in the game and game management."

Personnel factors played a critical role, too. Sul Ross lost starting wide receiver Jacob Warden, Bandera, with a season-ending leg injury early in the first quarter.

Back-up Sean Collins, Houston Alief Hastings, caught a touchdown pass, then saw his play limited with cramps.

Sul Ross exploded for three touchdowns over a six-minute span. After Warden was injured, Collins stepped in and snared a leaping 29-yard scoring grab from Austin Davidson, Hallsville, with 4:58 left in the first session. Just 1:12 later, Cameron Holliness, Royce City, took a short pass from Carlo Dominguez, Ramondville, and burst 75 yards for a second score. Michael Van Wagner's, Bandera, extra point put the Lobos in front 14-7.

After Sul Ross' defense forced another punt, Davidson drove the Lobos 67 yards in seven plays, hitting Joc Quise Brown, Temple, on a 25-yard completion for the touchdown with 13:57 left in the half.

Thereafter, ETBU, on the arm of Thad Fortune and the legs of Corey George, took over.

Fortune passed 25 yards to Ruben Robinson to cap a four-play, 68-yard march with 7:59 left. Brandon Sampson picked off a Davidson pass at the SR 11 and returned it seven yards to the four. George followed with his second touchdown of the game for a 21-21 tie with 3:21 remaining.

A Lobo fumble set up a third straight score, just 22 seconds before intermission.

George capped the nine-play, 53-yard advance with a three-yard run. Kyle Pope added his fourth straight conversion for the 28-21 edge.

George, who gained 151 yards in 24 rushes, scored his fourth and fifth touchdowns in the second half. His three-yard run built a 34-21 margin, and a four-yard plunge with 9:08 left in the game extended the margin to 41-21.

Freshman quarterback Dominguez, who averaged 43 yards on five punts, completed the scoring with a 40-yard run with 6:05 left, followed by Van Wagner's extra point. He finished with 53 yards rushing on four carries and hit both his passes for 101 more.

The Lobos outgained the Tigers 399-387. Davidson completed 16 of 32 passes for 197 yards and two scores. TJ Barber, Midland High, added 53 yards rushing in 16 trips as Sul Ross had 101 on the ground.

Brown caught four passes for 50 yards; Jarrett Dickerson, Willis, had three grabs for 37 and Holliness and Adam Cuellar, Kyle/Hays, snared two each, for 82 and 39 yards, respectively.

Fortune completed 15 of 26 passes for 199 yards and the ETBU ground game added 188.

Sul Ross suffered three interceptions, lost a fumble, endured four sacks and had two touchdowns called back due to penalties.

"Murphy's Law played a big factor," said Wright. "Whatever could go wrong, did. We lose Jacob Warden on a freak football play for the season; one of our guys and one of their guys had their feet tangle up and they fell into Jacob. Two touchdowns are called back on holding calls, and I place a very low grade on my coaching efficiency at critical times. Overall, this was a tough home loss to a conference opponent.

"We really like how the defense played in the second half, and Carlo Dominguez is going to be something special," he said. "Our kickoff cover and return units improved. We still are not getting what we need from our punt return and punt personnel. Our offensive line is going to have to get better and our quarterbacks will have to protect the football if we are going to compete. Defensively, we need to create more turnovers."

Defensively, Nathan Graham, Odessa Permian, recorded 16 tackles, Jarrett Ballew, Andrews, had 10 and Fernie Acosta, El Paso Americas, eight. Jamal Johnson, Odessa Permian, intercepted a pass, forced a fumble and had six tackles. Zach Gideon, Hallsville, was in on six stops and Randy Enriquez, Pharr North, recorded a sack.

The Lobos are on the road for the fourth time in five weeks, traveling to Brownwood aturday, Sept. 29, 1 p.m., to face Howard Payne University. The Yellow Jackets are 0-3, 0-1 in ASC action. Sul Ross edged HPU 60-56 at Jackson Field in 2006, their first win over the 'Jackets since 1988. Howard Payne lost 33-27 in overtime to NAIA Texas College.

Lobo Tracks...Davidson has passed for 6,339 yards and 47 touchdowns during his career, ranking behind Scott Kello (7,400 yards) and Larry Hill (52 TD passes)....Barber's record rushing yardage continues to mount, to 3,294, 333 this season....Brown has 24 catches for 458 yards and six scores...Johnson has a pair of interceptions, three pass break-ups, a forced fumble and is averaging 8.8 yards on five punt returns and 18.3 on five kickoff runbacks.

Lady Lobos Seek First ASC Win

Sul Ross State University continues to seek the elusive first conference win as a lengthy road trip continues.

Coach Rick Garcia's team, 1-9 overall and 0-5 in American Southwest Conference West Division action, played at McMurry University in Abilene Wednesday, Sept. 26, and will compete in the first of two ASC Crossover tournaments in Richardson Friday and Saturday, Sept. 28-29. Sul Ross plays the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor at 4:30 p.m. Friday, then meets the University of Texas-Tyler at 9:30 a.m. and UT-Dallas at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

The Lady Lobos return home Wednesday, Oct. 3, 6 p.m., to host Hardin-Simmons University at the Gallego Center.

Sul Ross fell 3-0 to the University of Texas Permian Basin in Odessa last Wednesday, Sept. 19, then dropped 3-1 decisions at Concordia University Texas in Austin Friday and at Howard Payne University in Brownwood Saturday.

Division II UTPB evened its season record at 8-8 with a 30-23, 30-22, 30-24 win over Sul Ross at Odessa.

Melanie Valenciana, Odessa, returned to her hometown and led the Lady Lobo cause with 11 kills and a .423 hitting percentage. Stacy Macias, Fabens, and Jennifer Harder, El Paso, had five kills apiece, while Lyndi Cypher, Monahans, supplied four and had a team-high 12 digs.

Bianca Espinoza, San Antonio, had 20 set assists and 11 digs, while Carin Stocks, Stockdale, and Harder had 11 and 10, respectively.

Concordia-Texas won 30-20, 30-15, 27-30, 30-25 Friday in Austin. Macias recorded a double-double with 12 kills and 11 digs, while Espinoza had 28 set assists, 12 digs, five kills and six service aces. Valenciana had nine kills and four service aces; Cypher five kills and 15 digs and Harder added 12 digs. Sul Ross served 12 aces in the match.

Howard Payne snapped a 1-1 tie, winning the last two games in Saturday's match. The Lady Jackets won 30-23 and the Lady Lobos answered with a 32-30 win before HPU gained 30-22, 30-27 victories. Valenciana collected a season-high 20 kills and Macias added 12 . Harder and Espinoza posted eight and seven kills, respectively.

Harder had 24 digs while Espinoza, Elfida Olivas, Presidio, and Cypher collected 11 digs apiece. Espinoza also added 39 set assists to her credit and four aces for the afternoon.