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A.D. Ibarra
-Eagle Pass
The 15 year old Eagle Pass Babe Ruth All Stars under the direction of Manager Oscar Gutierrez and assistant coaches Frank De la Garza and Xavier Moncada went undefeated to win the state championship on July 14. They beat Del Rio and Tri Counties. They go on to compete in Lake Jackson, TX in the Babe Ruth Southwest Regional Tournament on July 25 against teams from Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas. Not too long ago the core group of this team took Eagle Pass on an incredible ride very nearly qualifying for the Little League World Series. Headed by a solid group of pitchers, good coaching, quality defense and above-average hitting, this team will be representing Eagle Pass and Maverick County well in Lake Jackson next week.
A proud native of Weslaco, Texas, Omar Figueroa Jr. is the first Golden Boy Promotions fighter from the Rio Grande Valley, and the 23-year-old power puncher is pleased to lead the way for his fellow Texans.
Unbeaten in 22 fights, with 16 of his wins coming by knockout in three rounds or less, Figueroa has torn through his opposition since turning pro with a 25 second stoppage of Edwin Espinoza in June of 2008.
16 more KO victories have followed for the 5-foot-8 lightweight prospect, who began boxing at the age of seven under the tutelage of his father, Omar Sr, a former fighter himself.
In December of 2009, Figueroa halted Anthony Woods in two rounds on the Juan Diaz vs Paul Malignaggi undercard at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, showing that he was ready to take his game to the next level, and he has not disappointed.
2010 saw “Panterita” defeat Edgar Portillo and Julian Rodriguez, and though he ended the year with a hard-fought eight round draw against 15-4 Arturo Quintero, he made it a clean sweep in 2011, compiling victories over John Figueroa (KO2), Eric Cruz (W8), and Marcos Herrera (KO2) to improve to 13-0-1 and set up a January 6, 2012 clash on Showtime against fellow prospect Michael Perez, which he won in punishing fashion, forcing Perez to retire in his corner after the sixth round.
By Rey Sifuentes Jr.
Approximately two years ago at this time, Eagle Pass High School head football coach Tom Gonzalez knew his very young team was going to need some significant grooming.
“We started a rebuilding process two years ago,” Gonzalez said. “We knew it was going to take us a couple of years to build up this program and this is the season that follows that two-year progression.”
Gonzalez (who is about to enter his eighth year with EPHS) and everyone on his sideline just rolled up their sleeves and led the Eagles to two consecutive playoff appearances.
Despite that, the Eagles - who anticipate about six offensive and seven defensive starters to come back this fall - were recently forecasted to finish fourth (out of seven teams) in District 29-5A this season.
“Every year we have been predicted to finish fourth,” Gonzalez said. “Actually, we have only ended up in fourth place once or twice in my eight years here. I don’t go by what other people predict, and I know what we have as a program. Our kids are always ready to go, and I think we are going to be much better than fourth place this season.”
Gonzalez said that a good number of his players have consistently shown up on their own to workout.
“We are going to start our strength and conditioning workouts next Monday – from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.,” Gonzalez said. “Since we let out school, we have also had a good number of kids showing up every day to work out on their own. We have a good group of leaders who are lifting and running on their own - have taken the initiative. We told them what they needed to do in order to be ready for when football two-a-days started again in August, and they have done a very good job of following through.”
The Eagles are going to need to be in tip top shape with the caliber of teams occupying 29-5A.
“I think this district is going to be tougher,” Gonzalez said. “Every team is pretty much on a level playing field right now, and has a lot of kids with a bunch of experience coming back. There have also been some changes like in Del Rio and C.C. Winn who have new head coaches.”
And if everything clicks, the Eagles’ two-year investment should pay off nicely this season.
“This group is full of guys who started on the varsity while they were sophomores,” Gonzalez said. “Mike Montalvo was a freshman who started the last three games that season, and he is a junior now. Kevin Chisum is also a senior, and we have other guys who have plenty of experience like R.J. Ruiz. So all of the experience of our younger guys that are still with us when we started rebuilding two years ago should help us have a great season.”
EPHS football players are to show up at the campus gym at 7 a.m. on Monday, August 5.
(Rey Sifuentes Jr. is the sports editor of the Mount Pleasant Daily Tribune which is located in East Texas. He is also a 1992 graduate of Eagle Pass High School. Sifuentes can be reached on Facebook and at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . You can also follow him through Twitter at @eaglesmavericks.)