EL PASO — Things didn’t quite work out the way that Eastlake head coach J.J. Calderon wanted to last Friday night. In a game to take control of District 2-5A, the Falcons lost on a late touchdown to El Paso Del Valle in a 25-21 classic. Despite the loss, Calderon believes his team can take a lot from that game.
“It definitely was a playoff atmosphere and it was a kind of game that you have to play good football every single snap,” Calderon said of last Friday’s game, “It’s a learning experience and our guys needed to play a game like that.”
This week, the Falcons host the Horizon Scorpions in a District 2-5A matchup that Calderon calls a “neighborhood rivalry” between the two schools separated by ___ miles. The Scorpions are 2-5 overall but Calderon knows that his team will get a challenge from a hungry team.
“They’re doing some good things,” Calderon said, “They’re solid on defense and have some good schemes on offense. It’s important for us that we come ready to play, Not only because they won last week, but because this game is a neighborhood rivalry. They’ll play hard regardless of the records.”
The aforementioned Scorpions are in a transition with first-year head coach Paulo Melendez. At 2-5, the Scorpions have made progress defensively and got a big boost on special teams with both a punt and kickoff return for touchdowns last week in their win over El Paso Riverside.
“We’ve seen some progress from Week One,” Melendez said, “Unfortunately, it hasn’t turned into a lot of wins for us but overall, we’ve gotten better. I’m pleased with that.”
Melendez, a Horizon alum, knows that this game is one that his team will get up for. With the two schools opening six years apart from each other, it’s a game where everyone is familiar with the kids lining up on the other side.
The Horizon Scorpions will look to pull the upset against the Eastlake Falcons on Thursday night.
(Tony Venegas/TexasHSFootball)
“A lot of these kids grew up together,” Melendez said, “There’s no doubt that there is friendly competition but it has grown into a rivalry.”
If the Scorpions want to pull the upset, they know they have to step up offensively. That said, the other side of the ball has been the strength of the team. The Scorpions have given up just over 22 points per game and if you take away the 56-6 loss to Parkland, that number goes down to 16.
“From a defensive standpoint, we were really aggressive,” said defensive lineman Michael Matthews,” It took a while for our offense to get going but the special teams stepped up and we were able to get things rolling after that.”
It will be an interesting showdown, but in the end Melendez wants his team to take care of business.
“We have to control what we can and we can’t shoot ourselves in the foot,” Melendez said, “We just have to do our job.”
The teams will face off on Thursday night at 7 p.m. MST at the Socorro ISD Student Activity Complex.
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