In a game that Eastwood had to have to keep their postseason hopes alive, the Troopers put away a scrappy Pebble Hills Spartans squad 56-34 on a cool night at the SAC. “Any win is great in this district,” Eastwood head coach Julio Lopez said, “We came out firing and even though we got stagnant in the second quarter, Coach Torres (Pebble Hills) and his staff did a great job. They played tough and we know they’re going to be a force to be reckoned with in the future.”
It’s been a frustrating year for the Troopers in district play. They entered Thursday night’s game at 1-3 in District 1-6A, losing those games by a combined eight points.
The Troopers had two stars on offense, sophomore running back Noah Rios and junior wide receiver Robert Minjarez. Rios finished with 19 carries, 194 yards and a score. But it was Minjarez who became a favorite target of quarterback Evan Aguilar, scoring three first-quarter touchdowns as part of his 13 reception, 127-yard night.
“With all the hard work in practice and the chemistry we’re building, he (Aguilar) has gotten used to me as a receiver and he’s been trusting me to make those big plays,” Minjarez said.
Early on, Pebble Hills who struck first with a 14-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Orlando Puig to receiver Kevin Averette to make it 6-0. The Troopers struck back quickly, with a 2-yard pass from quarterback Evan Aguilar to Minjarez and Eastwood went ahead 7-6 with less than four minutes gone in the game.
Rios would add in a 21-yard score, running back Freddy Cardenas found paydirt from nine yards out, and Aguilar would hook up with Minjarez for a 36-yard touchdown strike. Just like that, the Troopers were in front 28-6 on the Spartans.
The Spartans wouldn’t go away quietly, however. In the first minute of the second quarter, Puig found Justin Wolfe for a 36-yard score to make it 28-13. Minjarez would build the Trooper lead again, catching another 38-yard pass over the middle from Aguilar to make it 34-13. Lopez made it a point to get the ball to his playmaker at receiver on Thursday night.
“We felt like with some of the injuries that we’ve had, we wanted to make a concerted effort to get Bobby (Minjarez) the ball,” Lopez said, “He had a great night. We need him to keep it up and we just hope that he keeps playing at the level he is now.”
Eastwood took a 43-21 lead into the fourth quarter when the Spartans struck again on a 59-yard catch and run by Caleb Gerber to make it 43-28. After Eastwood put another score on the board, Puig led the Pebble Hills offense again for a drive, finding Averette once again in the end zone to make it 50-34 almost halfway through the final quarter.
The Spartans were in position to cut the lead more, when Eastwood cornerback Alan Barragan intercepted a Puig pass and took it back it for 75 yards with 3:12 remaining to ice the game. The interception aside, Puig finished 20 of 37 for 279 yards, four touchdowns and an interception.
The win now puts Eastwood at 4-4 overall and 2-3 in District 1-6A. Pebble Hills falls to 2-6 and 1-4 in 1-6A. The Troopers were also hoping to get a big win by El Paso Coronado to boost their hopes, but the Thunderbirds fell to El Dorado 32-28 on Thursday night. While the Troopers will be following the other teams in front of them in the standings, Lopez is optimistic of his team’s chances.
“We can only control what we control,” he said, “We can control how we play next week against Socorro and the following week against Montwood but with the injuries and adversity we’ve faced, I just have to imagine that the football gods are going to smile on us and it’s going to go our way.”
