EL PASO- It’s a matchup of contrasting styles on Friday night in El Paso as Coronado (2-3, 1-1) travels east to take on Eastwood (1-4, 0-2) at Trooper Stadium. Both teams are looking to stay in the mix of the District 1-6A playoff picture and both are looking to rebound after close losses last week.
“We’re going up against a team that’s 0-2 in district right now and they’ll be hungry,” Coronado head coach Bob Anderson said of Eastwood, “If we want a chance at the playoffs, we have to find a way to come out and get this game.”
Anderson and the Thunderbirds enter this game looking to bounce back after a loss to Pebble Hills last Friday night. Pebble Hills jumped off to an early lead and while Coronado rallied to make the game close, he and his team knows that they have to be a lot better.
“Last week against Pebble Hills, we feel like we dropped one we shouldn’t have,” Coronado head coach Bob Anderson said, “It was one of those nights where a lot of things went wrong and they made great plays when we didn’t execute.”
El Paso Coronado will rely on a strong running game in their game against El Paso Eastwood on Friday night. (Photo: Tony Venegas/TexasHSFootball.com)
The T-Birds will rely on a power running game led by Garrett Slaughter and Julian Madrid, who is making his way back from an injury. The quarterback situation is a little bit messy as Coronado has used three different signal callers to try to get the offense going. Whether it’s Angelo Donatelli, Jose Luis Herrera or Ethan Arroyo under center, the strategy remains the same.
“They’re a very good offensive team,” Anderson said, “The objective is to play good defense and make them earn what they get. Offensively, we need to find a way to control the ball and keep their offense off the field.”
The Eastwood Troopers are also doing some searching of their own after last Friday night’s 49-41 loss to Franklin. At 0-2 in district play, Eastwood does need a win in order to stay in the playoff hunt in the district. Despite the struggles of the Troopers, head coach Julio Lopez believes his team is ready to face the challenges ahead.
“After last Friday, you start district 0-2 and you make your job really tough moving forward,” Lopez said, “We’re not out of it. We’ve been in this position before but you know that every game from here on in is as close to must-win as you can get.”
El Paso Eastwood head coach Julio Lopez is hoping to lead his Troopers to a win Friday night. (Photo: Adrian Broaddus/ TexasHSFootball.com)
Last week’s game against Franklin was one of the wildest games that Lopez says he could remember. It included more than 1,000 yards of total offense, 90 points and one ejection in starting quarterback Seth Ochoa. Sophomore backup Chris Castaneda came in and played well in his absence, but it will be Ochoa back starting under center on Friday for Eastwood.
Ochoa will play a big part of the offense for the Troopers, averaging and he’ll look to get the ball into the hands of senior receiver Robert Minjarez, who had five total touchdowns in the game last week against the Cougars. Lopez calls him a “talented” playmaker who they’ll depend on as the Troopers look to get their first district win.
“The kids know how important this game is,” Lopez said, “They haven’t had any panic all week and we just have to execute against Coronado. They have more confidence coming in and we just have to come out and match their intensity and execute.”
Kickoff is at 7 p.m. MST at Eastwood’s Trooper Stadium.
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