The El Paso Eastwood Troopers (1-3, 0-1) travel across town to the West Side of El Paso Friday night as they take on the El Paso Franklin Cougars (1-3, 0-1) in a pivotal District 1-6A showdown. Last season, Franklin stopped Eastwood on a two-point conversion late in the game to win 41-40. It wound up being the difference in the playoff race as Franklin earned the last playoff spot at the end of the year.
“In our mind, you can use what happened last year as motivation,” Eastwood head coach Julio Lopez said, “Anytime you lose a game like that at the end. That said, it’s about on us and focusing on what we need to do to win.”
The Troopers are looking to bounce back after losing a second half lead to the El Dorado Aztecs in the district opener last Friday night. It was a game of missed opportunities in the second half that ended Eastwood’s chances according to Lopez.
El Paso Eastwood head coach Julio Lopez is hoping to lead his Troopers to a win Friday night at El Paso Franklin (Photo via Adrian Broaddus, TexasHSFootball.com)
“When we have a chance to make a play, we have to do it,” Lopez said, “You look at different scenarios throughout the El Dorado game and we had several missed chances. Our message to the kids this week is to make plays. In this district, it always comes down to a handful of plays that swing the game.”
Heading into this matchup on Friday night, he’ll have a strong offense to bring to this matchup. The Troopers have averaged nearly 534 yards per game on offense and have two dynamic quarterbacks to turn to in this game. Senior quarterback Seth Ochoa is back as the full-time starter and sophomore Chris Castaneda will see some time as well Friday night in what has become a balancing act over the last few weeks.
Whoever sees more time under center will have two big playmakers at wide receiver in Ryan Minjarez (36 rec. 567 yards, 5 TD) and Pete Cadena (15 rec, 241 yards, 5 TD). They’ll have to counter a Franklin secondary that’s looking to bounce back after last week’s loss to Pebble Hills.
For Franklin, head coach Daren Walker is looking at this game as a potential springboard for the rest of the season just like last year was. This time around, he’s also looking to bounce back after Pebble Hills had runs of 21 and 36 unanswered points to blow out the Cougars 57-28 last week.
El Paso Franklin wide receiver Gabe Stonewall will be a key target for the Cougars Friday night against Eastwood (Adrian Broaddus/TexasHSFootball.com)
“We played well in the second quarter and the start of the third quarter but just did not play well the rest of the game,” Walker said, “We’re frustrated and it’s a little bit of a challenge for us and we’re just trying to get the ship righted again.”
The Cougars will also look to get more production in the passing game. Junior quarterback Chris Kelley threw for just 95 yards against the Spartans and they’ll need that to balance a strong running game for the Cougars. Senior Seth Dominguez and junior running back Tate Jernigan will look to spearhead the attack on the ground.
“We’re going to have to do some good things against Eastwood,” Walker said, “They may not be the biggest kids in terms of size, but they’re aggressive and they play hard. Coach Lopez has done a great job of getting these kids ready to play and they’ll be a challenge for us.”
The two teams face off at 7 p.m. Friday at Cougar Stadium.
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