Montwood Gets a Huge 1-6A Win Over Eastwood

The Montwood Rams have come a long way from the team that only won once all last season.  Coming into their game against an Eastwood team that arguably has the best offense in the city, Montwood knew it was a must win scenario for them considering their district record was 2-2.

The Rams played an exceptional contest that consisted of relentless defensive pressure on Troopers' QB Mark Torrez, and they shut down UTEP commit Richie Rodriguez, who is the best wideout in the city, to get a key 37-22 win.  In the first half, both teams struggled offensively as the 9-7 score in favor of Montwood at halftime had fans and coaches alike pondering how this could be such a low-scoring affair.

The Rams squandered numerous opportunities in the first half by missing two field goals and failing on a two-point conversion. Things got real interesting in the second half when Eastwood QB Mark Torrez uncharacteristically committed back-to-back turnovers in the third quarter with a fumble and interception which led to the Rams taking a 16-7 lead.

Eastwood narrowed the Rams' lead to 16-14 when Torrez found tight end Ryan Barnhouse for a touchdown as the third was about to expire.  After three low-scoring quarters, the fourth quarter included a series of crazy events that led to both teams scoring a combined 29 points en route to an exciting conclusion of the game.

With 3:31 left in the contest, Montwood sophomore QB Andrew Fernandez, who performed brilliantly filling in for injured starter Gio Cisneros, threw a 20-yard touchdown to wide receiver Alex Cepeda to give the Rams a 23-14 advantage.  Following an Eastwood interception which was returned 70 yards by Rams' DB Tyreese Andrus, Montwood appeared to put the game away when running back Evan De Anda scored on a 10-yard TD run to make the score 30-14 with 2:09 left.

Troopers' QB Mark Torrez hurt his shoulder in the fourth quarter so wideout Richie Rodriguez relived him and scored by throwing a touchdown pass to Erin Portillo with 1:10 left in the game.  Eastwood narrowed the Rams' lead to 30-22 with a successful two-point conversion, but that was as close as they would get as they failed to recover an on side kick.

Richie Rodriguez struggled at quarterback by throwing two late fourth quarter interceptions, while Montwood sophomore QB Andrew Fernandez finished 22 of 32 for 331 yards and 3 touchdowns, 2 passing and 1 rushing.  With the victory Montwood moves to 5-3, 3-2 in (1-6A) and is idle next week.  Eastwood's record is now 6-2, 2-2 (1-6A) and will host Socorro next Friday night.