El Paso Football Friday Night Roundup: Week One in the Books

The first week of high school football is in the books. Check out the games that 600 ESPN El Paso covered over the weekend:

Parkland 41 - Burges 40 - Sarah Farms Game of the Week - Brandon Cohn

In one of the most memorable high school football games in quite some time, Parkland defeated Burges 41-40 in a wild overtime classic in our Sarah Farms game of the week on Friday night. Some games are so special that you actually have to be in attendance to believe how they conclude, as was the case at Matador Stadium. READ MORE

Andress 23 - Coronado 7 - Adrian Broaddus

Last year's Andress-Coronado matchup ended in a thrilling Golden Eagles game-winning field goal in overtime (16-13). This year's matchup was a tale of two halves. Coronado came out with a sharp offense, riding a nice first half passing game (4-for-6, 86 yards), and led 7-0 going into the half.

Out of the gates, Andress scored back-to-back rushing touchdowns from quarterback Jeremiah Tosky and running back Travon Ware. After Coronado's punter was ruled down trying to field a low snap on the punt, Andress took over in Thunderbird territory and scored on an 11-yard pass from Tosky to Jeremiah Cooper. More woes on special teams came for the Thunderbirds when a high snap resulted in a Coronado safety. The Golden Eagles put up 162 total rushing yards in the second half, while their defense shut out the Thunderbird offense and cruised to a 23-7 victory.

Franklin 36 - Cleveland 13 - Beau Bagley

What a start to the 2019 season for the Franklin Cougars, especially the defense, topping Rio Rancho Cleveland 36-13 at Franklin High School.

The defense led the way with seven sacks in the second half. Senior linebacker David Powers even had a 2-yard touchdown run to make it 36-13. Cougars senior quarterback Danny Walther was a workmanlike, going 12-of-21 for 238 yards and a touchdown.

Senior receivers Michael Haack and Gabriel Stonewall had nice nights as well. Haack had six receptions for 164 yards and a score, 158 of those yards came in the first half. Stonewall had four receptions for 60 yards against double teams all night. Junior running back Pablo Gutierrez has 24 carries for 180 yards and a score. The Franklin defense held former Andress RB Dorian Lewis to 11 carries for 21 yards. Franklin (1-0) travels to meet Mojo next week at Ratliff Stadium. Permian lost to Desoto 35-14 to open the season.

Americas 63 - Eastwood 0 - Steve Escajeda

Behind the steady play of their new quarterback and a smothering defense, the Americas Trailblazers routed the Eastwood Troopers 63-0 in their season opener Friday night.

Mike Nowell threw for 231 yards and four touchdowns in his first start for Americas.
All-State running back Aaron Dumas contributed 132 yards and a couple touchdowns.
But in the end it was the defense, which forced six turnovers, recorded ten sacks and scored two return touchdowns, that led the way.

Defensive end Dylan Kemp sacked Eastwood quarterback Chris Castaneda six times, while Sebastian Guzman added three more.

Horizon 22 - El Paso 14 - Paul Mackinnon

In its first game without graduated star running back Isaiah Quijas, the Horizon offensive attack was listless. But after a scoreless first half, El Paso High running back Ryan Pena’s eight-yard touchdown slapped the Scorpion attack to life. Horizon put 22 points on the board in the game’s final 19 minutes in a 22-14 victory on enemy ground Friday night at RR Jones Stadium.

Horizon’s Ernie Garcia, looking to step into Quijas’ ample shoes, answered that Tigers ice-breaking score with a 79-yard run of his own to knot things. Raul Salas added a 35-yard TD less than 4 minutes later for a short-lived lead, eclipsed Yan Arias’ 94-yard kickoff return set up QB Zach Rodriguez’s one-yard run for an EP 14-13 edge.

Rodriguez gave that lead back at the eight-minute mark, called for an intentional grounding penalty in his own end zone. The safety handed Horizon a 15-14 lead it would not relinquish. Garcia added another 18-yard TD run four minutes later for the final margin.

Horizon opens its home football season next Friday, hosting winless-in-four-years Socorro.

El Paso travels to Baty Simmang Stadium and 1-0 Bowie.

Hanks 59 - Socorro 20 - Paul Mackinnon

Despite a change atop the Hanks coaching ladder, the attack remained quite familiar Friday night; get the ball to Mykal Blanco. The senior wideout, who entered the 2019 season opener just 797 yards off the city career receiving yardage record, scored touchdowns all six times he touched the football, carrying his Knights to a 59-20 home victory over Socorro High at Excalibur Stadium.

Blanco caught four balls for 260 yards, adding an 85-yard kickoff return and one-yard run other scores to hand Jason Blair a win in his first game as head coach after taking over for Aaron Price, now on staff at Northern Arizona.

Blanco caught TDs of 72 and 80 yards as Hanks grabbed a 19-0 lead by the end of the first quarter. Junior QB Aaron Molina (10-of-16 passing, 379 yds, 5 TDs) added a 45-yard run to paydirt to make the rout official.

Blanco added second-half scores of 31 and 79 yards to hand new Socorro head coach Anthony Hinsley his first career loss, 38th straight defeat for the Bulldog program.

SHS looks to get back into the win column for the first time in four years Friday at 1-0 Horizon. Blanco, now 537 off the career yardage mark, leads his Knights into Baty Simmang Stadium versus unbeaten Bowie.

Pebble Hills 54 - El Dorado 12 - Jeremy Carranco

Ochoa and Davis help Pebble Hills cruise past El Dorado 54-12

Sebastian Ochoa and Isaiah Davis connected for four touchdowns through the air in a 54-12 crushing of rival El Dorado.

Ochoa finished with 201 yards passing and 104 yards rushing while Davis finished the night with 126 yards receiving. Kylar Sanchez also aided the Spartans attack with 87 yards on 18 carries and a touchdown.

Pebble Hills outgained El Dorado in total yardage 523-307.

The Aztecs were led by Christopher Bustillos with 230 yards passing and 169 yards receiving from Kris Martin.

El Dorado got on the board early in the third quarter when Bustillos tossed a 19-yard touchdown pass to Martin to cut the Pebble Hills lead to 21-6 but the Spartans outscored the Aztecs 33-6 in the game’s final 18 minutes.

The Spartans have now evened their all-time series with the Aztecs 2-2.

Pebble Hills (1-0) faces Midland next week on the road while El Dorado (0-1) will travel to face Coronado (0-1).

Bowie 27 - Silver City 7 - Paul Mackinnon

Iconic Star Trek villain Khan said, “Revenge is a dish best served cold.” And that’s exactly the way Bowie played it, blending cold-blooded execution with a dash of chicanery in a 27-7 takedown of Silver Friday night at Baty-Simmang Stadium.

The win was sweet payback for 2018’s season-opening 21-7 defeat at Silver City. Running back Willie Carrasco, forced into emergency quarterback duty in 2018, had scoring runs of nine and one yards to power the Bears. His second TD came after a Bowie surprise onside kick to open the second half, providing a 13-point margin.

Silver jumped out to an early first-quarter lead before Carrasco evened the contest. Carlos Varela’s 27-yard scoring catch from quarterback Justin Diaz handed Bowie a 14-7 lead at the break.

Riverside 21 - San Elizario 14 - Mike Flores

Riverside scored 21 unanswered points in the final nine minutes of the game to stun San Elizario, 21-14, at Riverfront Stadium, in the first football game of the 2019 season on Friday night.

The Rangers rode a strong second half from their senior quarterback Isaac Marrufo, who threw for 123 passing yards (78 in the second half), scored twice through the air and once on the ground.

Marrufo matched his team’s season total of two touchdown passes the entire 2018 season on the very first game of the new season. The main reason Riverside saw a huge lift in their passing game is thanks to first-year head coach Gary Recoder, who picked up his first career win at Riverside.

Before Riverside took over the game, it was San Elizario who looked to be in control of the game. The Eagles jumped got out to a 14-point lead with 11:11 remaining in the fourth quarter, after senior halfback Raymond Acevedo, who had a game-high 170 rushing yards, punched in his team’s second rushing touchdown of the game (first one coming from sophomore quarterback Junior Saucedo).

The two-score lead for the Eagles late in the game looked promising as their defense was having their way with Riverside at that point. Riverside had yet to pick up a first down in the second half, Marrufo was coming off of seven straight incompletions, including back-to-back interceptions to end the first half, and the running game was nonexistent.

However, that’s when Riverside woke up and put their foot on the pedal and never looked back. Riverside’s first score came from a 19-yard hookup from Marrufo to tight end Frank Estrada, then the possession after, Marrufo kept it for a 7-yard score with four minutes remaining. Then tied at 14, Acevedo fumbled, for his second time, at his own 25-yard line in which Riverside recovered. The Rangers would end up cashing in on the turnover with a 25-yard touchdown pass to Josh Lopez.

Aside from giving up the 14-point lead, San Elizario left many points on the board. The Eagles missed their only two field goal attempts and failed to score three of the times they found themselves in the red zone in the first half.

The win for Riverside was not only Recoder’s first win, but it was redemption for the Rangers as they fell to San Elizario 26-7 last season.

Next week, Riverside (1-0) will travel to Burges to take on the Mustangs, as San Elizario (0-1) will play their first home game of the season against Jefferson.

Los Fresnos 28 - Montwood 27 - Paul Mackinnon

Montwood opened its 2019 season like a house of fire early but collapsed late in an extremely disappointing 28-27 loss Friday at Los Fresnos.

A Carlos Flores 80-yard touchdown catch a seemingly insurmountable 27-7 edge through nearly three quarters complete. But a long kickoff return set up one score,an 80-yard punt return did reach paydirt and an interception return for a touchdown provided the final one-point margin in the miracle comeback for ex-Andress head coach Patrick Brown. His Falcons look to improve on their impressive Round of 16 appearance last year as runners-up out of District 32-6A.

Rams QB Sebastian Galvan had plenty of success through those first three quarters, throwing touchdowns of 50 and 25 yards to Aaron Morales. Isaiah Peoples added a 47-yard fumble return for a score as Montwood took a 20-0 lead to halftime.

The Rams return home Friday, albeit in a road contest, as they face winless Eastlake.

Clint 27 - Monahans 12 - Joe Rodriguez

Clint defeated Monahans by the score of 27-12 Friday night in east El Paso County. The Lions rushing attack dominated the visiting Loboes executing 63 rushing plays and only 1 passing play for a total of 320 yards on the ground.

The rushing attack for Clint was so efficient that the Lions took possession of the football on their own 26 yard line to start the 4th quarter. That drive lasted the duration of the entire 4th quarter.

Next week Clint will travel to northeast El Paso and visit the Irvin Rockets while Monahans will host Andrews.

Mountain View 28 - Gadsen 20 - Paul Mackinnon

A leaky first-half defense plugged all its holes late as Mountain View got past Gadsden 28-20 Friday night at Chapparal.

Hector Nevarez provided the offense with touchdown runs of three and 12 yards over the final two quarters as the Lobos rebounded from a 20-14 deficit in a see-saw affair early. His 40-yard scoring run pushed Mountain View to a 14-12 edge just five minutes to halftime before Gadsden bit back.

But the Lobos defense left the Panthers attack toothless over the final two quarters. And once Lobo quarterback Chris Gamboa’s 61-yard keeper got his club close enough to paydirt for Nevarez, Mountain View grabbed the lead for good at 21-20.

Nevarez added his third-and-final touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter for the final margin.

Mountain View, runners-up last year in District 1-4A, kicks off its home campaign next Friday, hosting 0-1 Silver.

Other finals: