Football Friday Night is Back: Five Points Before Week 2 Kickoff

High school football is in full swing and week two is full of key non-district matchups across the Sun City.

Follow 600 ESPN El Paso all evening for live scoring updates of all the scheduled games. Listen in to our alternate stream—600 ESPN 2—to listen to the first edition of Football Friday Night, hosted by Beau Bagley and Paul MacKinnon. All of the photos following the game are provided by Prep 1.

Football Friday Night Schedule: 

• San Angelo Central (1-0) at Montwood (0-1) (4 pm)
• Eastlake (1-0) at Canutillo (1-0) Brandon Cohn
• Andress (1-0) at Parkland (0-1) Jaime Chavez
• Pebble Hills ( 0-1) at Del Valle (1-0) Adrian Broaddus
• Chapin (0-1) at Coronado (0-1) Steve Escajeda
• Burges (0-1) at Bel Air (1-0) Joe Rodriguez
• Bowie (0-1) at Horizon (0-1) Joey Pennisi
• Eastwood (1-0) at Hanks (0-1) JD Sursely
• Mt View (0-1) at Irvin (1-0)
• Jefferson (1-0) at San Eli (1-0)
• Riverside (1-0) at Cathedral (1-0)
• El Paso (1-0) at Clint (0-1)
• Tornillo (1-0) at Fabens (1-0)
• Ysleta (1-0) at Socorro (0-1) (7:30)
• Franklin (0-1) at Midland Christian (1-0)
• Bryan Rudder (1-0) vs Americas (0-1) (Kerrville)
• Anthony (1-0) at Kermit 0-1)

Here are five points before kickoff:

Thursday night recap: Austin outlasts El Dorado, 24-21

As the lone Thursday night game of the night, Austin-El Dorado was an eventful matchup to kick off week two of high school football in El Paso. The Panthers maintained a healthy lead all the way into the fourth quarter, 18-14. However, a Panthers turnover led to an Aztecs touchdown late in the game, giving El Dorado the 21-18 advantage. Austin was able to march down the field to close the game and score on a one-yard rushing score by Israel Luna to win the game, 24-21.

As Felix Chavez of the El Paso Times reported, the Panthers were able to secure the road non-district victory with only 22 players suited out on Thursday. Pretty remarkable for the squad.

Game of the week: Eastlake at Canutillo 

The matchups between the Falcons and Eagles have historically been thrillers. This year's stacks up to be another great one.

On one side, Eastlake demolished El Dorado last week, 49-14. They racked up over 500 yards of total offense that was balanced by quarterback Sebastian Rendon and tailback Elijah Uribe. Rendon tossed five touchdown passes while Uribe finished the day with four total touchdowns, 112 rushing yards and 113 receiving yards.

Canutillo handled the highly-touted Burges Mustangs in week one, 29-22. It was junior running back LJ Martin who led the way for the Eagles with 160 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns. Quarterback Devin Granados also chipped in with 68 rushing yards and a pair of rushing scores as well.

The Eagles' young defense held Burges standout running back Tavorus Jones in check last week. This week, they will face a major test against an Eastlake squad that could end up being a contender to win 1-6A.

Rivalry renewed: Andress at Parkland

El Paso should be thrilled that the northeast gets to see the Andress-Parkland rivalry renewed this Friday. This game definitely has game of the week potential.

Andress kicked things off with a powerful 42-13 win against their other rival, Chapin. It was quarterback Elias Duncan who scored a trio of rushing touchdowns on the night, while the front seven of Andress looked powerful. They play a physical brand of football that will be hard to stop. First-year head coach Chris Taylor maintained a dominant ground game, led by a stout offensive line, and totaled 269 rushing yards on the ground.

The Matadors fell last week to the Troopers, 35-20, in largely a back and forth contest. Despite an early Parkland lead, Eastwood was able to score on four straight possessions to win the game in a come-from-behind fashion. Parkland was led by wideout Demarion Crest, who totaled six catches for 221 yards and a touchdown.

This game will be won on the ground. Parkland can get big plays by throwing the ball to Crest and maintain a ground attack with running back Isaiah Beasley (208 rushing yards & two touchdowns vs. Eastwood). Andress is a team that can take care of business with their strong defense. This should be a great duel.

Big shout out to Parkland offensive lineman Tyrone McDuffie III, who received an offer from Colorado on Thursday.

Key non-district matchup: Pebble Hills vs. Del Valle 

Pebble Hills gave Odessa Permian a bit of a scare last week on the road but ultimately fell to MOJO, 26-15. They have a younger squad and had a balanced attack against Permian—107 passing yards, 81 rushing yards. Now the Spartans return to El Paso to face a challenging non-district foe in Del Valle.

The Conquistadores handled Coronado last week, 27-7, but the contest was low scoring all the way to the midway point of the third quarter. Running back Kristian Martinez was the star of the game for Del Valle, rushing 32 times for 169 yards and a touchdown. Quarterback Jesse Ramos also finished with a pair of rushing scores.

The Conquistadores will be a conservative, run-fist team going into this game. They will try to get their standout wideout Brandon Tellez involved this week, as the senior didn't get a single reception last week. Pebble Hills will need to shut down the Del Valle run and score whenever they have a chance to try and get a victory on Friday.

1-6A gets another week of tests 

Between Eastlake's challenging contest against Canutillo and Pebble Hills' second road game against Del Valle, 1-6A has some healthy non-district competition. But when you look deeper into this week, the different tests that the district faces is pretty significant.

Montwood has a key home game against San Angelo Central that will be a steep test for the Rams. Both Franklin and Americas hit the road for out-of-town games against Midland Christian and Bryan Rudder, respectively. Montwood, Franklin and Americas can conceivably start the year 0-6 combined.

Eastwood should take care of business against Hanks on Friday, but that might be the only sure-fire contest. Coronado hosts Chapin, which might be a tougher game than the Thunderbirds might expect. Ysleta faces Socorro on Friday as well and, well, you know the Bulldogs and their struggles.