Football Friday Night Week 10 Recap & Final Scores

Week 10 of high school football in El Paso is already in the books! Now just one final stretch of football in the borderland.

Check out Football Friday Night On Demand from this week:

Austin Bests Bowie for 2nd Place Spot in 1-4A

By Adrian Broaddus

The Austin Panthers hung on to secure a 14-9 win against Bowie on Friday night to secure the second place spot in 1-4A.

Credit Austin's Andruw Andujo, who took a 70-yard catch to the house in the second half and secured a key interception in the second half to seal the game. Austin led 14-3 in the third quarter.

The Bears cut the game within one score and had multiple chances at tying or leading in the game. However, Austin's defense was able to clamp down defensively in the game and took the home win. Credit linebacker Jereimiah Parrish for taking another interception for the Panthers in the win.

Up next Bowie faces Riverside on the road, while Austin closes the year at Irvin.

Eastwood holds on to take 1-6A title

By Steve Escajeda

The Eastwood Troopers (7-0 in district, 8-1 overall) won their eighth straight game and clinched the top spot in District 1-6A with a thrilling 38-31 victory over the Franklin Cougars (3-4, 5-4) Friday night.

After racing out to a 21-0 lead just seven minutes into the game, the Troopers had to withstand a furious Cougars’ rally that cut the lead to 31-28 at halftime.

In a game that turned into a battle of quarterbacks, Eastwood’s Evan Minjarez did just enough to stay ahead of Franklin’s Shay Smith.

Minjarez completed 13 of his 31 passes for 297 yards and four touchdowns, giving him 26 scoring passes on the season against just three interceptions. The senior quarterback also rushed for 139 yards and another score.

Minjarez threw touchdowns to four different receivers, Rudy Garcia, Alex Sanchez, Fabian Penazola and Evan Macias. Garcia led the team with seven catches for 164 yards.

Franklin’s Smith almost single-handedly kept the Cougars in the game, rushing for 164 yards and all four of his team’s touchdowns. He was 12-of-29 for 184 yards passing.

The Troopers close out the regular season next Friday at Eastlake, while Franklin, which is clinging to a slim chance of obtaining that fourth and final 6A playoff spot, will host El Dorado next Thursday.

Parkland wins a thriller over Hanks 38-34

By Brandon Cohn

In a game that will go down as one for the ages, Parkland held on to win this instant classic. Both teams exchanged scores throughout the entire contest as defense was an afterthought, until the very end.

Fans knew this was going to be an exciting one when Hanks scored on their first play from scrimmage as QB Porras found WR Blanco for a 75-YD TD to give the Knights a 7-0 lead. After a seesaw of back-and-forth scoring, the Matadors would take a narrow 24-21 edge into the locker room at half thanks to a 42-YD FG late in the second quarter.

The Matadors went up 31-21 in the third quarter and fans figured they were pulling away, but then to quote my dear friend Adrian Broaddus the Knights would say, “NOT SO FAST!!” and cut the lead to 31-27 late in the third frame.

Hanks would then take a 34-31 lead with 9:09 left before Parkland would retake the lead at 38-34 with 7:40 remaining. Hanks would then drive to the 5 and had four shots to score the go ahead and potential winning score, but were denied each time, including a 4th and goal at the one when RB Oliver dropped a sure touchdown in the end zone.

Parkland would then run out the clock for the impressive victory. Parkland QB Erik Ortiz had 5 total TD’s while RB Kaleb Martinez had 174 yards on 14 carries. Hanks was equally brilliant on offense as QB Marcus Porras had 4 total TD’s, while RB Michael Oliver accumulated 151 yards on 28 carries and scored a TD, and WR Jude Blanco had 8 receptions for 165 yards and scored 3 TD’s.

Parkland improves to 5-4, 2-2 in 1-5A and will conclude their 2023 campaign at Horizon next Friday, while Hanks is now 5-4, 1-3 in 1-5A, and will conclude their season hosting Ysleta next week.

Clint dominates Fabens, 28-7

By Angel Torres

For the 17th time in their last 20 meetings, the Clint Lions defeated the Fabens Wildcats 28-7 in front of a home crowd celebrating Senior Night. The Lions, whose 14-year playoff streak ended last season, is looking to start a new string of consecutive playoff appearances.

The Lions leaned on running back Colin Ivey to establish the run game and it paid off. Although he did not rush for 100 yards, his 18 carries and two scores were enough for the Lions to maintain steady drives and eat off precious time.

Fabens was able to keep the score close as they trailed at halftime 6-0, but the second half is where it all unraveled for the Wildcats. Clint started the third quarter by kicking off to Fabens, but a shanked kick turned into a fumble recovery for the Lions. Clint capitalized with a touchdown then doubled down. They kicked off again, this time with intent to recover another onside kick and it worked. Fabens was unable to recover leading to their demise.