Week four of the high school football season is very unique because all District 1-4A and District 2-4A teams will be enjoying the week off as they get ready for district play in two weeks.
Ruben Bautista and his Austin Panthers sport a 3-0 record after the non-district slate of games have been completed. Austin has won 14 of their last 15 games dating back to last year. Panther’s quarterback, Ernest Raya, whipped Riverside and Canutillo with his arm and legs. Last Friday night in a 32-6 victory over Gadsden, Raya intercepted a Gadsden pass and ran it back for a 75 yard touchdown. What can’t he do on the football field?
The Panthers begin defense of their 1-4A Championship on Friday, September 26th when they host the always swift, dangerous Andress Eagles at R.E. McKee Stadium on the Austin campus.
Irvin was scheduled to play Chapin at Andress on Sept. 26th but the game had to be moved by the EPISD Athletic Department over to Burges thanks to the mud that used to be the Eagles’ grass field. Artificial turf was supposed to be installed at Andress but heavy rains have turned the grass into a sea of mud making it impossible to complete the installation on time.
Shockingly, J.J. Calderon’s Riverside Rangers are 0-3 so far this season losing to Austin and Franklin by one point and then losing to Chapin last Friday night, 31-24, in overtime. The Rangers won 134 games in 13 seasons under previous head coach Tom Work who was known to be a genius on the offensive side of the game. Work’s teams captured 10 district titles during his tenure. J.J. Calderon has had no luck in his first 13 games posting a 4-9 won/lost record. Fortunately District 2-4A play starts in two weeks and the 0-3 Rangers will play 2-1 San Elizario, who are considered the District’s weakest team.
District 1-5A will play four games on Thursday and Friday of this week. Thursday night features the following two games: Americas drives cross-town to meet Franklin at Coronado’s Jack Quarles Stadium, while Hanks battles Montwood at the SAC. Both Hanks and Montwood are 1-0 in district play.
Friday night features the following games: Coronado plays Socorro at the Thunderbird’s home stadium and El Dorado plays host to Eastwood at the Socorro Athletic Complex. Phil Lopez’s Bel Air Highlanders are idle this week.
Suprisingly, Jeff Cleveland’s Hanks Knights are unbeaten with a 3-0 record in addition to being 1-0 in District play. The reasons? First, the Knights are playing excellent defense giving up just 28 points in their first three games or 9.3 points per game. The second reason is that Hanks is as explosive as usual on offense scoring 121 points in three games or 40.3 points per game. Matt Reyes, the Knights new quarterback, has thrown for 730 yards and 12 touchdowns in his first three games. His statistics are impressive: 47 completions out of 75 passing attempts with only 2 interceptions for 730 yards and 12 touchdowns. He has a passing percentage of 62.6% and averages 15.5 yards per completion. Montwood must stop Reyes to win.
Finally, All State WR Ryan Pettis caught 6 passes for 91 yards and a touchdown. Hanks will need the dangerous Pettis if they are to upset Montwood on Thursday night.
Last week I posted a 4-0 record picking District 1-5A games. This week, I believe Montwood will upend Hanks and Franklin will defeat Americas. Both games are played Thursday night. On Friday night, Coronado will beat Socorro and El Dorado will whip Eastwood.
My crystal ball says Alpine will beat 3-0 Clint, while Fabens will derail Cathedral. Gadsden will finally break into the win column with a victory over Chaparral.