West Texas: 15 Games To Watch In Week 1

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The 2023 high school football regular season gets underway Thursday night with a handful of games around West Texas, and shifts into high gear on Friday night. Here the top five games in each region:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Panhandle/South Plains</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Midland Legacy at Amarillo</strong>: Elite 6-foot-4 quarterback <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='119032' first='Marcos' last='Davila']</strong>, a Purdue commitment, leads Midland Legacy into Amarillo for a clash with the Sandies. Davila threw for nearly 2,800 yards and 33 TD in 2022, and everybody expects him to surpass those numbers as a senior. Amarillo ran a perfectly balanced offensive attack last season and running the football and controlling the clock might be their best strategy in this matchup.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Wolfforth Frenship at Lubbock Coronado</strong>: Frenship, the lone Class 6A program in the Lubbock metro area, is ranked No. 2 in the MaxPreps regional poll behind Lubbock-Cooper. The dynamic QB-WR duo of <strong>Hudson Hutcheson</strong> and junior <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1420687' first='Leyton' last='Stone']</strong> is one of the best in West Texas. Lubbock Coronado is looking to improve on last season's 3-7 record. The Mustangs will debut some new offensive talent on Friday night.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Palo Duro at Tascosa</strong>: Rebels head coach Ken Plunk will be seeking his 100^th win as head coach of Tascosa when they take on improved Palo Duro Thursday night at Dick Bivins Stadium. Tascosa loves to run the football and RB <strong>Treshun Wilson</strong>, a 1,000-yard rusher in 2022, returns as the No. 1 ball carrier. Palo Duro added elite WR [player_tooltip player_id='618298' first='Braylen' last='Norman'] to its roster during the summer after he transferred from &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Dumas at Lubbock-Cooper</strong>: The Pirates are annually one of the top teams in Lubbock and this season should be no different. In fact, they are currently ranked No. 1 in the region. They finished second in the district behind Tascosa in 2022 and those two programs will battle again. 4A Dumas finished third in its district in 2022 and lost in the 1^st round of the playoffs. They are currently ranked No. 8 in the Amarillo metro region. Going to Lubbock-Cooper and winning will be difficult</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>West Plains at Bushland</strong>: Which team is ranked No. 1 in the Amarillo region by MaxPreps? Bushland. The Falcons finished 11-2 last season and second in District 3A-2. QB <strong>Dawson Jaco</strong> returns to lead the offense. West Plains, which opened last Fall, was 7-5 in their maiden season playing high school football. Sophomore QB <strong>Reid Macon</strong> passed for over 2,200 yards and 19 TD as a freshman in 2022.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Permian Basin</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Abilene at Odessa Permian</strong>: Permian has newcomers galore at the offensive skill positions coming off a 9-2 season that saw the Panthers capture the district championship but lose in the first round of the 6A, D1 playoffs. Abilene was just 4-6 during the regular season last fall but advanced to the 3^rd round (Regionals) of the 5A, D1 playoffs. QB <strong>Dylan Slack</strong> returns for the Eagles along with 1,000-yard rusher <strong>Antoine Rashaw</strong>. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Montwood at Midland</strong>: El Paso Montwood makes the trip to the Permian Basin looking to improve on a 2-8 campaign in 2022. RB Izayuh Claudio, WR Diego Oaxaca and WR Kaleb Alvarez are the Rams' top offensive weapons. Midland competes in one of the toughest districts in West Texas and failed to make the playoffs with a 5-5 record last year. Stroman Bridge is a dynamic dual threat QB in Midland's run-dominated offense.  </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Odessa at Lubbock Monterey</strong>: Two teams that finished last in the respective districts in 2022 battle in Lubbock looking to get the new season started on the right foot. Odessa's 6-foot-6 WR/TE <strong>Ivan Carreon</strong> has committed to Oklahoma and is one of the top pass catching targets in West Texas. &nbsp;Montery is hoping QB <strong>DJ William</strong>s can lead the turnaround of the Plainsmen.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Reagan County at Wink</strong>: Located west of Odessa, Wink is coming off an impressive 12-1 record and district championship. But the Wildcats must replace their quarterback and top running back. Based in the rural town of Big Lake, Reagan County returns 6-foot-5 junior QB <strong>Kason Brown</strong>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Shallowater at Monahans</strong>: Monahans won the district championship and made a deep run in the Class 4A playoffs last season, finishing with a 10-4 record. Shallowater has won 9+ games in five of the last six season, so the Mustangs know how to win. Senior running backs <strong>Cannon Reed</strong> and <strong>Kouper Boyd</strong> fuel Shallowater's offense. Both are big, fast and strong. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Far West Texas</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Canutillo at EP Pebble Hills</strong>: A very intriguing cross-classification matchup pits 5A Canutillo against 6A Pebble Hills. Both teams are coming off district titles. QB <strong>Jeremiah Knox</strong> returns for the Eagles, which advanced to the 3^rd round of the 5A, D2 playoffs, along with several key contributors on defense. Pebble Hills is led by dynamic dual threat QB <strong>Gael Ochoa</strong>, who has committed to UTEP. Pebble Hills is currently ranked No. 2 by MaxPreps in the El Paso region, while Canutillo is No. 4. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>EP Americas at Las Cruces (NM)(Thur.)</strong>: As part of the emotionally charged El Paso-Las Cruces series, Americas heads to the Field of Dreams across the border for a battle with one of the blue blood programs in New Mexico. Las Cruces lost their opener last week to a very good Albuquerque (NM) Volcano Vista team (6A semifinalist in 2022). The Bulldawgs' offense struggled, so they're looking to get that side of the ball going. Americas QB <strong>Mark Moore</strong> is a dynamic dual threat QB who rushed for over 1,000 yards in 2022. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>EP Eastwood at Southlake Carroll</strong>: The No. 1 ranked team in El Paso heads to the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex for a showdown with one of the top 6A programs in Texas. QB <strong>Evan Minjarez</strong> leads the Eastwood offense after throwing for 2,749 yards and 35 TD while rushing for 1,075 yards in 2022. He's a coveted QB prospect. &nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Las Cruces (NM) Centennial at EP Franklin</strong>: The second major matchup in the Las Cruces-El Paso series. Centennial took on the No. 1 program in New Mexico last Saturday (Rio Rancho Cleveland) and suffered a 27-8 loss. But the Hawks defense is stellar and will give the Franklin offense all they want. Franklin QB <strong>Shay Smith</strong> (2,569 passing yards and 31 TD in 2022) is another reason this is the ‘Year of the Quarterback' in El Paso. &nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Parkland at EP El Dorado</strong>: The primary reason to watch this game is to check out El Dorado's sensational sophomore RB <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='951814' first='Ryan' last='Estrada']</strong>, who already holds multiple Power 5 offers. Estrada rushed for over 1,300 yards as a freshman in 2022. Parkland finished 7-4 last season with a run-dominated offensive attack. However, they must replace their top rusher.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://twitter.com/ColinDeaverTV/status/1694744645161595152?s=20","type":"rich","providerNameSlug":"twitter","responsive":true} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/ColinDeaverTV/status/1694744645161595152?s=20 </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>   </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://twitter.com/calebcruz2027/status/1694524876197871641?s=20","type":"rich","providerNameSlug":"twitter","responsive":true} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/calebcruz2027/status/1694524876197871641?s=20 </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed -->