West Texas: Preview of Top Games In Week 2

The 2023 West Texas high school football regular season enters Week 2 with a handful of games followed by dozens of games on Friday night. Here the top five games in each region:   PANHANDLE/SOUTH PLAINS   Game of the Week: Lubbock-Cooper at Wolfforth Frenship   Two of the top high school football programs in West Texas clash Friday night. Both teams are coming off impressive Game 1 victories with Lubbock-Cooper blanking Dumas, 42-0, and Frenship outlasting Lubbock Coronado, 45-26, as elite QB Hudson Hutcheson looked sharp in his 2023 debut, passing for 313 yards and 4 TD. Junior WR [player_tooltip player_id='1420687' first='Leyton' last='Stone'] showed why he has offers from Texas Tech, Baylor and others with 9 receptions for 151 yards. Few QB-WR duos in West Texas are better. Lubbock Cooper had its way most of the night against Dumas, gaining 200+ yards on the ground. [player_tooltip player_id='692637' first='Jackson' last='Austin'] led the way with two carries for 97 yards and two touchdowns, while Jayden Hibbler chipped in with four carries for 97 yards and one score.   Amarillo at Rio Rancho (NM) Cleveland: In the wake of the Week 1 home loss to Midland Legacy, is Amarillo already in must-win mode? The Sandies travel across the border to Rio Rancho, NM, a fast-growing northern suburb of Albuquerque, to face Cleveland, the #1 high school football program in the Land of Enchantment, in the back half of a home-and-home series. Last year these two teams engaged in a high-scoring affair with Cleveland prevailing, 47-30. Amarillo will rely on RB Pius Vokes to grind out the yards on the ground against a very good Cleveland defense. Last week Vokes had 87 yards on 17 carries against the ferocious Midland Legacy defense.        Bushland at Canadian: The top two teams in the latest MaxPreps Amarillo Region poll collide in an early season Class 3A showdown. Bushland survived a thriller against West Plains, scoring a late TD in a 47-41 Week 1 win. Canadian cruised past Seminole (OK), 55-0. Will either team score 40+ points this week?         Midland at Lubbock Coronado: Coronado junior QB Izaiah Vazquez had success last week throwing the ball into the teeth of the Frenship secondary, finishing with 319 yards and 2 TD on 21-of-34 passing. Coronado struggled at times, though, to run the football. Keeping the ball on the ground is what Midland does best as the Bulldogs rushed 44 times and attempted just six passes in the 39-14 Week 1 win over El Paso Montwood.        Palo Duro at Caprock: Two Amarillo rivals clash. Palo Duro QB [player_tooltip player_id='1466629' first='Darien' last='Lewis'] had success with his feet against Tascosa in Week 1, rushing for 141 yards on 15 carries. Except for Lewis, though, the Palo Duro offense struggled against the Rebels. Caprock dropped a 34-20 decision to Hereford in Week 1.   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/sandiefootball/status/1696200828787343582?s=20 </div></figure>   PERMIAN BASIN   Game of the Week: Amarillo Tascosa at Midland Legacy   It's West Texas high school football's version of a heavyweight championship boxing match. Two prominent programs slugging it out in arguably the best stadium anywhere - Astound Broadband Stadium in Midland. Most likely every seat will be sold in the 15,000-seat facility. What will all those paying customers see? A battle between two talented teams – they've played each other every year since 2016 - with divergent offensive schemes. Tascosa runs the flexbone offense and basically sticks to the ground game to move the football.   The Rebels had 44 rushing attempts in Week 1's 28-7 win over Palo Duro with senior Andrew Merrell getting the handoff 23 times for 89 yards. Midland Legacy – also nicknamed the Rebels – relies heavily on bazooka-armed quarterback Marco Davila, a Purdue commitment. In the opener, Davila had pedestrian numbers: 16-of-27 for 209 yards and 3 TD. At times, he also showed why he's a future Power 5 quarterback. Legacy ran the ball 35 times as well, which makes sense as they built a big lead in the second half over Amarillo.            Odessa Permian at Waco Midway: It will be Panthers vs. Panthers Friday night in Waco. Odessa Permian stumbled out of the gate in Week 1 with a 49-14 home loss to Abilene. The offense failed to generate much, failing to score until they trailed 35-0. The good news is Permian has nowhere to go but up and they hope to do that against a Waco Midway team that's also coming off a season-opening loss, a 42-31 setback to Mansfield. Midway allowed two touchdowns of 70+ yards, showing they're susceptible for giving up big plays. Does the Odessa Permian offense get healthy this week? Midway was 2-8 last season.            Odessa at El Paso Americas: Like their cross-town brethren, the Bronchos are also coming off a first-game loss as Odessa fell to Lubbock Monterey, 44-42, in a Week 1 shootout. As expected, the Bronchos came out throwing the football. QB Mikey Cota threw for 417 yards. His favorite target, not surprisingly, was 6-foot-6 WR Ivan Carreon, an Oklahoma commitment. Carreon finished with nearly 200 receiving yards. Defensively, Odessa couldn't stop the run, ultimately surrendering over 330 yards on the ground to Lubbock Monterey. Poor run defense won't work against El Paso Americas, which ran for 405 yards in a 44-19 win over Las Cruces (NM) in Week 1. Cam'ron Johnson led the way for the Trail Blazers with 149 rushing yards. That matchup – Americas' run game vs. Odessa's run defense – will probably determine the outcome of the game.            Monahans at Andrews: One of the top Class 4A matchups in West Texas for Week 2. Monahans is ranked No. 4 in the latest MaxPreps Odessa Region poll after trouncing Shallowater, 48-7, in Week 1. Now they must go to the Mustang Bowl. Andrews lost most of its starters from last season's 7-5 team but the Mustangs were nearly flawless in Week 1's 32-21 road win at Amarillo Randall. Their new offensive scheme is described as the ‘Slot T.' Sophomore RB JaeSean DeBouse was the beneficiary in Week 1 as he rushed for 236 yards and 2 TD on 22 carries.       Big Spring at Lubbock (Thur.): These two teams tangle Thursday night at Lowrey Field at PlainsCapital Park in Lubbock. In Week 1, Lubbock made the long journey to El Paso to face Socorro and the Westerners left with a 37-27 victory. Freshman QB Dallas Tevino completed 25-of-38 passes for 364 yards and 1 TD. The Westerners also ran for 207 yards, amassing 571 yards in total. Big Spring's season began with a 35-25 road loss at Pampa. However, it was reported six starters sat out for undisclosed reasons, including standout QB Gavin Padron and RB Kavien Ford. All six players are expected back Thursday night. Padron threw for 3,411 yards and a school record 28 TD in 2022.   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/Jakob_BburgTV/status/1695295838031904777?s=20 </div></figure>   FAR WEST TEXAS   Game of the Week: Pebble Hills at Del Valle   Pebble Hills is ranked No. 2 in the MaxPreps El Paso HS Football poll and the Spartans squeezed out a 24-21 victory over gritty Canutillo in Week 1 by booting a last-second field goal. Pebble Hills had two 135+ yard rushers against Canutillo – QB Gael Ochoa (UTEP commit) and RB Zereian Quarles. Expect the Spartans to keep the ball on the ground again unless (and until) Del Valle proves they can stop the run. The Conquistadores put up 67 points in their Week 1 win over Burges and they did it with a balanced offensive attack. Del Valle started fast, jumping out to a 31-0 lead in the first quarter and 47-6 at halftime. A repeat against Pebble Hills is extremely unlikely. This contest should be a close, hard-fought affair for the entire 48 minutes.           Las Cruces (NM) at Eastwood: Eastwood is eager to bounce back after being trounced on the road by 6A powerhouse Southlake Carroll in Week 1. Eastwood's biggest issue in the opener was dynamic QB Evan Minjarez had little help on the offensive side beyond WR Rudy Garcia. Four running backs gained just 48 yards on 16 carries, an average of 3.0 yards per attempt. Chances are the Eastwood ground game should be able to get untracked against a Las Cruces team that has lost its first two games and surrendered 44 points to EP Americas last week.    Rio Rancho (NM) at Eastlake: Eastlake also hosts a New Mexico blue blood program. The Falcons blanked Andress, 33-0, in Week 1 behind a dominant performance on both sides of the ball. They gained 164 yards running and passing, which is as balanced as you can be. Rio Rancho is 2-0 (1-1 on the field) after gaining a forfeit victory from earlier in the season. The Rams want to run the ball, utilize their speed at WR when they can and play solid defense.       EP Coronado at Canutillo: Canutillo proved against Pebble Hills that they have the pieces in place for an excellent year in Class 5A. QB Jeremiah Knox was highly efficient, completing 12-of-14 passes for 160 yards and 1 TD. Knox and RB Rene Huerta combined for 135 yards on the ground. The defense was steady against the pass but allowed 285 yards on the ground. Coronado edged Chapin, 17-13, in Week 1 and, as expected, relied mostly on the run, gaining 156 yards on the ground with senior RB Thomas Murray doing most of the damage.           El Dorado at Chapin: Speaking of running backs, El Dorado has one of the best in Far West Texas with sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='212439' first='Ryan' last='Estrada'], who missed last week's season opener against Parkland. Not surprisingly, the El Dorado offense struggled without its star player and had scored just seven points when the fourth quarter arrived. If Estrada plays this week, look for him to make up for lost time against a Chapin defense that allowed 4.7 yards per carry to Coronado. This should be a game where both teams rely on the ground attack.   <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/1694941728527311307?s=20 </div></figure>

The 2023 West Texas high school football regular season enters Week 2 with a handful of games followed by dozens of games on Friday night. Here the top five games in each region: