The Eastwood Troopers will head out on the road to face off against the Eastlake Falcons at 4:00 p.m. on Friday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Eastwood has eight straight victories, Eastlake has three straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Even though Franklin scored an imposing 31 points on Friday, Eastwood still came out on top. Eastwood walked away with a 38-31 win over Franklin. Given Eastwood's advantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 163rd, while Franklin is ranked 367th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
It was another big night for Evan Minjarez, who threw for 263 yards and four touchdowns, and also rushed for 130 yards and a touchdown on only 14 carries. Eastwood also got a significant boost from Maximus Mancilla, who ran away from the competition to the tune of 125 yards.
Another reason for the win was Eastwood's imposing defensive line, which managed to get into the backfield for three sacks. In fact, those sacks all came courtesy of defensive juggernaut Konrad Joseph-garcia.
Meanwhile, Eastlake came up short against Pebble Hills last Thursday and fell 31-21.
Steven Galindo put forth a good effort for the losing side as he rushed for 80 yards and a touchdown on only seven carries.
Eastwood's victory was their fifth straight at home, bumping their overall record up to 8-1. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 48.6 points per game. As for Eastlake, they have been struggling recently, as they've lost four of their last five matches, which put a noticeable dent in their 5-4 record this season.
Everything came up roses for Eastwood against Eastlake in their previous matchup back in November of 2022 as the squad secured a 42-0 win. The rematch might be a little tougher for Eastwood since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
