El Paso is 0-3 against Canutillo since September of 2014 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Thursday. The El Paso Tigers will be playing at home against the Canutillo Eagles at 6:30 p.m. The timing isn't great for El Paso: they have been struggling with three straight losses at home, while Canutillo has snatched up three consecutive wins on the road.
After soaring to 42 points the game before, El Paso were a bit more limited in their contest on Friday. They took a serious blow against Chapin, falling 66-7.
Despite the defeat, El Paso got a solid performance out of Christopher Valenzuela, who rushed for 108 yards and a touchdown on only 14 carries. Valenzuela was no stranger to the big play, turning on the jets for a run that went for 63 yards.
Meanwhile, Canutillo stacked a fifth blowout onto their ever-increasing hoard on Friday. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat Jefferson 51-0 at home. Given Canutillo's advantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 388th, while Jefferson is ranked 1155th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Canutillo's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Mathew Gasca led the charge by rushing for 85 yards and three touchdowns. The team also got some help courtesy of Shai Alva, who rushed for 70 yards and two touchdowns on only six carries.
El Paso has been struggling recently, as they've lost four of their last five games, which put a noticeable dent in their 3-6 record this season. As for Canutillo, their victory bumped their record up to 7-2.
El Paso was taken down by Canutillo 49-0 when the teams last played back in November of 2022. Thankfully for El Paso, Lj Martin (who rushed for 275 yards and three touchdowns while picking up 16.2 yards per carry, and also caught a touchdown) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
