Americas is on a roll, winning 2nd straight game in district play vs. Eastlake
The Americas football team is starting to find its way under first-year coach Noe Robles
On Friday night at the SISD Student Activities Complex, the No. 9-ranked Trailblazers won their second straight game, 17-0, against No. 3-ranked Eastlake, and are now 2-1 in District 1-6A. Eastlake suffered its first loss of the year and are also 2-1 in District 1-6A and is 4-1 overall.
The Trailblazers who are 3-2 on the season, suffered two losses by a total of four points earlier this season to Montwood and Odessa High. Americas beat Franklin last week, 16-10,
Americas controls game
The Trailblazers took a 10-0 lead into halftime behind a strong defensive effort. The Trailblazers stopped Eastlake inside the five on downs and forced two turnovers, one of which led to a touchdown. Marco Vazquez's interception in the second quarter led to an Abiel Rincon 27-yard touchdown catch from Mark Moore III. Stephen Gutierrez also had a fumble recovery for Americas, which also got a first quarter 30-yard field goal from Jaden Sias.
Eastlake had a couple of drives that began well in the second half, but were once again stopped on fourth and short and were forced to punt on the other drive.
The Trailblazers added a score on a Moore 20-yard touchdown pass to Anthony Miranda.
What the winning coach said
"We played our most complete game of the season," Robles said. "Our hard work is starting to pay off. The guys are beginning to do some great things. Our effort is great and I'm really happy to be a part of this group of players. We had a good week of practice leading up to this game."
What the winning players said
"We feel like we have the best defense in the city and we proved that by beating 4-0 Eastlake," Miranda said. "We've been practicing and watching film. The offense did a good job and got 17 points."
Up next
Eastlake takes on Socorro and Americas meets up with Pebble Hills, which is ranked No. 2 in the city.
No. 1 Eastwood survives scare
Top-ranked Eastwood faced all it could handle from El Dorado before settling for a 49-35 win in the first game at the SAC on Friday.
Eastwood improves to 3-1 overall and 2-0 in District 1-6A. El Dorado falls to 0-5 and 0-3 in district play.
Eastwood's Konrad Joseph-Garcia sealed the win with an interception return with under two minutes remaining in the game. The Troopers went ahead 42-35 when Evan Minjarez found Alex Sanchez with a short touchdown pass.
El Dorado got solid play from quarterback Elijah Issa, running back Albert Raab and receivers Diego Carrasco and Adrian Olivas. Donovan Love returned a kickoff for a touchdown for the Aztecs and Devin Rubio caught a two-point conversion for the Aztecs.
Eastwood is home next week vs. Coronado and El Dorado has its bye week.
More: Franklin improves to 4-1 Here's how the Franklin Cougars improved to 4-1 in win against Socorro
Felix F. Chavez can be reached at fchavez@elpasotimes.com; @Fchavezeptimes on Twitter
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Americas Trailblazers defense steps up in football win vs. Eastlake
