The Trailblazers gave the Bulldogs all they could handle, en route to a 45-0 victory.
Our very own Andres Acosta was there and brings you his view of the game in this ‘Story in Many Pics’
“We are excited,” said Ron Pingor, SISD’s fine arts assistant director. “Over the last several years, our bands have been getting stronger and stronger. We have been consistently sending bands to state.”
Americas advanced to state after competing in the UIL Area Marching Band Contest on Oct. 29 at Ratliff Stadium in Odessa.
The Trailblazers will compete at the state competition, which features 6A marching bands, on Nov. 8-9 at the Alamodome in San Antonio. Americas joins two other El Paso-area schools – Coronado and Franklin – in San Antonio this week.
The competition alternates each year based on the classification of high schools so that all schools have an opportunity to advance to the UIL state contest. This year, 4A and 6A had the opportunity to compete and advance to state. Last year, 3A and 5A bands competed for state.
Americas High School football player Josh Fields has been nominated for the Mr. Texas Football Player of the Week award, presented by Dave Campbell’s Texas Football and Wells Fargo, in conjunction with the Advocare V100 Texas Bowl.
Josh is one of ten nominees for the weekly statewide award, which is 100% decided by fan voting. The poll, located at www.texasfootball.com, closes Friday at noon.
The honor comes after Fields’ performance last Friday night where he rolled up an amazing 464 yards and 3 touchdowns, helping Americas beat Coronado 24-21.
Fans can vote at www.texasfootball.com (the poll is located on the bottom right-hand side of that web page) and there is a link to that page on the SISD Facebook page www.facebook.com/SocorroISD/
In the first half of a High School Football playoff doubleheader at the Socorro Student Activities Center (SAC), the Americas Trailblazers finally got the monkey off their back and defeated the Monterey Plainsmen 35 to 28. The ‘Blazers are the new 6a Bi-District Champions and move on to the next round of the 6a playoffs.
After a 40 min delay due to rain and electrical problems with the stadium lights, the Americas Trailblazers topped the TBirds Friday night. And while Coronado racked up an early 14-7 lead, Americas regrouped, scored 14 points in the second half to take the lead with less than 2 min remaining in the game. Here’s Andres Acosta’s view of the exciting contest.
In a battle of District 1-6A teams, the Americas Trailblazers edged out the Franklin Cougars 38 to 35, thanks to second half domination by the ‘Blazers.
Both teams began the game exchanging touchdowns, as Franklin quarterback Brandon Mueller and Americas running back Joshua Fields
played ‘dueling touchdowns’ runs in the first quarter.
“Definitely we controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball and when you control the line of scrimmage, you control the game,” Americas head coach, Patrick Melton said. “We had 259 rushing yards in the first half, that’s almost unheard of. The offensive line took over and the defensive line took over when it was time to.”
The game was tied at 14 after one quarter of play, then the game slowed down as only three points were scored in the second quarter with Americas hitting a 23-yard field goal before the half.
Fields rushed 27 times for 156 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the first half, countered by Mueller of Franklin who kept the ball eight times for 116 yards and two touchdowns of his own; but it was Americas’ offensive line who would continue its dominance in the second half.
“It feels good, my o-line opened up big holes for me, I just kept on pushing to get the win,” Fields said. “We just wanted to pound the ball, impose our will on them, make them quit.”
“It feels good knocking out Franklin,” Fields added. “We have to worry about Coronado next, one week at a time”
It was in the second half that the Trailblazers jumped to a 31 to 14 lead after quarterback Eric Foster added two rushing touchdowns of his own. The offensive line also helped Foster to a big day, adding 212 rushing yards, on top of his two scores.
“In the third quarter we came out and established ourselves on defense and on offense,” Melton said. “Franklin coach [Daren] Walker does a great job and you knew they weren’t just going to lay down. They got a couple of onside [kicks] on us, we have to tighten that up, but we got two weeks to get ready for our next opponent.”
Americas would maintain a 17-point lead into the fourth quarter after linebacker Kolton Lindeman returned an interception 52 yards for a touchdown with a little over 3 minutes left to play.
However Franklin would not be put away that easily, scoring 14 points in the waning minutes of the game giving them a puncher’s chance at a comeback, had they recovered a third onside kick with five seconds left to play.
“We knew tonight was a big game, this game kind of set up the rest of the playoff picture and the run for district,” Melton said. “I would have been a mess had we lost.”
Americas improves to 5-3 overall and 3-1 in District 1-6A play while dropping Franklin to 3-4, but giving them their first district loss of the season, now 2-1.
Franklin will face Coronado Oct. 22, Americas has a bye before they too take on the Thunderbirds on Oct. 30.
In another intra-district rivalry game, the Americas Trailblazers took on Socorro at their namesake Student Activities Complex, defeating them 45 to 13. Check out Andres Acosta’s view of the game.
A battle of two El Paso-area powerhouses and Socorro ISD rivals ended up needing extra time on Friday night, as Montwood downed Americas 14 to 13. Check out our very own Andres Acosta’s view of the game via our Story in Six Pics.
El Paso Herald-Post El Paso News & Opinion
