The Bears came out swinging and put the Panthers in the defensive position right out of the gate, as Bowie put up two unanswered TD’s and the Panthers found themselves in the hole.
However Austin head coach Eric Pichardo and his assistants calmed their team down and the Panthers came back slowly in the first half; allowing them to head into the locker room down 14-6 at halftime.
The second half is where the Panthers came out and took control of the game, scoring four touchdowns in the last two quarters of action.
When the game clock struck 0:00 it was Austin 35-21 over the Bowie Bears.
Austin Quarterback Daniel Orosco, running backs William Rodriguez III and Isiah Witterstauter put the team on their backs during the second half and delivered the knock out punch to run the teams district record to 4-1.
The Panthers will now prepare for their next home game against the Irvin Rockets next Friday night October 25 at McKee Stadium with a 7 p.m. kickoff.
Words and pics by Ruben R. Ramirez – El Paso Herald Post
Hundreds of students formed teams of four to take on the challenge at the school’s gym. They competed for bragging rights and some Army swag.
The challenge began with a fitness relay where each of the four-member took on 10 pushups, 10 sit ups, five burpees and 10 jumping jacks before heading off to more tactical challenges.
“They have to have some type of plan or objective to figure out how they’re going to accomplish their mission for that particular task,” said Anthony Dinkins, JROTC senior army instructor, who was instrumental in bringing the program to Austin.
“They will pick whoever is the best commander to lead them through a particular exercise based on the team members that they have and they decide how they want to attack obstacles.”
At the Strategy Tower, the students used their critical thinking skills to strategically maneuver pieces of the Lucas Tower-like puzzle before running to the Extraction challenge. This final challenge took kids through a series of rope obstacles, testing their teamwork, leadership and physical fitness skills. The goal was to complete all three stations in fewer than 90 seconds.
“It’s been an overall good learning experience,” senior Alexander Rice said. “You learn meet people in your class and you learn how to work together, how to use proper teamwork to complete your mission.”
Rice and junior Taylor Wood teamed up with students they didn’t know to complete the obstacles. After the first round through, they became more strategic and assigned tasks based on the strengths they saw on their team in the initial round.
“I really appreciate them coming out here and letting all the students do it,” she said. “It’s a lot of good experience because you get to learn teamwork and commitment and confidence. It really builds up their confidence and it makes them know, hey, I can actually do this or I’m not really good but maybe I can improve on this.”
The challenge also brought in recruiters from the army and university ROTC programs, Wood liked the fact that it united both Austin’s JROTC cadets with other students.
“I really appreciate them coming out here,” Wood said. “I hope the continue to do this and for other schools, too.”
Other obstacles the students took on included the Victory Wall, which required teams to figure the bet way to move across the wall using hand pegs and foot holds to get from one side to the other. Each of the pegs touched by team members get removed as they go across – further requiring some though and strategy. The students tested their upper body strength at the pull up bar.
“I honestly liked was that you were just put onto a random team,” said Wood, JROTC battalion commander at Austin. “You didn’t choose your best friends or your friends. You were just throw in it and you met and you’re just like, okay, ‘I’m good at pushups or I’m good at sit ups or I’m really good at burpees.’ It was a lot of fun because we got to bond and figure out who this person was and what their strengths and weaknesses were. It was a true bonding experience.”
The competition was held on Tuesday, October 9.
Our very own Andres Acosta was there and brings you his view of the game in this ‘Story in Many Pics’
In a battle pitting one of the newer northeast teams versus one of the original El Paso County schools, new bested old as the Chapin Huskies defeated the Austin Panthers at Irvin High’s Tony Shaw Field Friday night.
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El Paso Herald-Post El Paso News & Opinion
