Eastwood Troopers Set to Surprise

By Chris Doelle
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Updated: August 31, 2017

2017 Looks Bright for El Paso Eastwood

After struggling last season due to adversity and injuries, this year the El Paso Eastwood Troopers are looking to make a comeback. Eastwood has made major changes over the summer, making sure to stretch more, to take care of their bodies, and to be closer as a team.

Head Coach Julio Lopez says he plans on having a very successful season. “No matter what happens, and no matter what type of adversity we face, the expectation and the mindset we’re playing with is that we will find a way to win and finish the game,” says Coach Lopez.

Coach Lopez, who played college football at University of Texas El Paso, has been the head coach at Eastwood since 2015 (14-8) and has had a major impact on the Eastwood Football program. He and his coaching staff won 9 games in their first season - something that hadn't been done at Eastwood in 21 years. They are always working to teach the players to grow not only as athletes but as people. The coaching staff is one of the many things that have helped the Troopers improve.

Another thing that has helped them is their ability to not dwell over last season but to learn from it.

Last season the Troopers only went 5-5 and lost many starters to injuries, “after last season, we have a better understanding on how to handle pressure, ourselves, and how to finish games,” say Senior DL Jake Hernandez.

Because of the loss of QB Seth Ochoa, and last seasons performance, the El Paso Times only has them predicted to be number seven in the city. In other rankings they’ve come out even lower. Lone Star Gridiron however, has Eastwood ranked 3rd in District 1-6A and #111 in the state overall .

All this did for the Troopers was motivate them to work even harder and put them “on a mission to prove all the people that are doubting Eastwood wrong,” says Senior CB Andrew Crank. These rankings have only made the Troopers stronger, and they’re looking to prove everyone that is doubting them wrong.

The Troopers have come up with a new way to take on the season - one day at a time. Rather than worry about the whole season, they take it one game at a time and one day at a time.

“We’re looking to avenge last season because we don’t ever want to feel the way we did last year, and we believe that this is the way to do it,” says Senior WR Pete Cadena.

The team has made numerous improvements, working to better themselves every single day whether that means doing more team bonding or having shorter practices. All these changes have the Troopers confident they’ll exceed expectations and come out on top.

“We have every puzzle piece in place, we’re pressed on proving people wrong, we know what we have, and we know what we need to do together as a team,” says Senior RB Freddy Contreras.

El Paso Eastwood definitely has some playmakers this season. The staff and fellow players are quick to respond when asked about playmakers. These are names that came up: quarterback Christian Castaneda, receivers Robert Minjarez and Joshua Ponce, tackle Joseph Salas, linemen Jake Hernandez and Jamari
Bullock, and last but certainly not least corner Andrew Crank.

The Troopers are planning for a long and hopefully successful season. They’re the underdog team as of right now and they plan on rising above the critics and being successful.

by Emily Autumn Velasquez