With much anticipation, El Paso’s 2024 high school football season is set to begin on Aug. 30. This season will introduce the Socorro Independent School District’s (SISD) brand-new state-of-the-art Student Activities Center (SAC). The facility will act as a second football stadium and allow more Friday night games at once.
Socorro H.S will be the first SISD school to play at the new SAC, where the bulldogs will face Clint ISD’s Horizon H.S in a non-district game on opening day. While Socorro comes off the previous season with an offense improvement, the team still hopes to earn their first win in over two seasons. As for Horizon, under new Head Coach Omar Garcia, they hope to continue to grow as a young program.
One of the more notable changes during the off-season was the University Interscholastic League (UIL) realignment, which saw Americas and El Dorado H.S move from 6A Division 1 over to 5A Division 1, joining Bel Air and Parkland H.S.
As for 5A Division 2 they gained: Del Valle, Hanks, and Horizon, dropping from 5A Division 1, and joining El Paso High, Andres, Burges, Canutillo, Chapin, and Jefferson.
4A Division 1 gained four new schools. Ysleta dropped down from 5A D1 and Fabens, Clint, and Mountain View came up from 4A D2.
This season will surely be very competitive as the Canutillo Eagles, who won the 5A Division 2 Bi-District championship, will face off against the 5A Division 1 District Champions, the Del Valle Conquistadores. These teams, who proved to be fierce competitors last season, will see each other Sept. 20 at Canutillo H.S.
Over in 6A Division 1, the Eastwood Troopers are looking to defend their district championship title, but the Pebble Hills Spartans have their eyes on the prize to regain the first seed after they finished second in the division last year. It is bound to be a tight race for the last two playoff spots as the remaining four teams look strong coming into the season.
In 4A D1, the division has grown substantially, and the competition is guaranteed to be much more competitive. The Riverside Rangers took home the district championship last season and are eager to do it again. The four new teams joining 4A have created many questions as to who will join the Rangers at the top of the division.
As July rolls into August, only a few days remain until the 2024 season starts. On Aug. 30, two rivals, the Austin Panthers and El Paso Tigers, will face off in what is sure to be a great matchup.
Another anticipated game will take place on Aug. 30, as the Eastwood Troopers travel to sunny Bellflower, Calif. to face off against the St. John Bosco Braves who are ranked fourth in the nation.
With young, new talent on the field the 2024 high school football season will allow for new faces to make their name on the field, and hopefully catch the eyes of college recruiters.
Israel Garcia is an editor for The Prospector and can be reached at [email protected].
