By Steven Howard          Sept 3, 2022

EL PASO, TEXAS --  After 2 weeks, several teams in the Borderland remain undefeated and look to continue their winning ways.  But unlike years past, there is a new crop of teams who are having early success.  As more and more teams from the Borderland look to play "tougher" opponents from east Texas and New Mexico schools with varying degress of success:

     - Americas High School (0 - 2).  Opponents -- Midland Christian (1 - 1) and Odessa (2 - 0)

     - Montwood High School (0 - 2).  Opponents -- Midland High (2 - 0) and San Angelo Central (1 - 1)

     - Eastwood High School (1 - 1).  Opponents -- Southliake Carroll (2 - 0) and Las Cruces (1 - 1)

     - Eastlake High School (1 - 1).  Opponents -- Rio Rancho (2 - 1) and Andress (0 - 2)

On the other hand, we have a group of schools who have looked to get ready for this season by playing locally here in the Borderland.  This has lead to a host of schools that have started the season undefeated and it varies drastically from prior years.

     - Pebble Hills High School (2 - 0).  Opponents -- Canutillo (1 - 1) and Del Valle (1 - 1)

     - El Dorado High School (2 - 0).  Opponents -- Parkland (1 - 1) and Chapin (0 - 2)

     - Bel Air High School (2 - 0).  Opponents -- Irvin (0 - 2) and Socorro (0 - 2)

     - Jefferson High School (2 - 0).  Opponents -- Horizon (0 - 2) and Irvin (0 - 2)

     - El Paso High School (2 - 0).  Opponents -- Gadsden (0 - 3) and Hanks (1 - 1)

     - Riverside High School (2 - 0). Opponents -- Ysleta (0 - 2) and Burges (0 - 2)

     - Fabens High School (2 - 0).  Opponents -- Chaparral (0 - 3) and Tornillo (0  2)

     - Mountain View High School (2 - 0).  Opponents -- Alpine (0 - 2) and Cathedral (1 - 1)

Now, there are two different philosophies when it comes to getting your team ready for district and post season play.  One philosophy is to play a very tough schedule and use these games to expose your players to a high caliber of play that they can reference later on in the season.  A second philosophy is to play a "softer schedule" and build your team up using the confidence that they build by winning games.  Both concepts have worked for teams throughout history, so we shall see which concept works the best for each of these teams moving forward.  

And the first test of these two philosophies will be this coming week as we have following key matchups from these teams:

     - Pebble Hills (2 - 0) vs. Eastwood (1 - 1)

     - El Dorado (2 - 0) vs. Eastlake (1 - 1)

     - Jefferson (2  0) vs. Riverside (2 - 0)

     - Fabens (2 -0) vs. Cathedral (1 -1)

     - Americas (0 - 2) vs. Montwood (0 - 2)

So as the high school continues to move forward and teams get into district play and later into the playoffs, we will really get a picture as to which philosophy worked best.