EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — The Irvin High School football team has struggled in recent years, but first-year coach Jonathan Elliott has been preaching and teaching a winning culture.
Friday night, Oct. 11, the Rockets took another step in that direction with a hard-fought 27-21 victory over Mountain View High on the road in Montana Vista.
Irvin used a tough, opportunistic defense to shut down Mountain View in the second half en route to the District 1-4A win.
“I just brought the coaches I felt could help me turn around a program that has been down,” Elliott said. “They have done a phenomenal job.
“Trying to change the culture is really what it is,” Elliott continued. “We are trying to put kids in the right spots to be successful. We are trying to change the culture where these kids believe they can win.”
Irvin took contol of the game late in the third quarter when Mike Medina scored on a 4-yard touchdown run, giving the Rockets at 27-14 lead with 2:28 left in the period.
Mountain View, however, made things interesting in the final two minutes.
Lobo quarterback Matt Slosar hit Chris Mendoza for a 42-yard scoring strike to make the game a one-score contest with 2 minutes to play.
But that was it for the Lobos.
Irvin was able to grind out the clock for the win.
The Rockets were keyed by opportunistic defense, led by Marco Iniquez who had two interceptions.
“Our defense played amazing all game,” Elliott said. “They let one get behind them there in the second half, which made it a one-score game which was a little scary. But our offense came out and killed the clock.
“The defense did a phenomenal job all game long,” Elliott said.
Irvin’s Dallas Medina had two touchdown passes in the first half — a 15-yarder to Michael Salazar and an 11-yarder to Israel Martinez.
Irvin’s Diego Grivalja added a 20-yard touchdown run to round out the Rockets’ first-half scoring.
Mountain View got two first-half touchdown runs from Omar Nevarez — a 7-yarder and a 75-yarder.
Irvin is now 3-1 in district play and 4-2 overall. Mountain View fell to 2-3 in district and 3-4 overall.
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