Community Champions: Parkland football looks to make history
History will be made one way or another when Parkland meets Richland High School in Lubbock Saturday in round three of the 5A, Division II state playoffs.
Neither school has advanced beyond the third round of the playoffs before, so something has to give.
The two teams enter their showdown Saturday in Lubbock with identical 10-2 records.
Parkland is coming off an area round victory against Lubbock Cooper last week and was the only team from El Paso in any classification to make it out of round two in the UIL state playoffs.
“We’re just excited to be able to represent El Paso in the next round of the playoffs,” said first-year head coach Eric Frontz. “Hopefully we’ll come back with another shiny gold ball. We’re just trying to keep that up.”
The Matadors have now run off six consecutive wins by double digits, scoring 36 or more points in each of those six contests.
They say the key is to not only be confident heading into Saturday, but calm as well.
“Well, you know, that’s funny because we talked about that early in the year. We were a little bit uptight. But we always play better when we’re loose,” said Frontz.
Although Frontz is in his first year as head coach of the Parkland Matadors, he says he knows you have to seize opportunities like this when you get a chance.
“These kids, they’re playing with a lot of confidence right now, and they feel like they have the opportunity to do something great,” he said. “That being said, you know, they’ve prepared. They’re prepared, and they’re ready to play.”
