Pebble Hills Answers Every Franklin Challenge in the Rain, 49-28, to Win the District 1-6A Title
Down three times on the road, the Spartans scored the game's final 28 points - and quarterback Joe Fernandez accounted for all seven of their touchdowns.
EL PASO - Winning a district championship on the road, in the rain, against a rival playing its best football of the season was never going to be simple for Pebble Hills. The Spartans trailed Franklin 7-0, 14-7 and 28-21 on Friday night - and answered every time, scoring the game's final 28 points to win 49-28 and take the District 1-6A title.
Quarterback Joe Fernandez authored the whole night: 185 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns, plus two touchdown passes on 18-of-21 throwing for 217 yards - every Pebble Hills score ran through him. Jordan Sotelo added 127 rushing yards, and when the game tightened at 35-28 in the third quarter, Daveon Sullivan intercepted a pass to set up the score that finally gave the Spartans breathing room, then intercepted another to close it out. 'Any time you come out on the winning end of these kinds of games - the back and forth, the elements - it makes it that much sweeter,' coach Ryan Warner said, in remarks reported by the El Paso Times. 'Our kids don't flinch.'
Pebble Hills improved to 8-1 overall and 5-0 in district, and has already clinched a No. 1 playoff seed; it closes the regular season Friday against Socorro, and only an upset there could pull Eastwood into a share of the crown. Franklin (4-5, 3-2) still holds its own playoff destiny and closes Thursday against Coronado at the Sun Bowl. For Houston readers watching the state's title races take shape before the UIL playoffs, El Paso's is settled: the Spartans are the kings of 1-6A, and they earned it the hard way.
