How a West Texas high school football team got a game with national power St. John Bosco

Eastwood High of El Paso will travel roughly 800 miles to challenge themselves against national, California power St. John Bosco Friday night.

St. John Bosco's Lance Olive-Enos celebrates during 2023 game with Mater Dei. / Heston Quan

The search for 2024 high school football games started in November, El Paso's Eastwood High football coach Julio Lopez said.

"There was an agency I was talking to, and they were talking about getting us a game with St. John Bosco or Mater Dei. But then the guy kind of ghosted me," Lopez said laughing. "I started getting nervous because I was telling other schools I had a game for (the weekend of Aug. 30)."

St. John Bosco coach Jason Negro was looking for games, too.

"I thought, 'you know what? - what's stopping me from reaching out to these schools myself?'," Lopez said.

And so, he did.

"I get an email in February from Eastwood High. A school I'm not familiar with, but I gave him a call," Negro said. "We ended up talking for 30 minutes. Coach Lopez was familiar with our program, and he wanted to challenge his players."

"I love that mentality," Negro added.

Eastwood, a 6A school from West Texas, will take on national power St. John Bosco (1-0) Friday night at Panish Family Stadium at 7 p.m. Eastwood will come out to play St. John Bosco again in 2025 to complete the two-year contract agreement.

EASTWOOD? WHO? WHY?

The Eastwood Troopers, hailing from a school with an enrollment of 2,412, will hop on a bus at 10:30 p.m. Wednesday night and travel roughly 800 miles through the night before arriving in Los Angeles at around 11 a.m. on Thursday, according to Lopez.

"We played at Southlake Carroll [a North Texas school] last year and its 600-some miles away. This isn't much different," said Lopez, who aniticpates traveling 64 players.

Eastwood High of El Paso went 9-2 in 2023 and will travel to play St. John Bosco in Bellflower on Aug. 30, 2024. / Photo courtesy/Gorilla Bee

Lopez has been at the helm for 10 years at Eastwood, taking the program over at the tender age of 25. Since his arrival, the 6A program (the highest class in Texas high school football) has made historic leaps, and has intentions of making more history.

"We want to be the first El Paso high school to make a 6A state final," Lopez said. "It's never been done."

He was close, though. The Troopers got to the final sixteen in 2021. That was a first.

"In order to make a deep run in the playoffs here in Texas, you have to seek out games that will prepare you for the monster programs like Southlake Carroll, DeSoto or Duncanville. You have to be ready for the long trips, too," Lopez said. "Playing St. John Bosco checks all those boxes."

Eastwood will be tested, that's for sure.

HOW DOES EASTWOOD MATCHUP WITH BOSCO?

In a quick search on 247Sports.com, Eastwood's search for ranked recruits in the class of 2025 or 2026 comes back with 'no results found'. Which could be problematic, considering the Braves are on the heels of a terrific out-of-state victory over nationally-ranked Chaminade-Madonna of Florida.

First-year starter Matai Fuiava threw for more than 300 yards and three TDs, and sophomore running back Maliq Blackwell-Allen ran for 128 yards on 11 carries. Defensively, St. John Bosco boasts UCLA commit Epi Sitanilei, a senior lineman listed at 6-foot-5, 230 pounds.

The 2026 class is loaded with talent, highlighted by wideouts Daniel Odom and Madden Williams. Corner Joshua Holland (USC) and edge rusher Dutch Horisk (Oregon).

Lopez highlighted senior defensive end/linebacker Konrad Joseph-Garcia, senior corner Jaydn Deal, junior wideout Jude Walker, and slot Fabian Penaloza as Eastwood's top playmakers.

Eastwood High of El Paso went 9-2 in 2023 and will travel to play St. John Bosco in Bellflower on Aug. 30, 2024. / Photo courtesy/MyDezigns

Though the game has the ingredients - on paper - to be lopsided, St. John Bosco traveled to Hawaii last year and got beat by Kahuku, 30-23, in national stunner. Negro later applauded Kahuku for taking the game.

"Nobody in the country thought we we'd go to Hawaii and lose to Kahuku," Negro said on the CIF Southern Section Sitdown in late October of 2023. "But guess what happened? ... Bosco lost. But that's the beauty of high school athletics ... to go out and play competitive opponents and not be afraid."

"Kahuku was not afriad."

Eastwood isn't either.

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