The Tigers will kick off their football season tonight with the highly-anticipated rivalry game against the Austin Panthers.
El Paso is hoping to end their losing streak against Austin and win “The Claw” trophy for the first time since 2017.
“The claw means a lot to me, it is a big thing because my family came here,” senior, Peter Olivas said. “Being able to have the opportunity to play on the field and hopefully carry the claw definitely means a lot to me in general.”
Although none of the players have ever experience a win in the rivalry, the historical aspect resonates with some of them.
“It means a lot because I’ve been coming here since I was a little kid, I’ve seen us win it, and I’ve seen us lose it. So it’d be awesome to graduate with it back,” senior, Raydenn Lerma said.
El Paso has lost by an average score of 33-7 since 2018, but the team is hoping this is the year they turn their fortunes around.
“I can assure you that there’s been countless amounts of players who worked countless of hours to try to get it back, and it wasn’t done,” senior, Jayson Loya said. “As a team, we’ve been coming together for those players that weren’t able to fulfill it.”
The Tigers are coming off a 3-7 (wins-losses) season and finished 1-4 district.
Some are hoping a win in the season opener can propel them to a successful season and return to the playoffs for the first time 2022.
“I feel like if we win this game we’ll do a lot better in this season than if we were to lose,” Raydenn said.
The Claw game began in the 1930’s, and is the 5th oldest rivalry in the state.
In 1960, the student council of both schools came together and made “The Claw” trophy to commemorate the rivalry.
“It would make us all happy, and it would even make our coaches happy because I know most of our coaches haven’t had the claw since they’ve worked here,” senior Diego Gutierrez said.
