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 Tuesday
February 19th, 2008 - City Council Chambers presented a Proclamation
to Austin High's Varsity Football
Team for their Historic 2007 Winning Season.
Fellow Panthers,
As we continue enjoying the spoils of our
Historic Football season we continue to receive honors for the team, coach
and especially the players. Some of this season’s highest honors include a
10-0 Undefeated Season, Continued ownership of the “Claw” for the 8th
year in a row, City of El Paso 2007 Football Coach of the Year, Only El Paso
Football Player named to Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Magazine, Only El
Paso Player named to State of Texas Football Team, All District Most
Valuable Player and many, many more (see below).
Coach Batista, his coaching staff
and the 2007 varsity football players have truly made history at Austin!
The school has received positive media
coverage throughout the year and fellow exes have contacted the school to
see how they can help. Several major projects have been completed such as
the new track, scoreboard, tennis courts and quadrangle. Other projects are
in process i.e. new marquee and landscaping for the front of the school.
As the Austin Football Boosters we have been
very proud to have been supporting Panther Athletics, Austin High and the
Panther community for the past eight years. We could not have done it
without the support of Panther Football players, parents, our volunteers and
the financial help of our exes, businesses and friends.
We have some Championship apparel still
available and I will soon send out an e-mail offering it to any exes…
This year we will hold our Football Awards
Ceremony and present all the seniors with their small replica award helmets,
acknowledge all award winners and present two scholarships.
As always we appreciate your financial help
and hope to continue receiving it.
If you would like to help please send your
tax deductible contributions to:
Austin Football Boosters
Mail To : Austin Football Boosters
10220 Ashwood
El Paso, Texas 79925
GO PANTHERS!
Sincerely,
Raul Rodriguez
President Austin Football Boosters
Class of ‘76
Austin High vs El Paso High / November 8, 2007
The Mighty Austin Panthers defeat
(48–0) the El Paso High Tigers for the 8th consecutive year continuing
owning the “CLAW” and clenching the 2007 District 1-4A Championship Title
with a perfect 10 – 0 record.
El Paso
Times 12/15/2007 / 16th Annual Senior All-Star Football Classic
Panther Pride: Players Finish Year In Style
Austin
HS Seniors Help Make History For Program -
Five members of the
Austin
High School football
team were chosen to play for the West in todays 16th Annual Senior All-Star
Football Classic at the Sun Bowl. Representing the brown and gold for the
West All-Stars will be tailback Edwin Morales, cornerback Travis Arrellano,
defensive end Larry Hernandez, defensive linemen Jonathan Mata and noseguard
Jordan Sonora. These
Austin seniors hope to continue making their
fans proud at 2:05 p.m. today, when they suit up one final time for the 16th
Annual Senior All-Star Football Classic at the Sun Bowl.
West Offensive Most Valuable Player
Edwin Morales, Austin Running Back, Senior
El Paso Times 12/20/2007 / 7 city players named to 4A All- State Team
Austin High School Senior defensive end Larry
Hernandez led a contingent of seven
El Paso players named to the Associated Press Sports
Editors 2007 Class 4A All-State Football Team. Hernandez, who played in
last week’s 16th Annual Senior All-Star Classic and finished the
season with 19 sacks and 65 tackles, was named to the all-state team as a
second team defensive lineman.
Among 6 other players, running
back Edwin Morales of Austin was also chosen as an offensive
honorable mention.
El Paso
Times 12/24/2007 / 2007 1-4A All-District Football Team High
Honors: Most Valuable Player
Ernest Raya, Austin Quarter Back, Junior
Offensive Co-Most Valuable Player
Edwin Morales, Austin Running Back, Senior
Defensive Most Valuable Player
Larry Hernandez, Austin Defensive End, Senior
Offensive First Team
Jacob Monteros, Austin Offensive Lineman,
Junior
Jesus Puente, Austin Offensive Lineman,
Senior
Ben Sustaita, Austin Running Back, Junior
Erick Rodriguez, Austin Kicker, Sophomore
Defensive First Team
Jonathan Mata, Austin Defensive Lineman,
Senior
Mark Burns, Austin Defensive Lineman, Senior
Marcus Calhoun, Austin Defensive Secondary,
Junior
Offensive Second Team
Michael Arellano, Austin Wide Receiver,
Senior
Manuel Gutierrez, Austin Tight End, Senior
Defensive Second Team
Michael Arellano, Austin Secondary, Senior
Ray Calhoun, Austin Secondary, Junior
Jerry Bañuelos, Austin Inside Linebacker,
Junior
Honorable Mention
Offense
Samuel Peña, Austin Offensive Lineman, Senior
Jesus Puente, Austin Offensive Lineman,
Senior
Jorge Morales, Austin Offensive Wide
Receiver, Senior
Samuel Lopez Jr, Austin Offensive Lineman,
Junior
Jair Avila, Austin Offensive Lineman, Junior
Defense
Jordan Sonora, Austin Defensive Lineman,
Senior
Erick Hernandez, Austin Defensive Secondary,
Senior
Cruz Ceniceros, Austin Inside Linebacker,
Senior
Jesus Martinez, Austin Defensive Lineman,
Junior
Daniel Garcia, Austin Punter, Junior
El Paso
Times 12/25/2007 / El Paso
Times All-City Football Team
High Honors: Coach of the Year
Ruben Batista, Austin Head Coach
Tenure: 8th season
2007 Season Record: 11-1
Led Austin to an undefeated regular season, it’s
first since 1937 and their outright district 1-4A title since 1962.
Austin’s 31-6 victory over
Parkland in the playoffs marked its first
bi-district win since beating Eastwood in 5A in 1991.
Offensive First Team
Edwin Morales, Austin Running Back, Senior
Named District 1-4A Offensive Co-Most
Valuable Player and earned Class 4A all-state honorable mention honors.
Rushed for 1,813 yards and 21 touchdowns.
Jacob Monteros, Austin Offensive
Lineman, Junior
Named first team All-District 1-4A. Leader
of offensive line that averaged more than 370 yards rushing per game.
Honorable Mention
Ernest Raya, Austin Quarter Back, Junior
Ben Sustaita, Austin Running Back, Junior
Defensive First Team -
High Honors: Defensive Most Valuable Player
Larry Hernandez, Austin Defensive End
Named District 1-4A Defensive Most
Valuable Player and earned Class 4A all-state Second team honors. Recorded
19 sacks, 65 tackles and two fumble recoveries (one for touchdown).
Defensive Second Team
Marcus Calhoun, Austin, Junior
Honorable Mention
Jonathan Mata, Austin Defensive Lineman,
Senior
Mark Burns, Austin Defensive Lineman, Senior
Travis Arellano, Austin Defensive Back,
Senior
Dave Campbell’s Texas Football Magazine / Winter
Edition
Only one city player was named to the magazine’s
All-Texas High School Team, and that is Austin High School Senior defensive
end Larry Hernandez, who was on the second team defense after helping lead
the Panthers to an 11-1 overall record.
The district 1-4A Player of the Year is
running back Edwin Morales from Austin.
Austin High School
Panthers: Undefeated
November 8, 2007
EL PASO, Texas --
The last time Austin High School finished the season
undefeated, Harry Truman was president, the United Nations
met for the first time, and "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" was a hit
song. That was in 1946. Now some 60-plus years later, the
team is hoping to sing "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah" again, by
completing an undefeated season, and doing it without a
single home game.
It's the oldest rivalry in El Paso
high school football: Austin High versus El Paso High. The
two teams battle it out every year for the claw.
"It's our homecoming game, it's
against El Paso High, and it's also the claw game, so we're
fighting for the claw," said Anthony Caraballo, an Austin
High School junior.
The homecoming pep rally at Austin
High school seemed extra exciting on Thursday considering
the Panthers may go 10-0 for the first time in more than six
decades, with a win over El Paso High on Thursday.
"This is history right here, this is
wonderful, this is history," said Austin High School
Principal Angelo Pokluda.
"Perfect score so far, perfect
season," said Jasmin Palomo, an Austin High School junior.
"It's been pretty magical. If you were
going to ask me at the beginning of the year how well we
were going to do, I'd say we ought to be pretty good, but I
never expected this," said Austin High School's Head
Football Coach Ruben Batista.
What may make the season more
magical, the team hasn't played a single home game this year
as the track and field sits under construction.
"The kids have really handled it real
well, and this bunch here just wanted to play, they didn't
care where they were going to play, they just wanted to
play," said Batista.
"I don't know, the way we've been
playing without a home field, I'm inclined to play
everywhere else but here," said Pokluda.
So what will the final outcome be?
"We're going to blow them away, they're not going to be able
to stop us," said Caraballo.
"Oh, we're going to win. We're going to
keep the claw another year," said Pokluda.
"I know our boys are going to come out
strong on top," said Palomo.
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 El
Paso's Austin High Makes History!
January 4th, 2008
Article By
Michelle Murray
Austin High School clearly made
history this past year. Competing with a record that hadn’t been
matched since World War II was going on, The Panthers remained
undefeated this season. According to Defensive End Mark Burns,
the strong traditions and pride felt by the Austin football
players was key to pushing this team forward.
Hard work was a factor as well. When their peers were out at the
movies or engaging in other teen fancies, this group of boys was
conditioning in the weight room and running to get into shape.
Larry Hernandez, Defensive End, points out this was necessary to
surpass the technique and skill of this year’s opponents. Mark
Burns says “We worked really hard on our running game and also
on our passing game”.
The team’s ability to actually be a “team” and not a group of
individuals also contributed to the success of The Panthers.
Josh Baca, #41, shared “We are all willing to help each other
out. We all have the same mission—which is winning the District
Championship and going undefeated. We are all hardworking and we
have so much faith in each other”. Josh was also quick to point
out the fact that Coach Ruben Batista is an essential element of
the team. “Our Coach motivates us because he and all the other
coaching staff believe in us. Just belonging to this team has
been a blessing. This is definitely an experience of a lifetime.
Proud to be a Panther!”
Citywide, it seems everyone enjoyed coming out and witnessing
school history being made because as Wide Receiver Travis
Arrellano points out, the Austin mindset, no matter what
adversity is being faced, is always the same—to win
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The Sun Bowl Times
Wayne Thornton
offers insights into the inner workings
of the Sun Bowl;
he is a past president of the Sun Bowl Board of Directors
January 31, 2008
Austin High School Sports Resurgence
How would the Sun Bowl Association affect High
School Sports or even a particular High School? First of all the Sun Bowl
Association is much more than a group that just does the Brut Sun Bowl Football
game each year.
As mentioned before there is the Parade,
Basketball Tournament, Sun Court, various youth activities such as a Charm Camp
for girls, Punt, Pass and Kick, Youth Basketball Camps and the list goes on and
on of the remarkable achievements that the association is involved in.
Austin High School is one such school that has
stepped up in a big way in terms of athletics and academics at the central El
Paso school. Angelo Pokluda has been the leader in that effort along with great
teachers and an administration that truly cares.
Ruben Batista, the head football coach is a person that
was a 1976 graduate of the school and has been the head coach for the past 10
years. This year however was probably the greatest story of recent memory and
easily the greatest sports story of the year.
Batista a Sun Bowl Volunteer for the Big
12/Big East team each year for the Brut Sun Bowl each year, had South Florida
this year. But from August to November his team of the Brown and the Gold and
the panthers mesmerized their opponents to the tune of going 10-0, thus Mr.
Batista being named Coach of the Year by the El Paso Times Newspaper.
A special time and place for the school, that
definitely loses many students each year to rival Chapin High School, and
although the amenities of Austin cannot keep pace with the newer Chapin, their
staff, student body and school carries just as much pride and tradition and
perhaps more as the city's second oldest school.
So now in girls basketball, and boys
basketball they are both fighting for playoff berths and with legendary Hall of
Fame Track and Field Coach Truman Wills and upcoming softball and baseball
seasons, the Panthers are ready to claw their way to
the top.
In a way all because of a football Coach named
Batista that started it all. Go Panthers!!!!
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