Navarro’s Euler Deleon, shown here breaking a tackle against Llano last Friday, is 41 rushing yards away from his second straight 1,000-yard season. Photo by Jacqueline Springs.
(Austin) – A pair of District 13-4A-Division II programs who share the Panther mascott but sit on opposite ends of the football spectrum square off Thursday when Navarro visits Eastside Memorial at House Park in Austin.
Navarro is 6-0 on the season and ranked as high as No. 5 in the various 4A Division II state polls after crushing Llano 55-14 in last Friday’s district opener.
Eastside Memorial is 0-6 overall, 0-1 in district, and remains scoreless on the year after a 51-0 loss to Wimberley last week. Opponents have outscored Eastside Memorial 309-0 this season. The Austin ISD program has dropped 18 straight games dating back to 2017, including an 83-0 loss to Navarro last season, and has only scored one touchdown in that span.
Navarro has outscored its opponents by an average margin of 43.5 points to 17.8 in Rod Blount’s second season as head coach. Blount’s Panthers enter Thursday averaging 427.5 total yards per game (406 rushing) and 8.6 yards per carry.
Senior fullback Euler Deleon is just 41 rushing yards away from his second straight 1,000-yard season and leads Navarro with 16 touchdowns. Deleon is averaging a staggering 11.8 yards per carry. Jean Sims (399 yds., 4 TD), Kyle Dietert (256 yds., 3 TD), and Brody Whitson (229 yds., 3 TD), have provided backfield depth while All-District performer Johnny Alegria (229 yds., 1 TD) has missed significant time with an injury.
Safety Mark Wozniak is the defense’s leading tackler with 75 stops – an average of 12.5 per game. Linebacker Gabriel Means has eight of the team’s 64 tackles for loss. Nine different Panthers have recorded a sack this season, and seven players have recovered at least one fumble. Wozniak, Alegria, and Nick Billings each have one interception.
Thursday’s kickoff at House Park is set for 7:30 p.m. A recap of that game and Navarro’s win over Llano with Blount can be heard during the Panther Report on Friday at 6:30 p.m. on KWED 1580-AM and Seguintoday.com.