EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) – The 2023 Texas high school football season will present the Montwood Rams with a new chapter in its program history.
Ivan Rangel will take the reigns of the program after Ariel Famaligi stepped down from the head coaching position after seven seasons of leading the Montwood High School football team.
This season will be the first of the Ivan Rangel era at Montwood.
The last two seasons have been less than ideal for the Rams. They’ve had back-to-back losing years, missed the playoffs both times, and only won a total of five games.
Rangel served as the Rams’ defensive coordinator under Famaligi the last two seasons and will now take charge of the team as it aims to get back to being one of the top teams in District 1-6A.
“The mission is we’re winning district, we’re going to the playoffs, doing everything we can to get this place back to being a competitive dynasty again,” Montwood football head coach Ivan Rangel said. “We want to bring back the glory days from the early 2000s and get us back on the map.”
“We are going to be our best team every Friday night and get some wins on the board,” Montwood football senior wide receiver Diego Oaxaca said. “We are going to establish ourselves as one of the best programs in the district like this school has been in in the past. We got to get back to that top tier and it starts with energy and effort. I love this group and I think we are the ones to do it.”
Montwood’s offense will be headlined by a talented group of wide receivers. Diego Oaxaca leads the way as he caught 95 passes for 1,362 yards and collected 16 receiving TDs in 2022. Kaleb Alvarez will also be a wide receiver to watch out for. Alvarez caught 55 passes, collected 854 yards, and had 9 receiving TDs last season for the Rams.
Montwood also returns a talented running back in Izayuh Claudio. Claudio ran for 765 yards and scored 12 touchdowns. He was a dual threat as he also caught 34 passes for 234 yards in 2022.
On the defense the secondary is expected to be the strength on that side of the ball. Cameron Harrelson returns after a season where he collected 45 tackles and three interceptions. Cornerback Josh Estrada also returns after a good year where he collected 48 tackles and had one interception.
Montwood opens up its regular season with a road game against Midland on Friday, Aug. 25. The first episode of 9 Overtime also airs that night at 10:15 p.m. on KTSM.
