2026 Prep Football Team Previews: Southwest Eagles

El Centro, Calif. (KYMA) - "The early bird gets the worm." That is what the Southwest Eagles are living by as they continue to reshape their football program.

While most high schools kids are sleeping this early, the Eagles are beating the heat and their recent struggles.

Coach Bo Seibel continues to reshape the program and has higher expectations for his team this season.

"We want to win games. That’s not been a thing here for a little bit. But we saw it week one. One thing our team is always going to bring is we got heart. You know we’re not always going to be the biggest team we’re not going to be the strongest team, but I promise you’re going to have the most heart and can win a lot of games with heart and discipline," Seibel said.

Southwest won their season opener for the first time since 2017 but that’s just the beginning says senior Adrian Jauregui.

"Everyone wants to win right so I feel like that’s what we want to do especially coming off that two and eight season we’re hungry for some wins. We’re trying to win the league this year so I feel like we could do this with the team we have we’re capable of doing that," Jauregui said.

This is year two under coach Seibel, and he is bringing more discipline and energy to the squad.

“We got the guys rolling right after last season. So we started off the season weight training in November. In the beginning we had to fight some numbers after a couple weeks. We had up to about 50 guys in there so we’ve been training, we've been working since last November and then we’re a 365 year program," Seibel said.

"So we give them a couple weeks off here and there but we went all the way through until spring ball and then spring ball to summer and then summer to here so the guys have been putting in work they’ve been showing up.”

Early morning practices can be good wake up calls for the players.

For senior wide receiver Leonardo Valenzuela, he’s making every moment count.

“It’s been going great. You know we’ve been practicing putting in a lot of work. For preparations, I’ve been taking every single rep and practice seriously and I focus on the little things," Valenzuela said.

A new season can also bring lots of challenges. Jauregui says though coach Seibel is a lot more tough on the field, it has made him want to be a better person off the field. 

“It got a lot harder. He got more on us because he believes us, he loves us. That’s his way of showing love to push to our limits to become winners in not just a football game, but in life.”

Southwest starts the season 1-1 but they look ahead of their week three matchup against Central in the El Centro City Championship on Friday.