AMARILLO, Texas (KAMR/KCIT) — The week one high school football player of the week is junior quarterback Nathan Martens, from Muleshoe High School. Muleshoe defeated Littlefield 48-20.

In the season opener against rival Littlefield, Martens threw for a total of 360 passing yards and rushed for 136 yards on the ground with four touchdowns.

Muleshoe head coach Jason Richards said the rivalry goes back years and last season the team didn’t compete the way they wanted to.

“Littlefield and Muleshoe goes back a long time, I think over almost 80 years plus,” said Richards. “We both talk all the time, like we got to get this game off a week one. You know for years, it was the last district ball game of the season and, you know, last year, we didn’t come out very well and execute and they got after us.”

During the team’s last meeting, Martens dealt with an ankle injury and had limited playing time, making this win extraordinary.

“It felt really great, especially after the game we played last year didn’t go great, but you know we played our hearts out and came out victorious,” said Martens.

Coach Richards said it’s the best season opener he’s been a part of.

“It was probably the best first game execution that I’ve been a part of in my football career,” said Richards. ‘You know, I think we had one pre-snap penalty offensively, which is huge week one, and I think the kids really executed well.”

The connection between Martens and the wide receivers was undeniable.

“I really think a lot of the success in the passing game was truly built in the offseason with connection with the receiver and just really having that trust with them,” said Martens. ‘I’ve been playing with these receivers since grade school and younger and now that we’re older, we really have that great trust and connection.”

Although the early success is nice the Mules aren’t satisfied.

“It does look great, but it’s definitely not our peak or where we want to be we definitely want to go ten and oh on regular season, and let’s continue from there.”