In drag racing, there are those times even the most revered horse-powered monsters misfire and fail to get off the starting line. The Panthers experienced a similar fate this evening in the season debut. While the offense struggled to find a rhythm, the defense watched the Eagles unleash a bevy of aerial strikes to fall behind 35-0 in the first half alone.
Abilene High finished the night with 447 yards of total offense, while Permian was limited to 149 yards. Most of that came in the second half.
The Eagles scored on their first two possessions behind touchdown passes of 52 and 15 yards from quarterback Dylan Slack to post a 14-0 first quarter lead. The Panthers went three-and-out in both of their offensive series while committing three penalties and punting twice.
The schooling continued in the second quarter. The stanza offered an interception and two more non-productive possessions for Permian. The visiting former district foes utilized the quarter to test out its running game, collecting two short touchdown runs before reeling off a 32-yarder to send the teams to the locker rooms with the Black Cats trailing 35-0.
The two combatants exchanged touchdowns in the third and fourth quarter. Permian was able to get on the scoreboard midway into the third frame on a 7-yard run by Isaac Herrera. Ben Saldivar hauled in a 27-yard pass with under a minute to play in game as Permian absorbed a 49-14 season opening loss.
The Panthers will make their first road trip of 2023 next Friday when they visit Waco to face Hewitt Midway. Permian won 41-20 in last year’s meeting.
| BY QUARTER | |||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | F | |
| Abilene |
14 | 21 | 07 | 07 | 49 |
| Permian |
00 | 00 | 07 | 07 | 14 |
SCORING SUMMARY
First Quarter
ABI – Bradford 52 pass from Slack (Segura kick), 8:05
ABI – Howle 15 pass from Slack (Segura kick), 3:30
Second Quarter
ABI – Rashaw 5 run (Segura kick), 5:27
ABI – Slack 1 run (Segura kick), 4:07
ABI – Rashaw 31 run (Segura kick), 1:11
Third Quarter
PER – Isaac Herrera 7 run (Jacob Franco kick), 4:30
ABI – Baden 32 pass from Slack (Segura kick), 3:41
Fourth Quarter
ABI – Henry 71 run (Segura kick), 9:29
PER – Ben Saldivar 27 pass from Garcia (Franco kick), 0:25
