Permian will travel to Astound Broadband Stadium for a date with Midland Lee in the high-stakes, District 2-6A opener on October 9. The gloves are off in this MojoLand editorial.
While the weekly MojoLand Previews are objective in nature and packed with raw data and comparisons, Terry’s Two Cents Worth allows the pulling back of the curtain to focus on intuition, historical rivalry parallels, and a personal view from many years of West Texas football. We’ve even brought in a panel of Sports experts to also weigh in on the game, included later in this article.
WHAT’S AT STAKE
Friday night will kick off the start of the 2-6A race. Most likely, the District Championship will also be in the balance. The Rebels (4-2) are looking to protect their home turf, while hoping to hand the Panthers their first loss of the season. The Black Cats (6-0), on the other hand, were here just a year ago and walked away as victors, which earned them the district title and bell.
We WILL be taking that Black-and-White District Bell to ring loudly on sideline Friday, right?
STAY DISCIPLINED
Foremost, one of the keys to the game is Permian cannot commit a bunch of “Stupid Penalties”. The Black Cats need to show up, play their regular game, and stay in their element… and not get sucked into the game’s hype. The Panthers need to Stay Disciplined, and of course, minimize the turnovers. Do what you do best. Let the Rebels be the ones that make the mistakes, lose focus, and drift out of their game plan.
EXECUTION
Mojo must execute strict gap discipline on defense. If Permian’s front seven plays with the same physical dominance they showed most of the non-district games, they will force JP Reyes into 3rd-and-long passing downs. Keeping the heat on the quarterback will also prevent long plays from developing downfield. The Black Cat secondary can’t be sleeping or they’ll get torched. They will need to play like outfielders and keep everything in front of them.
STRATEGY
When the Panthers have the ball, the Rebel secondary and perimeter defense will likely show vulnerabilities. If Kayden Vickers can establish early vertical connections down the seams with Aaron Navarrete and Dae Dae McDowell, Mojo’s balanced attack can quickly isolate and wear down Tyler Day and the Lee defensive backs.
How about mixing in a little play-action with Malachi Mendoza and Jace Thompson? As deep as Permian’s depth chart is this year with talented running backs like Cayden Taylor, Mark Herrera, and Josh Curry, the Panthers ought to be able to keep the Rebel linebackers busy all night. Also, could be a good night to slip in a few plays into the Lee interior with Zephaniah Deleon.
MISCONCEPTION
Based on expected score lines from our panel of sports media personalities (see below), predictions of the Rebels tacking up 35+ points on the ‘Mojo D’ just ain’t gonna happen. Well, not if the Permian defense plays at the level I know they are capable of playing.
Most of our panel is predicting a wild, high-scoring affair, resulting in a shootout final score in the 40s. With all due respect to my colleagues, they are completely misreading the DNA of this Permian team. Shootouts happen when you play soft, undisciplined football. Shootouts happen when you get sucked into trying to match opponents blow for blow.
The Panthers aren’t going to Midland to trade punches with the Rebels. The Black Cats are heading 20 miles east to dictate the Terms of Surrender.
While the panel might be impressed with the Lee quarterback and his flashy stats against out-of-state JV-tier defenses, they are forgetting what happens when that Rebel offense meets the physical reality of the ‘Mojo D’. Expect the Black-and-White to choke out the interior run early, play elite aerial coverage, and systematically suffocate the life out of Mitlan.
TRADITION
From a State Champion Permian graduate, here’s my Two Cents Worth on ‘jacking’ with Mojo Tradition… Can we just go back to wearing White Jerseys / Black Pants when we are Visitors, and intimidating ALL Black Jerseys / Black Pants when we are at Home?! You do realize that everybody wears the visiting all ‘Stormtrooper White’. The only exception to this traditional attire was White Jerseys / Silver Pants, and those special occasions were saved for the playoffs as Visitors.
SURVEY SAYS…
With that being said, I see Permian scoring two touchdowns by air and two by ground, and adding a field goal to boot. Lee finds the endzone twice in the first half, and once by air in the third quarter.
MOJO 31, LEE 21
A special ‘Thanks!’ to our panel from – Texas Football magazine, Texas HS Football Report, Midland Reporter-Telegram, MTZ Media, and television stations Big2 (KMID/KPEJ) and NewsWest9 (KWES).
Author: Terry Alan
SPORTS MEDIA PANEL PICKS:
> Matt Stepp (Texas Football) – Permian by 5
> Tony Blalock (TXHSFB) – Permian 42, Lee 28 (+14)
> Christopher Hadorn (MRT) – Permian 42, Lee 38 (+4)
> Adrian Martinez (MTZ Media) – Permian 42, Lee 38 (+4)
> Trey Francis (KMID2) – Permian 48, Lee 41 (+7)
< Dalton Arredondo (KMID2) – Lee 42, Permian 34 (-8)
> Ethan Becker (KWES9) – Permian 45, Lee 42 (+3)
> Grabiel Silva (KWES9) – Permian 38, Lee 35 (+3)
> Gem (MojoLand) – Permian 35, Lee 20 (+15)
> Terry Alan (MojoLand) – Permian 31, Lee 21 (+10)
= Consensus (9-1) – Permian 40, Midland Lee 34 (+6)
Permian vs Lee Comparison – [ GO HERE ].
