Football: Permian can't rally this time

ABILENE Time and time again, Permian has kept fighting, pulled the team out of a hole and come back.

But this time the Panthers came up short.

Building an early first-half lead with a big-play offense, Arlington Martin held on to beat Permian 25-15 in a Class 5A Division I area playoff at Shotwell Stadium on Saturday.

“We fought hard through the whole game,” Permian safety Brennan Welch said. “But we gave up some big plays and could never get it back.”

Right off the bat, Arlington Martin (8-4) took an 8-0 lead by riding the legs of junior running back Danzel Williams, who opened a 12-play, 95-yard drive with a 36-yard burst down the right sideline and ended it with a 2-yard touchdown run.

To answer, Permian (8-4) — a team that racked up 369 total yards to Arlington Martin’s 257 — kept driving into Warriors territory.

Punching the ball into the end zone was the hard part. To open the second quarter, Permian quarterback Steven Pipes tried to snap a quick pass out to Austin Reynolds, but the receiver didn’t turn around.

Arlington Martin cornerback Steven Caldwell intercepted the throw and returned it 50 yards to the Permian 19.

“It was a little miscommunication between me, the receiver and the coaches,” Pipes said. “His route was supposed to go a little deeper, and I didn’t know about it.”

The Panthers held Arlington Martin out of the end zone, and the Warriors lined up to kick a 23-yard field goal.

But rather than put the ball down, Warriors quarterback Russell Bellomy rolled out and hit Wesley Hawthorne for a 6-yard touchdown pass.

“We had every other receiver locked down in man coverage,” Permian head coach Gary Gaines said. “He kind of went backdoor.”

Trailing 15-0, Permian marched down the field on a 12-play, 80-yard drive that Tommey Morris capped with a 7-yard touchdown run.

Needing a stop before halftime, Permian forced Arlington Martin into a third-and-10 at the Panthers 49. But Williams — who rushed for 150 yards on 20 carries — got loose again, picked up 34 yards and set up a 25-yard field goal by Jaden Oberkrom to end the first half.

Trailing at halftime is nothing new for the Panthers, who have beaten three consecutive opponents with second-half comebacks.

“We weren’t worried when we went into halftime,” Welch said. “We’ve been in this situation a couple of times.”

Welch and Jesse Baeza sacked Bellomy to force a three-and-out on Arlington Martin’s first drive of the second half, and DeAnthony Fay — who rushed for a team-high 67 yards — opened Permian’s drive with a 24-yard carry.

But that drive stalled out at the Arlington Martin 38 after the Panthers turned the ball over on downs, and the Warriors ate up the next 5:10 with a 12-play, 62-yard drive.

Bellomy tossed a 10-yard touchdown pass to Desmond Randle to put the Warriors ahead 25-7 heading into the fourth quarter.

Right off the bat, Pipes found Eli Torres open over the middle for a 38-yard touchdown pass to close the gap to two scores.

“I always have faith in my team,” Morris said. “And I always think we’re going to make the plays.”

Another Welch sack ended the Warriors’ next drive.

But as the Panthers drove down the field to close the gap to a single score, Ryan Pollard picked off Pipes — who completed 24-of-33 passes for 266 yards — in the end zone with 3:01 left to seal the outcome.

“They made more plays than we did,” Gaines said. “Our kids gave great effort. We just didn’t play well enough.”

And this time the Panthers didn’t have enough to come back.

>> Arlington Martin 25, Permian 15

Arlington Martin            8  10    7    0     —  25

Permian                          0    7    6     2     —  15

First Quarter

Arlington Martin—Danzel Williams 2 run (Danzel Williams run), 7:07.

Drive: 8 plays, 95 yards, 2:52.

Key plays: Danzel Williams 36 run on first play of drive.

Second Quarter

Arlington Martin—Wesley Hawthorne 6 pass from Russell Bellomy (Jaden Oberkrom kick), 8:24.

Drive: 6 plays, 19 yards, 3:22.

Key play: Russell Bellomy 9 run on second play of drive.

Permian—Tommey Morris 7 run (Taylor Martin kick), 2:42.

Drive: 12 plays, 80 yards, 5:42.

Key plays: Josh Tarin 19 pass from Pipes on third-and-10 at the Permian 38 Pipes 3 run on third-and-2 at the Arlington Martin 10.

Arlington Martin—Jaden Oberkrom 25 field goal, 0:00.

Drive: 9 plays, 57 yards, 2:37.

Key plays: Danzel Williams 34 run on third-and-10 at the Permian 49.

Third Quarter

Arlington Martin—Desmond Randle 10 pass from Russell Bellomy (Jaden Oberkrom kick), 3:26.

Drive: 12 plays, 62 yards, 5:10.

Key plays: Russell Bellomy 3 sneak on fourth-and-inches at the Permian 38 Permian flagged for personal foul on third-and-6 at the Permian 31.

Fourth Quarter

Permian—Eli Torres 38 pass from Steven Pipes (pass failed), 11:24.

Drive: 3 plays, 55 yards, 0:36.

Key play: DeAnthony Fay 12 run on first play of drive.

Permian—Safety (punt snapped out of end zone), 1:23.

Drive: 0 plays, 0 yards, 0:00.

———

TEAM STATISTICS

                                      Martin        Permian

First downs               13             17

Total yards               257           369

Rushes-yards            36-161       26-103

Passing                    96             266

Comp-Att-Int            11-18-0     24-33-2

Sacked-Yards Lost      2-26         5-26

Punt Returns              1-1          1-6

Kickoff Returns           3-30         2-61

Punts-Avg                 4-31.3       2-40.5

Fumbles-Lost             0-0           0-0

Penalties-Yards          4-25         6-47

———

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING

Arlington Martin

Danzel Williams 20-150, Russell Bellomy 13-21, Desmond Randle 1-4, Wesley Hawthorne 1-1, Steven Caldwell 1-1.

Permian

DeAnthony Fay 9-67, Tommey Morris 6-30, Steven Pipes 8-8, Brennan Welch 2-4, Felix Neboh 1-(-6).

PASSING

Arlington Martin

Russell Bellomy 12-19-0-96.

Permian

Steven Pipes 24-33-2-260.

RECEIVING

Arlington Martin

Isaac Carrasco 3-41, Wesley Hawthorne 4-34, Desmond Randle 3-14, Steven Caldwell 1-8, Danzel Williams 1-(-1).

Permian

Eli Torres 6-85, Josh Tarin 4-66, Talon Smith 6-46, Alfonso Zubiate 3-38, Tommey Morris 2-11, Felix Neboh 1-9, DeAnthony Fay 2-5.

INTERCEPTIONS

Arlington Martin

Steven Caldwell 1-50, Ryan Pollard 1-1.

Permian

None.