Football: A look at both sides of the rivalry

The Odessa High-Permian game can be a daunting experience to the uninitiated.

But when it comes to explaining what the crosstown rivalry is all about, coaches on both sides have plenty of personal experience to draw on.

Permian head coach Darren Allman and assistants Lee Rabe and Mike Ballew all played for the Panthers once upon a time.

“Back during my days as a player, our coaches did a great job of having us so focused on the game itself that it was almost like any other game to us,” Allman said. “They had us prepared to eliminate all the distractions that go with crosstown rivalries and whatever hype goes along with that and concentrate on our individual jobs on the field, the little technical things we needed to do that week in order to have successful plays.

“Now, from a coach’s perspective, that’s what I feel obligated to do and that’s what we preach.”

On the OHS side, head coach Ron King has coached in both programs, defensive coordinator Mike Munguia is a Permian graduate and assistant coach Jon Long played on the 1997 Bronchos team that earned Odessa High’s first win in the series since 1964.

When King joined the Permian staff in 1992 after six years at Nimitz Junior High, the Panthers had gone 27 years without losing to the Bronchos.

“One of the things as a coach, when you’re in that situation, was you didn’t want to be the coaching staff or the team that lost to Odessa High to break that streak,” he said. “It didn’t matter what the records were, just the fact that that streak meant so much, even though it probably should have ended sooner than it did.”

When King moved to Odessa High in 1996, he said the biggest factor was getting the Bronchos to believe they could win.

“It seemed like everybody expected Permian to be the team to win the game every year,” he said. “We had to explain to our kids that Mojo Mystique basically meant a bunch of kids that worked hard and made a commitment and were dedicated to doing whatever it takes to be successful. We tried to tell our kids that they needed to do the same thing here. They needed to be dedicated; they needed to be committed to a cause. That was all there was to it.

“That 1997 team took it to heart. They worked extremely hard in the offseason and during the summer. It was a different mentality with that group of kids in ’97 that ended that streak.”

King returned to OHS in 2004 to serve as Scott Phillips’ defensive coordinator after a stint at Abilene Cooper.

The Bronchos notched their fifth and sixth victories in the series in 2004 and 2005.

“Coach Phillips had been very close to defeating Permian but had never quite got over the hump,” King said. “They had the ability and talent very comparable to Permian’s, but they just weren’t able to get it done at that time.

“I went up into the storage room upstairs and dug out the ’97 film and showed it to those kids after the pep rally. I explained to them that it can be done, it’s just going to take a lot of hard work and a lot of effort and concentration on their part during the game to make it happen.”

One common factor in Odessa High’s last three wins in the series, King said, was that each team was able to bounce back from a bad break.

“When something bad happened during a game, it seemed like at that time the streak was going on the Odessa High kids were waiting for the other shoe to drop,” he said. “It was like ‘How else are we going to lose this game?’

“The ’97 team didn’t give in to it. That was a team that was not going to be denied. When you’re playing in this game, you see the momentum swing so much that it’s the team that can take care of the football, win the turnover battle and the team that can overcome the adversity during the game that usually will win.”

A Ratliff Stadium crowd in excess of 20,000 fans — all screaming their heads off — can easily unnerve younger players. Allman said the fact that the Panthers have already experienced such an atmosphere — more than 15,000 crammed into Shotwell Stadium for last week’s game against Abilene High — should help matters.

“We’ve been in a couple of really big games that have been hyped up, where there have been large crowds and those things,” he said. “Our kids have handled it well and learned some lessons.

“As a coach, being someone who’s played in the game, I can share that story with them and paint a realistic picture of the atmosphere for those who haven’t played in the game.”

Of the previous 48 meetings between the teams, 19 have been decided by eight points or less. Five of those games have come in the last six years.

That alone should be enough to get players’ attention, Allman said.

“Most of our kids who haven’t played in a game have probably been to one recently,” he said. “They understand all that. This team has been real good at setting all that stuff aside and being concerned about execution, blocking and tackling and angles and personnel groupings.

“There’s always big pep rally at the beginning of the game. Once the game gets started, it makes it a whole lot easier for the players and the coaches to concentrate solely on what’s going on on the field. We kind of put blinders on to everything else around us. You almost forget that everybody else is there at that point.”

RIVALRY ROOTS

PERMIAN

>> Darren Allman: Permian player 1985-86; Permian head coach 2005-present

>> Lee Rabe: Permian player 1985-86; Permian assistant coach 2005-present

>> Mike Ballew: Permian player 1995-96; in first season as Permian assistant after two years at Hood Junior High

ODESSA HIGH

>> Ron King: Coached at Nimitz Junior High 1986-91; Permian assistant coach 1992-95; Odessa High defensive coordinator 1996-98 and 2004-05; OHS head coach 2006-present

>> Jon Long: Odessa High player 1997 (missed 1998 season with injury); Odessa High assistant coach 2006-present

>> Mike Munguia: 1985 Permian graduate; coached at Crockett Junior High 1993-94; Odessa High assistant coach 1994-98 and 2002-present