Football: Permian can't cash in against Smithson Valley

SPRING BRANCH Mistakes have a way of piling up against tough competition.

And Permian opened its season against a very tough team in Smithson Valley.

Slowly but surely, a series of penalties, missed assignments and a few costly slips cost Permian a 6-0 loss to the Rangers on the road Friday night.

“It was a very inconsistent effort all the way around,” Permian head coach Gary Gaines said. “Our execution was really poor.”

Permian (0-1) had Smithson Valley backed up into the shadow of its own end zone on the Rangers’ opening drive. Facing a 3rd-and-3, Panthers safety Barrett Brown knifed into the front seven and took down Lach Labanna short of the first down to force the punt.

Except that the Panthers committed an illegal substitution on fourth down, allowing Smithson Valley to put together a 15-play, eight-minute drive that resulted in no points but kept Permian’s offense from gaining any momentum.

Stymied by a quick defensive line that kept penetrating into Permian’s backfield, the Panthers only picked up one first down in their last three drives of the half.

“The quickness of their defensive line gave us issues,” Gaines said. “In pass protection, Landry Serrano didn’t have the time we would like, and we had zero running game.”

Unable to get anything going in the second half, Permian only gained 15 yards rushing on 10 carries, and Serrano took three sacks.

Led by defensive tackles Robert Moorman and George Schwanenberg, Smithson Valley kept up a steady assault on the Panthers’ backfield throughout the game.

“It was really frustrating,” Permian tackle Jesse Baeza said. “We tried to carry out our assignments to the best of our ability, but they were the more physical team.”

Throughout the game, the Panthers defense kept bending, but every time Permian needed a stop, somebody came through.

At least until Smithson Valley head coach inserted sophomore running back Lawrence Mattison into the game after Talon Smith downed a Brown punt at the 4 — Brown’s third punt that landed inside the 5 — early in the third quarter.

A 6-foot, 215-pound transfer from North Carolina, Mattison, who finished with 98 yards on 14 carries, handled the ball seven times for 75 yards on the drive and broke free for a 20-yard score to give the Rangers a 6-0 lead late in the third quarter.

“Our conditioning was at its peak, but it was hard to keep pounding in,” Permian linebacker Matt Rice said.

That was the only score Smithson Valley (1-0) needed.

Picking up the passing game in the second half, Serrano — who finished 16-of-23 for 154 yards — kept finding Tommey Morris for big gains on crossing routes.

But every time the Panthers started to build momentum, a mistake killed the drive.

A sack ended Permian’s first drive of the second half. An ineligible receiver penalty killed another after Serrano completed a 15-yard pass on 4th-and-10 that would have given the Panthers a 1st-and-10 at the Smithson Valley 19 midway through the fourth.

A Labanna fumble deep in Permian territory that Nestor Castellon recovered gave the Panthers one last shot, and Serrano quickly nailed two strikes to Morris, who caught seven passes for 101 yards.

A penalty and a sack by George Schwanenberg ended Permian’s last chance to come back.

“We just let the intangible things get to us,” Morris said. “We let little things get to us. We just kept beating ourselves.”

Mistakes always pile up all too quickly. 

>> Smithson Valley 6, Permian 0 

Permian                               0    0    0  0 —  0

Smithson Valley                  0    0    6  0 —  6

SCORING SUMMARY

Third Quarter

Smithson Valley — Lawrence Mattison 20 run (kick failed), 0:29. Drive: 8 plays, 96 yards, 4:04. Key plays: Mattison 22 run on first play of drive. Parker McKenzie 23 run on 1st-and-10 at midfield.

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TEAM STATISTICS

                                       Permian              SV

First downs                        9              21

Total yards                     164            367

Rushes-yards                15-10       42-234

Passing                          154            133

Comp-Att-Int              16-23-0     12-20-0

Sacked-Yards Lost          3-12             1-1

Punt Returns                  2-27             0-0

Kickoff Returns               2-28           1-14

Punts-average             6-37.0        3-51.7

Fumbles-Lost                  1-1             2-1

Penalties-Yards              4-20           4-17

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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing

Permian

Greg George 3-9, Landry Serrano 10-6, Tommey Morris 1-(-1), DeAnthony Fay 1-(-4). 

Smithson Valley

Lawrence Mattison 14-98, Lach Labanna 17-93, Parker McKenzie 7-47, Matt Hilston 2-0.

Passing

Permian

Landry Serrano 16-23-0-154.

Receiving

Permian

Tommey Morris 7-101, DeAnthony Fay 3-17, Van Powell 2-13, Jalen Loud 1-11, Austin Reynolds 1-10, Talon Smith 2-2.

Smithson Valley

Matt Hilston 8-92, Matt Shelton 2-23, Ethan Perry 1-14, Stephen Allen 1-4.