Commentary: Permian-Central rivalry could reheat with in 2-5A

Imagine for a second that the Hatfields and McCoys had packed up their belongings and moved to opposite ends of the country.

Put the Hatfields in Boston, the McCoys in San Diego and make them wait 10 years to move back to Kentucky.

Hard to hate each other from a distance.

Back in the 1960s the football teams at Permian and San Angelo Central hated each other, drove each other nuts, wanted to punch holes in the other team's state championship dreams like a drilling rig slamming into the earth that separates the two cities.

A little hard to believe?

San Angelo Central's football boosters were so ticked off about Permian's 8-7 win in 1965 - and ensuing state championship - that San Angelo Standard-Times sports editor Bob Milburn started calling the Bobcats the "Angry Orange."

Some of San Angelo Central's students were so riled up that they drove through the streets of Odessa shooting out streetlights.

Maybe the Bobcats had a right to be mad. Consider the circumstances:

San Angelo Central entered the game ranked No. 1 in the state.

Permian had been picked to finish last in the district.

The Panthers won the game on a trick play. Permian lined up to kick the extra point, but Larry Walsh tossed a pass to Terry Conley for the two-point conversion and the lead.

And Permian won its first state championship by beating San Antonio Lee later that year.

On San Angelo's field.

To make matters worse, Permian came back to San Angelo in 1966 to play an undefeated Bobcats team and walked away with a 12-6 win that knocked San Angelo Central from the ranks of the unbeaten.

Again.

And Panthers head coach Gene Mayfield knew how much that win grated on his rivals.

"We felt they made too big an issue of this game down here in San Angelo and the boys were ready to play all week long," Mayfield told the Odessa American.

The Bobcats did win their second state title that season, but Permian stole their unbeaten record.

No wonder the rivalry stuck, an annual catfight that lasted until 1998.

But then the UIL stepped in, separated the Bobcats from the Panthers and pushed San Angelo Central into another district in 1998.

Suddenly the Angry Orange had nothing to be mad about.

Until now.

For the first time in a decade, San Angelo Central and Permian are back in the same football district, but something's missing.

Permian has regained its strength, regained the dominance that made the Bobcats so mad in the first place. But the Bobcats - although they have reached the playoffs in each of the past five seasons - haven't made a statewide impression lately.

And for this rivalry to regain its venom, the stakes have to be high.

"This is really more of a historical rivalry," Bobcats head coach Steve Heryford said. "I hope one develops. Rivalries tend to develop when both teams are playing at a high level."

Heryford hasn't been a Bobcat long, just four years. He hasn't had a chance to be a part of the rivalry, because he graduated from Greenwood High School.

Darren Allman played at Permian in the mid-80s. He remembers the rivalry.

San Angelo Central won the district during his senior season and kept the Panthers from reaching the playoffs.

Allman expects a fight tonight.

"I don't think there's any doubt they're looking forward to this game," Allman said. "An opportunity to come to Ratliff and knock us off would be a big boost to their football team."

Maybe that's just because Permian's the district favorite, and every 2-5A team would love to knock the Panthers to the ground.

But that's how rivalries get started.

Just like the first time a Hatfield knocked a McCoy off his land.