Football: Permian rumbles past Mansfield

BROWNWOOD The Permian Panthers have been in high gear all season.

They found a higher one Saturday.

Seven different players scored touchdowns and the No. 5 Panthers rolled up season highs for total yards and first downs in overwhelming the Mansfield Tigers 60-21 in a in a Class 5A Division I bi-district playoff at Gordon Wood Stadium.

The 60-point total was one shy of the Permian playoff record. The Panthers scored on eight of 10 offensive series and did not punt for the second time this season (and sixth time in history).

Of the two scoreless possessions, one ended in a missed field goal. On the other, the Panthers were at the Mansfield 1-yard line when the game ended.

The only time the Panthers lined up to punt, Alan Castillejos passed to Eugene Neboh for a first down and the Panthers scored seven plays later. Neboh also returned an interception 29 yards for a touchdown.

“I don’t think we could have asked for anything more,” Permian coach Darren Allman said. “Coaches can find a lot of things wrong with a game; we’re just that way. But the way we came out and jumped on them in the first half and went in with a big lead at halftime (33-7) is typical of our football team. It’s not going to happen that way every week, obviously, but we’re thrilled with the fast start that we got off to.”

District 3-5A champion Permian (11-0) will host El Paso Montwood at 2 p.m. Saturday at Ratliff Stadium in the area round. The Rams (10-1) advanced by beating San Angelo Central 28-24 on Friday.

Wide receiver Melvis Pride, who had five catches for 71 yards and a touchdown, said he hoped the victory sent a message to the rest of the Region I bracket.

“People think the teams are better in the Metroplex,” he said. “What they don’t know is West Texas is coming through.”

Taylor Byrd passed for 241 yards and two touchdowns and ran for two more scores. Jamison Berryhill also had two rushing TDs, while Esai Sotelo, who led the Panthers ground game with 78 yards on 10 carries, also ran for a TD. Berryhill finished with 65 yards on nine carries.

Byrd, who was 20-of-24 passing, connected with Pride for a 24-yard TD and Shai Biggerstaff for a 23-yard score. Backup quarterback Trevor Adams, who was 5-of-8 for 100 yards, hit Joseph Knighten for a 45-yard TD.

Permian’s 347 passing yards was just two shy of the single-game record set last season against Amarillo Tascosa. The Panthers added 231 yards rushing. Mansfield High coach Kirk Thor said it was simply too much firepower for the Tigers (8-3) to contain.

“They’re well-disciplined and offensively they’re really balanced,” Thor said. “They can run and pass and when you’ve got a quarterback who can run and throw, it’s a huge stress.”

Sophomore Daniel Green made his first start at quarterback for the Tigers and had a hand in all three MHS scores. Green was 19-of-33 passing for 204 yards with TDs of 48 yards to Logan Hodges and 11 yards to Stepfan Taylor. Green also scored on a 5-yard run.

Taylor, who entered the game with 1,514 rushing yards for the season, ran for 76 yards on 12 carries.

Byrd’s accuracy made for a busy day for the Permian receivers. Ryan Rumbaugh had seven catches for 91 yardas, while Knighten finished with four catches for 63 yards and Tyler Daughenbaugh had four catches for 60 yards.

Rumbaugh said being in the playoffs helped the entire group raise its intensity.

“This week of practice was a lot different from any others,” he said. “We barely had any dropped balls during practice and sometimes we get kind of lackadaisical.

“We knew we had to come out fast like we did last week (in a 52-16 victory over Midland High). We kind of struggled with that the first four games of district and that’s been our motivation since then.”

No. 5 Permian 60, Mansfield High 21

Mansfield High 0 7 7 7— 21

Permian 13 20 20 7— 60

First Quarter

Permian—Taylor Byrd 7 run (Michael McNatt kick), 7:13. Drive: 9 plays, 70 yards, 3:20. Key plays: Jamison Berryhill bulled his way for a tough yard to convert on third-and-1 to start the drive and Byrd hit Melvis Pride for an 11-yard gain to the Mansfield High 36. Esai Sotelo ran 28 yards to the Tiger 7.

Permian—Eugene Neboh 17 interception return (kick blocked), 6:16.

Second Quarter

Permian—Jamison Berryhill 4 run (pass failed), 10:51. Drive: 8 plays, 80 yards, 2:43. Key plays: Ryan Rumbaugh had receptions of 16 and 30 yards, the latter on third-and-9 from the Mansfield 36.

Mansfield High—Logan Hodges 48 pass from Daniel Green (James Neal kick), 9:40. Drive: 5 plays, 67 yards, 1:11. Key plays: Keith Flemming had a 12-yard reception and Semaj Miller had a 10-yard catch.

Permian—Byrd 3 run (McNatt kick), 3:45. Drive: 11 plays, 75 yards, 5:55. Key plays: Alan Castillejos connected with Eugene Neboh for 6 yards on a fake punt after Byrd was stopped short of a first down at the Permian 34. Tyler Daughenbaugh had three receptions for 34 yards, including a 21-yarder two plays after the fake. Sotelo had a 15-yard run for a first down at the Mansfield High 10.

Permian—Berryhill 5 run (McNatt kick), 0:17. Drive: 8 plays, 71 yards, 1:05. Key plays: Permian took over with 1:22 left in the half after a Mansfield High punt. Rumbaugh had catches of 24 and 7 yards and Pride hauled in passes of 26 and 9 yards.

Third Quarter

Permian—Melvis Pride 24 pass from Byrd (McNatt kick), 9:42. Drive: 7 plays, 70 yards, 2:18. Key plays: An intereference penalty against the Tigers gave Permian a first down at the Mansfield High 43. Byrd hit Rumbaugh for 4 yards to convert on third-and-2 from the 35.

Mansfield High—Green 5 run (Neal kick), 6:06. Drive: 13 plays, 80 yards, 3:36. Key plays: Green found Earnest Lambert for 5 yards on fourth-and-3 from the Tiger 43 and followed that with completions of 10 and 15 yards and a 12-yard run to move to the Permian 15. On fourth-and-9 from the 14, Stepfan Taylor took a shovel pass for a first down at the 5.

Permian—Shai Biggerstaff 23 pass from Byrd (kick blocked), 3:38. Drive: 6 plays, 74 yards, 2:28. Key plays: Berryhill popped a 31-yard run on the first play.

Permian—Joseph Knighten 45 pass from Trevor Adams (McNatt kick), 0:42. Drive: 1 plays, 35 yards, 0:14. Key plays: Austin Shaffer recovered a Mansfield High fumble at the Tiger 35, but Permian was called for two false starts before getting a play off.

Fourth Quarter

Mansfield High—Stepfan Taylor 11 pass from Green (Neal kick), 11:02. Drive: 6 plays, 79 yards, 1:40. Key plays: Taylor broke loose on a 51-yard run to the Permian 22 on the last play of the third quarter.

Permian—Esai Sotelo 1 run (McNatt kick), 5:41. Drive: 10 plays, 75 yards, 5:21. Key plays: Adams ran for 6 yards to convert on third-and-1 from the Permian 34, then hit Daughenbaugh for a 26-yard gain to the Mansfield High 18 on third-and-9. On third-and-5 from the Tiger 13, Chance Smith caught a 12-yard pass.

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TEAM STATISTICS

Man Per

First downs 24 30

Total yards 307 578

Rushes-yards 25-103 40-231

Passing 204 347

Comp-Att-Int 19-33-1 26-33-0

Sacked-Yards Lost 3-15 0-0

Punt returns 0-0 2-5

Kickoff returns 5-87 2-31

Punts-Avg. 3-33.3 0-0.0

Fumbles-Lost 2-2 1-0

Penalties-Yards 6-64 8-71

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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING

Mansfield High

Stepfan Taylor 12-76, Daniel Green 9-30, Semaj Miller 2-(minus-3), Chad Jackson 1-5, Team 1-(minus-5).

Permian

Taylor Byrd 8-28, Jamison Berryhill 9-65, Esai Sotelo 10-78, Sherard Ray 7-29, Trevor Adams 6-31.

PASSING

Mansfield High

Daniel Green 19-33-1—204.

Permian

Taylor Byrd 20-24-0—241, Alan Castillejos 1-1-0—6, Trevor Adams 5-8-0—100.

RECEIVING

Mansfield High

Keith Flemming 4-24, Semaj Miller 3-28, Earnest Lambert 7-66, Logan Hodges 3-66, Stepfan Taylor 2-20.

Permian

Ryan Rumbaugh 7-91, Melvis Pride 5-71, Jamison Berryhill 1-1, Brian Nunez 1-9, Tyler Daughenbaugh 4-60, Eugene Neboh 1-6, Joseph Knighten 4-63, Shai Biggerstaff 2-34, Chance Smith 1-12.

INTERCEPTIONS

Mansfield High

None.

Permian

Eugene Neboh 1-29.