Football: Permian made progress in 2007 season

The Permian Panthers saw their 2007 football season end at the same point as 2006, but the team showed signs along the way that the program’s rejuvenation continued moving forward.

In advancing to the regional round of the Class 5A Division I playoffs for the second consecutive season, the Panthers claimed their first outright district championship since 1994 and recorded their first 10-0 regular season since 1991.

The 12-1 campaign included two victories over state-ranked opponents — Euless Trinity and Abilene High — before Trinity won Saturday’s playoff rematch.

“This team went out and did some very special things,” Panthers coach Darren Allman said. “When you look back at the early-season victory against Euless Trinity — now that we’ve seen Trinity at their best — I think we can look back on that game and realize what an accomplishment it was for this team to go win that game like we did.

“One of the most impressive things that this team did was the following week up at Amarillo, the way that they didn’t have any letdown after a big win on national television against Trinity. Instead, they took a long bus trip to Amarillo and pretty much put that game away at halftime (leading 49-7). We came out and had one of the best first halves that we had all year, followed by another good game against Lubbock Monterey.”

The Panthers used that as a springboard to a 5-0 run through District 3-5A.

“We had so much momentum going into district,” Allman said. “Every game was a battle, but we played extremely well week after week. We got down against Abilene High for the first time all year, but fought back from a two-touchdown deficit to win the game (28-21). We had some guys who had been injured that week come into the game — pretty much put themselves into the game — to help us try and win that.

“I would say the highlight of the year certainly would be winning the district championship and doing it outright. It’s very hard to go 10-0 and harder to go 12-0. Very seldom do these years end like you want them to unless you win it all. We realize now more than ever how hard it is to go win it all, but that will be our goal again next year.”

Along the way, Allman said, the Panthers were consistently able to perform at a high level.

“A lot of times, it’s harder to be undefeated than it is not to be,” he said “You haven’t tasted humility as a team and what that can sometimes bring you as a team, like it did Trinity. It brought them a sense of urgency.

“I didn’t think that would be a factor for us because of the way we played each week. We maintained great practice habits. I just think on that given day we came up against a team that was at the top of its game and we weren’t that particular day.”

While the season ended in disappointment with Saturday’s 38-14 loss, Allman said it was important to not let one game overshadow everything that was achieved.

“For this class of seniors, we’ll work real hard to keep that one day from taking away from the specialness of what they accomplished this year,” he said. “Going back to this time a year ago after we lost to Southlake Carroll, there were a lot of people, specifically in our skill positions, that we had to replace. We lost a lot of good players at this time last year.

“I wouldn’t necessarily call this year a rebuilding year, but there were a lot of unanswered questions. I thought our guys who were playing their first year of varsity football answered those questions real quickly and did a good job of stepping up this year when they got their opportunity.”

Permian will graduate 43 seniors, including 19 starters.

But after three seasons under Allman, the program has developed to the point where players coming up through the system can step in and take over.

“We want to be playing a lot of seniors and filling in those spots next year with guys who have paid their dues to be a starter on a good varsity football team,” Allman said. “That’s kind of the point where we are right now and I feel like we’ve got some good players coming again.

“As good a year as we had in ’06, this team exceeded expectations and took us to another level. They raised the bar in this program and laid another block in that foundation that we’ve been trying to build since we got here in ’05.”

In addition to the offseason program and spring drills, the Panthers face the UIL’s biennial realignment in February.

Allman said there will likely be some changes to the schedule, but that he expects 3-5A to remain intact.

“If that happens, then our schedule will be pretty much set for us,” he said. “There will be some changes in our nondistrict schedule. There will be some people that will not want to continue their series with us, and we know that.

“We haven’t decided on a Trinity game yet and we won’t until they’re through playing. We’ll let them wrap their season up before we talk seriously about that.”

Whether Trinity or another team, Allman wants at least one game against an opponent from outside the area.

“It’s always a challenge out here in West Texas, especially when you’ve had some success, to get people to travel out here to play in a home-and-home situation,” he said.

“We can’t just meet people from the Metroplex or South Texas at neutral sites because we need home games. So we’ve got to find opponents who’s administrators and districts will allow them to travel this far to play an away game.”