Permian Falls To Legacy

Midland, TX – Missed second half opportunities doomed the Permian football team in the 34-21 district finale loss to Midland Legacy on Friday night at Grande Communications Stadium.
   
Permian had its chances to rally and erase a touchdown deficit in the second half. Drake Womack intercepted a Legacy pass and returned it 44 yards to the Rebel 1-yard line to open the third quarter. The offensive unit couldn’t capitalize on the opportunity and were held out of the end zone three consecutive times for minus yardage. A short field goal attempt was then blocked and Mojo came away empty, with the score remaining 21-14.

The following possession found the Panthers approaching midfield and facing a long 4th-and-4.  With the option of pinning the Rebels deep with a punt, the decision was made to go for the first down which failed.  Legacy would take advantage of the field position and add another touchdown five plays later to re-establish a two touchdown lead.

Permian opened the game with five plays and a punt.  Taking the ball on its own 10-yard line, Legacy took all of three plays to score on a 75-yard TD strike for a 7-0 lead.  A Mojo three-and-out was followed by a 9-play, 80-yard scoring drive to give the Rebels a 13-0 first quarter lead.  Legacy pushed the lead to 21-0 just six seconds into the second period.

The Panthers started to show some life and began to turn things around.  JaQuan Richardson hauled in a 21-yard TD strike from Rodney Hall to cap-off a 10-play, 68-yard scoring drive to trail 21-7.  The next set of downs for Permian ended with a fumble inside the Rebel redzone.  The defense rose up and Mojo would get the ball back near midfield.  A 44-yard halfback pass from Zach Wheeler to Lucas Salazar narrowed the difference to 21-14, a score that would carry into the intermission.

The second half became a defensive struggle fought in the trenches.  The Womack interception ushered in the third quarter, but the turnover opportunity was squandered.  The Rebels went up 28-14 late in the third on a 6-play scoring drive following the Mojo turnover on downs.  Each team added a touchdown in the final 12 minutes for Permian to absorb a 34-21 loss.

Salazar finished with five catches for 97 yards, while Richardson had 95 yards receiving and another 38 yards rushing.  The Black Cats (7-3) finish third in district and will now prepare for a 6A Bi-District date with El Paso Franklin (8-2) on Friday, November 12 at 7:30 at Cougar Stadium.
    

   
SCORING SUMMARY

First Quarter
ML – Young 75 pass from Davila (Meade kick), 7:55
ML – Brazzell 6 pass from Davila (conv failed), 4:39

Second Quarter
ML – Young 4 run (Brazzell pass from Davila), 11:54
OP – JaQuan Richardson 21 pass from Hall (Terry kick), 6:14
OP – Lucas Salazar 44 pass from Wheeler (Terry kick), 0:28

Third Quarter
ML – Young 17 run (Meade kick), 2:11

Fourth Quarter
OP – Caysen Clinton 1 run (Terry kick), 6:55
ML – Young 3 run (kick failed), 1:06