Lee - Permian

Here I was 1 year ago on Friday October 11, 2013.  Unbeknownst to me that Friday would end up being "Fun Day" at LI.  While being a big supporter of Fun Day I was also concerned that our players would not handle the event responsibly and would ruin their legs playing flag football, frisbee, or one of the many other Fun Day activities offered to them as students at LI.  That being the case and with the football team having a game in Woodstock that Friday, I told Mrs. Smith that I would be taking the team to the gym to watch a movie when the Fun Day announcement was made.  The movie I chose to show the kids was "Friday Night Lights", the Permian Panthers taking center stage.  I could not possibly have imagined that exactly one year later I would be coaching in the Lee - Permian game.  Even now it seems ridiculous.

Unfortunately, we lost 45-28.  Tremendous credit to Permian as they obviously prepared their kids very well and were able to keep us at bay and win the game after building a 14-0 lead. 

As for how it compares to SJA-LI, there is no comparison. My guess is that there were maybe 8,000 in attendance at the game, which makes it number 2 on the list of most attended games I have ever coached in  - second only to the Shrine Game in 2004 but well below what I expected for Lee - Permian game.  Considering that Caledonia County has a population of approximately 30,000 and the attendance at The Game generally exceeds 3,000, it was a stark comparison.  Midland and Ector County (Odessa) have a combined population of over 300,000 people, although they have  4 high schools to divide the kids and fans amongst.  Nearly 10 percent of the county's population attend the game EVERY YEAR, and often many more.  Here, its just not that way with the Permian game.  As a matter of fact, I asked the kids in my class how many of them cared about the Permian game and almost no one raised their hand.  You would not have known that we were playing anyone different based on the hallways or the students. 

All that having been said, I can say with certainty that Permian has joined the ranks of the HATED enemies.... 
#1 - Academy
#2 - Academy
#3 - Academy
#4 -  Permian
#5 - Patriots

In the end, I am the ultimate JAG this week. 

Home of THE Friday Night Lights

Ratliff Stadium, Odessa, TX.  Home of the Permian Panthers and the site of the filming of the movie Friday Night Lights.  We played them in subvarsity football on Thursday night, meaning that our Maroon (junior team) and Silver (sophomore team) faced their black and white.  We won both games easily.  Regardless of the outcome, it was neat to see Ratliff in person.  On a side note, in 14 years of coaching the lockerroom was the most disgusting I have ever visited by far.  It smelled like the Permian opponents had urinated all over the place and no one had ever cleaned it up, pretty awful. 

Ratliff is a nice stadium - they did a nice job of designing it symmetrically with the trees in the end zones.  It is also set into the ground to a degree and the stands are very close to the bench area. 

This is the largest high school jumbotron in Texas and was just built this year.

Pics: Cooper

Trent, TX.  If the field looks small, it is.  Its a 6 man football field at Trent HS, home of the Gorillas, enrollment 75..  The field is 80 yards long by 40 yards wide.  Trent has a population of 314, smaller than my hometown of Wheelock but yet it has its own synthetic football field complete with lights and a sizeable set of permanent bleachers on both sides of the field.  Yes it is a different world.

Gorilla Stadium.

Gorilla Stadium.

Shotwell Stadium, Abilene, TX.  Home of the Cooper Cougars and the Abilene Eagles.  Shotwell was built in 1959 and was a copy of the Rice University stadium.  Its a bit older by Texas standards but it does get loud.

We watched the Cooper band practicing their halftime routine after we arrived and it was pretty awesome.  They performed a good portion of the score from the movie "Gladiator" complete with a photographic mural of the Colosseum that stood approximately 15 feet high and was 40 feet long and served as a backdrop for their marching.  It was pretty impressive, especially since they had to bring the Colosseum out in three separate sections.  

Headed out the tunnel before kickoff.  The inflatable helmet tunnel travels with us wherever we go, it makes for a neat experience for the kids.

Pics: El Paso El Dorado

The first "mountain" I'd seen since coming to Texas.  This pic was taken somewhere between Midland and El Paso.

The Green Mountains they are not but I was happy to see them anyway.

Van Horn, TX.  Population 1,960.  Van Horn is 185 miles from Midland so we stopped here at about 2pm for some mental conditioning and a walkthrough.  We did the walkthrough on the parking lot with football markings painted on it.  I asked one of the other assistants why a parking lot would have a football field painted on it - answer = thats where the marching band practices.  Even a school with an enrollment of 265 in grades 5-12 has a marching band.

More Van Horn scenery.  I felt like I should have worn my six shooters to this town - it was old school old west.

The terrain got more difficult the closer we got to El Paso.

Speaking of difficult terrain, you can see Ciudad Jaurez, Mexico in the distance on the other side of highway.  Home of ISIS evidently and the 37th most dangerous city in the world.  It was the murder capital of the world "exceeding the 2nd and 3rd finishers by 25%" from 2007-2009.  Awesome!  Suffice it to say, we did not cross the river for our postgame meal.

Socorro Independent School District Student Activities Complex (SAC).  El Paso, TX.

The SAC.

Pics: Carroll

Pregame at Grande

The school district has their own police force and they are a significant presence at the games as you can see.

The gameday flags are a nice touch.

I still haven't gotten used to being able to watch replays immediately after the play.  Gotta love the jumbotron.

Pics: El Paso Coronado

Cable broadcast.

Grande from below the jumbotron.  It was a beautiful day for a game.

The flags really dress up the stadium.

Coronado to Cooper

Well so much for documenting everything!  Suffice it to say it has been a while since I posted and a good chunk of the season has disappeared.  With only 5 games left I figured I should update the blog and get ready for district play.   Here's a quick overview of where we are:

     Our record is 1-4 and after downing Keller in our first game we have dropped 4 in a row.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Texas system, playoff positioning is determined by your district record.  Since all 5 games we have played have been non-district games, they are meaningless as far as postseason positioning is concerned.  The general consensus is that we have played the most difficult schedule of anyone in the district so far, and that should bode well for remainder of the season.  During week 2 we lost at home to El Paso Coronado.  After jumping out to an early 7-0 lead we were in a tight back and forth contest until they were able to pull away and get the 46-32 W late in the fourth.  The next week we faced national powerhouse Southlake Carroll.  Carroll came in ranked 8th in the state and had just played another nationally know program, Tulsa Union of Oklahoma, in Dallas at the Cowboys stadium.  Even though we fell 56-6, we were able to compete and hang in there for the most part.  While that might sound odd, it was really the case.  Week 4 brought our first road trip of the year as we traveled to El Paso to take on El Dorado High School.  They came in undefeated and playing very well.  We again jumped out to an early lead, 9-0, but let it slip away and found ourselves in another back and forth shootout.  The game went to double overtime but unfortunately they were able to make a few more plays than we were and pulled out a 51-44 victory.  The winning score came on 3rd and 26.  That hurt.  Last week we were again on the road as we went to Abilene to play the Cooper Cougars.  Cooper was in our district last year, but were re-aligned to a different classification.  According to everyone here, they are always tough and field a competitive team year in and year out.  We fell behind 20-3 at half but roared back and closed the margin to 20-17 in the second half.  Cooper was able to mount a drive to seal the win in the late stages of the fourth, however, as they pulled out a 27-23 win. 
     So here we are at 1-4.  We had a bye week this weekend, so two days off for the coaches and players.  We'll be back to work in the AM and begin our preparations for Friday night as we face the Permian Panthers in the Texas version of "The Game."  I'm excited to see how it stacks up compared to the intensity and passion of St. J - LI.  Stay tuned!  I'll be better about posting updates.