The Permian football team’s 2019 season is now in the rear view mirror for the Panthers.

Permian’s season came to a conclusion with last week’s 71-28 loss to the Arlington Martin Warriors.

With the loss, the Panthers finished the season at 7-5 overall, while the Warriors moved to 11-1 and advanced to the third round of the playoffs.

“Obviously, we’re disappointed that we’re not playing anymore,” Permian head coach Jeff Ellison said. “That feeling when the season’s over and having to move forward to next spring is tough, but we plan on doing that with a great senior class coming up.”

>> AREA WOES: With the loss, the Panthers’ area-round playoff struggles continued for a third consecutive year.

In 2017, Permian’s season ended with a 41-10 loss to Martin in the area round. In 2018, it was Arlington Lamar that delivered the knockout punch with a 49-35 win over the Panthers in the second round before Martin’s victory last week.

The Panthers haven’t made it past the area round since 2014.

>> SENIORS: Still, Ellison was proud of the effort from his players this season, particularly his senior class.

“I’m just extremely proud of our guys and how hard they fought,” Ellison said. “Our senior class did a great job of showing our younger guys what to do and how to grow.”

For the Panthers' seniors, it was their last game in a Permian uniform.

“They put the team first,” Ellison said. “We had guys who started out their sophomore years at offensive line but were moved to defensive end and other guys who were moved to other positions. This class showed that it wasn’t about them. It was about the team and that was great of them. I’m proud of what they accomplished.”

>> SPECIAL TEAMS TRICKERY: In the first half against Martin and facing fourth down, the Panthers used a 16-yard pass from Carson Roberts to convert.

“Carson’s a great athlete with a lot of versatility and it was a great pass by him to get us a first down,” Ellison said. “He’ll really be missed this year.”

>> GROWING: Not very many Permian teams have started the season off 0-3 and gone on to capture a district title and a bi-district playoff victory. But that’s exactly what this year’s Panthers managed to do.

After starting the season with a 35-14 loss to DeSoto, the Panthers then fell to El Paso Franklin 49-28 at home. Permian’s woes continued with a 48-7 loss against state powerhouse, Southlake Carroll at Ratliff the following week.

But then, the Panthers finally cracked the win column with a 47-14 victory over Palm Desert High School (Calif.) on Sept. 20.

That victory would start a five-game winning streak for the Panthers, which included a 35-27 win over Amarillo Tascosa.

“It wasn’t just the maturity of the football players. It was the younger players who showed how hard they’ve worked,” Ellison said. “But as a team, they showed that they believed in themselves and showed that good things can happen when they do that.”

After a 24-13 loss to Wolfforth Frenship, Permian bounced back with a 42-39 win over Midland Lee in the regular season finale to clinch a share of the District 2-6A title.

“It’s huge. We have a great district out here,” Ellison said. “We even have district teams that are still playing in the playoffs. It just shows how great football we have in West Texas.”
