The Permian Panthers will face off against the Pebble Hills Spartans at 4:00 p.m. on Friday. Both teams come into the game bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Midland typically have all the answers at home, but on Friday Permian proved too difficult a challenge. Permian came out on top against Midland by a score of 21-14. The victory made it back-to-back wins for Permian.
It was another big night for Juzstyce Lara, who rushed for 179 yards and two touchdowns. Lara is on a roll when it comes to rushing yards, as he's now rushed for 100 or more in the last six games he's played.
Meanwhile, Pebble Hills waltzed into back in October's contest with three straight wins but they left with four. They walked away with a 31-21 victory over Eastlake. Given Pebble Hills' advantage in MaxPreps' Texas football rankings (they are ranked 207th, while Eastlake is ranked 475th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Gael Ochoa was his usual excellent self, throwing for 338 yards and two touchdowns while completing 73.1% of his passes, and also rushing for 80 yards and a touchdown. Omarion Wallace did his part to keep the secondary busy, picking up 168 receiving yards and a touchdown.
Another reason for the win was Pebble Hills' imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for five sacks. Leading the way was Rafael Jaquez and his three sacks.
Permian pushed their record up to 6-4 with that win, which was their third straight on the road. It's not like the team was facing easy opposition over that stretch either, as it included 8-2 Midland Legacy (their opponents had an average overall winning percentage of 66.7% over those games). As for Pebble Hills, they have been performing incredibly well recently as they've won six of their last seven matches, which provided a nice bump to their 8-2 record this season.
Permian lost to Pebble Hills on the road by a decisive 45-28 margin when the teams last played back in November of 2022. Can Permian avenge their defeat or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
