ABILENE - Abilene High demonstrated why it is state-ranked by the Associated Press. The Permian road trip ended with a long bus ride home after a 44-14 loss in Shotwell Stadium on Friday night. The Eagles offense finished with 509 yards, while the Panthers were held to 282 total yards.

On the game's opening possession, things looked promising for Permian after Abilene coughed up the ball and Michael Franco recovered. Unfortunately, the Panthers offense turned it right back over to the Eagles. Five plays and 47 yards later, Abilene was on the scoreboard. Still in the first quarter, a 19-yard touchdown pass by Evin Abbe capped off a two-play, 59-yard Eagles drive that covered all of 25 seconds. Franco made his second valiant defensive play and picked off an Abilene pass just outside the goal line, preventing a touchdown in the second quarter, but Permian suffered a safety on the very next play. The Panthers were able to find paydirt midway through the quarter when Andrew Perez hauled in a 48-yard TD reception. Permian hit the intermission trailing, 30-7.

Abilene added two more scores in the third quarter to essentially put the game out of reach. Permian was able to put together another scoring drive for the final tally late in the fourth. The Panthers traveled 72 yards in eight plays, consisting of a heavy dose of running back Jorrion Wilson. The drive ended with a 20-yard touchdown run by Wilson, who finished with 124 rushing yards. Perez had five catches for 65 yards, while Franco led the defense and was credited with the fumble recovery and interception. Permian falls to 1-1 in district and 1-3 overall.

In the PHS football history, this is only the third time Permian has ever dealt with a 1-3 record. The other two seasons were in 1959 (the opening year of the school) and in 1964. A positive of sorts, Permian only committed two penalties in the game. In the three prior outings, the Panthers had averaged being flagged 12 times a game.