Who needs Boobie?

The Permian Panthers finish the regular season by pummeling the San Angelo Bobcats on the first Friday in November. This means the season ends with Permian, Midland Lee, and Cooper High School having identical records. However, only two teams can go to the playoffs, so the tiebreaker rule goes into effect: they will flip a coin. It seems silly that it comes to this after all the hard work and the endless hours, but that’s what it’s been reduced to. The three coaches will drive to a truck stop and, like three little boys, throw coins into the air until the odd man out is eliminated from the playoffs. The spot of the meeting - a truck stop - is kept secret to keep all the crazy fans away. Permian gets lucky and enters the playoffs by winning the coin flip. Permian beats Amarillo Tascosa in the first round of the playoffs with ease, 31-7. Then they fly to El Paso by chartered jet to face the Andress Eagles. They play in the gigantic Sun Bowl where their usual contingent of thousands of people looks like little bits of scattered paper in the stands. Gaines prowls the sidelines with fury, because now there is no room for mistakes. His fury extends to the locker room at halftime when the score is only 21-7. He is convinced they cannot win, because of the way they’re playing, but they win easily 41-13.