Tuesday, September 10, 1996

High School: N. Mesquite and Permian meeting
By JAIME ARON
Associated Press

DALLAS (AP) - North Mesquite vs. Odessa Permian, the matchup high school football fans have looked forward to all summer, officially will be a game between the state's two highest-ranked Class 5A teams.

The Stallions retained their No. 1 spot and the Panthers remained No. 2 when the first regular-season Associated Press high school football poll was released Monday.

Around 20,000 fans are expected to cram into Mesquite Memorial Stadium on Friday night for the first 1-2 game in 5A since Aldine MacArthur and Willowridge opened the 1994 season against each other.

"This matchup is going to be great," North Mesquite coach Mark Elam said. "It's really going to be a fun game to coach in, play in or watch."

Neither team was really in jeopardy of moving in the poll after the way they opened the season last Friday night.

North Mesquite ran up 376 yards of offense and the defense was just as impressive in a 45-7 victory over Arlington. Using a similar strategy, Permian had three running backs each gain 100 yards and also had great defense in a 36-7 victory over El Paso Irvin.

The biggest change in the poll was atop 1A, where Windthorst eked past Granger to swap the top two spots.

Granger lost the No. 1 spot because it only beat Lexington 30-26, while Windthorst stepped up behind the strength of a 46-12 victory over Lindsay.

Sweetwater is ranked fifth and Stephenville No. 8 in Class 4A, Ballinger third in Class 3A, and Munday No. 6 in Class A.

Elsewhere, defending 5A Division II runner-up Flower Mound Marcus moved into the poll at No. 10 in place of San Antonio Marshall, a tie by Stephenville dropped it from second to eighth in 4A, Cuero dipped to seventh in 3A following a 28-14 loss to 4A's now-No. 4 Corpus Christi Calallen, and Arp and Elysian Fields fell out of the 2A rankings following losses.

Obviously, there could be a big change in 5A next week depending on how things shake out in Mesquite this weekend.

While the teams may be similar on the field, they couldn't be more different off it.

Permian is the definitive perennial power. The Panthers were last year's Division I runners-up, won a state title in 1991 and are among the AP's top 10 for the 146th week since 1981.

The lore surrounding their program was enough to draw H.G. Bissinger from Philadelphia to West Texas to write "Friday Night Lights," which became a national best-seller and soon will be a movie directed by Ron Howard.

North Mesquite, meanwhile, was winless six years ago. The Stallions had never been ranked by the AP before this preseason.

When Elam took over, the program was so thin he had no choice but to send most of his players both ways.

Now, when he chooses to use a guy on offense and defense it's because he believes "it doesn't make sense to leave one of your best athletes on the bench."

The number of players may not be a problem at Permian, but the quality of those numbers worries coach Randy Mayes.

"We have six guys playing 12 positions. Are we thin? Big time," he said. "We don't have nearly the depth we did last year."

Back in 1994, Aldine MacArthur won the season opener 16-3, but neither it nor Willowridge could live up to its preseason billing.

The Generals finished the year 7-1-2 - and didn't make playoffs.

Willowridge went 7-5 and was stopped in the Division II area round.