After one quarter of play, the Paschal Panthers and Arlington Martin Warriors were all tied at seven points at AT&T Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys.
439 rushing yards and 87 points later, the Warriors never looked back en route to a 59-7 halftime lead and a 87-20 win in Arlington.
The Panthers (3-7), who played their final 2015 regular season game last night at 7 p.m., did not win a district game this year.
First year head coach Matt Miracle said his team has improved since Arlington Martin beat Paschal 86-21 a year prior, despite the similar score.
“It was a running clock the entire second half,” Miracle said of the 2014 contest. “So you know, timeouts change of possessions, they just kept the clock running. Which to me is kind of embarrassing.”
Miracle said he sees a similarity between what Arlington Martin’s program used to be and what his program is now.
“What people forget about Martin is that about ten years ago or maybe even 12 now, before Bob Wager took over, they were similar to the kind of situation we’re in trying to build something special,” Miracle said.
However, as Miracle notes, Paschal will have to overcome the obstacles that occur as a smaller school in a big district. Miracle understands that he has a smaller pool of athletes to choose from.
“Arlington ISD is a tough match for us because number one, they’ve got less schools so they have more, their populations are larger at every school than what we have,” Miracle said. “We are one of the smallest schools in our district.”
Miracle said he was mostly impressed with his team’s performance besides a second quarter that was dominated by the Warriors. Arlington Martin rushed for six touchdowns, recovered another in the end zone and forced a safety on their way to a 59-7 halftime lead.
“The kids kept fighting,” Miracle said. “I was really proud of the effort. The way the kids responded after halftime.”
And despite the lopsided score, Paschal right tackle Hal Torrez said the experience of playing at AT&T Stadium was well worth it.
“We had a great, great experience there,” Torrez said. “It was a lot of fun. Always watched Sundays there.”