Odessa Permian football roars back to dim Frenship's chance at outright district title

WOLFFORTH — Juzstyce was served Friday night.

And served. And served again.

Juzstyce Lara, along with a sizable Odessa Permian offensive line, punished Frenship in the second half to make up a 21-point deficit. The junior notched three of his four touchdowns after halftime in the 42-41 victory at Peoples Bank Stadium.

Along with Midland Legacy's win over San Angelo Central, the result created a four-way tie for first place in District 2-6A.

Lara, running behind multiple 300-pounders, finished with 188 of the Panthers' 328 rushing yards. The 5-foot-9, 160-pound back did most of his work after the team went into the locker room down 35-14. Quarterback Rodney Hall went for 100 yards and two scores on the ground to help Permian bounce back from its only loss.

Frenship (6-2 overall, 2-1 district) let a golden opportunity at an outright district title slip away along with the big lead. The Tigers, whose offense looked unstoppable in the opening half, had a similar experience against Legacy (4-4, 2-1). But Frenship held on despite being outscored by the Rebels 27-7 over the final two quarters.

"It's just like Legacy, you knew you weren't out of the woods, no matter what," Tigers coach Jay Northcutt said. "(Permian is) just so explosive. … They have some really explosive kids back there running the ball that can go to the house at any moment, so they're pretty hard to get on the ground."

The dejection by players in blue and gold was visible. Sole possession of first place was within Frenship's grasp, but 24 minutes of mashing later, the team likely must settle for a chance at sharing the crown. And there's reason to believe the Tigers can.

After all, the Frenship offense continued to hum. Hudson Hutcheson threw for 407 yards and four TDs, adding two first-half rushing scores. The Tigers receivers again proved to be a handful, with Tate Beeles and Leyton Stone each surpassing 170 yards, and the team didn't commit any turnovers.

But Frenship's sore spot has been defense, which has allowed at least 34 points four games in a row. The Panthers (7-1, 2-1) attempted only two passes during their comeback, pounding out 222 rushing yards in the second half. Northcutt said it was the best offensive line the team has faced.

The Tigers have shown the ability to win shootouts — see the 56-52 win over Rio Rancho (N.M.) Cleveland — but couldn't keep up the pace Friday.

"When you're firing a lot of bullets, you run out of them sometimes," Northcutt said, "or you have to try to generate some. We kind of got in that situation tonight. … To me, what's indicative of a good defensive coordinator and a defensive staff is, you might get them with something two or three times, but then they're going to adjust and take that away. And they did that."

Central (5-3, 2-1), Frenship's final regular-season foe, also likes to light up a scoreboard. So the Tigers will look to shore up their defense with two district contests left. Consecutive wins would promise the team the No. 1 seed in the 6A Division II playoffs and at least a share of the first district title since 2015.

"I think sometimes coming off a loss like this, especially in the situation that we're in where we're still playing for a district championship," Northcutt said, "you can use it as motivation. It's a reason to get back out here Monday and go to work."

DISTRICT 2-6A

Odessa Permian 42, Frenship 41

Permian 7 7 21 7 — 42

Frenship 21 14 6 0 — 41

SCORING SUMMARY

First quarter

FRE— Hudson Hutcheson 6 run (Jeremiah Adams kick), 8:21

FRE — Tate Beeles 57 pass from Hutcheson (Adams kick), 7:30

PER— Juzstyce Lara 12 run (Tate Terry kick), 5:03

FRE — Leyton Stone 18 pass from Hutcheson (Adams kick), 2:11

Second quarter

PER— Rodney Hall 24 run (Terry kick), 11:54

FRE — Beeles 34 pass from Hutcheson (Adams kick), 9:27

FRE — Hutcheson 21 run (Adams kick), 0:51

Third quarter

PER— Lara 2 run (Terry kick), 8:58

PER— Lara 1 run (Terry kick), 3:14

FRE — Stone 71 pass from Hutcheson (kick blocked), 3:04

PER— Hall 1 run (Terry kick), 0:49

Fourth quarter

PER— Lara 18 run (Terry kick), 6:33

TEAM STATISTICS

First downs: (P) 24; (F) 19

Rushes-Yards: (P) 41-328; (F) 24-59

Passing: (P) 110; (F) 407

Comp-Att-Int: (P) 9-13-1; (F) 25-37-0

Punts-Avg: (P) 0; (F) 2-37.5

Fumbles-Lost: (P) 1-1; (F) 1-0

Penalties-Yards: (P) 13-122; (F) 13-131

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING: Permian, Juzstyce Lara 27-188, Rodney Hall 9-100, Ja'Quan Richardson 1-35, Tabarie Jones 1-10, Isaac Herrera 1-3, Team 2-(-8). Frenship, Hudson Hutcheson 18-60, Jaden Tackett 1-4, Sebastian Dominguez 2-3, Landon Hutcheson 2-(-2), Team 1-(-6).

PASSING: Permian, Hall 9-13-1—110. Frenship, H. Hutcheson 25-36-0—407.

RECEIVING: Permian, Richardson 5-58, Jones 2-28, Lara 1-18, Gage Murphy 1-6. Frenship, Leyton Stone 10-173, L. Hutcheson 7-51, Tate Beeles 6-172, Brooks Roberson 2-11.

RECORDS: Permian 7-1, 2-1; Frenship 6-2, 2-1.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Odessa Permian football has 21-point comeback to beat Frenship