1987 Permian Arlington James "Boobie" Miles

The 1987 Texas High School 5A Quarterfinal game which sees the Odessa Permian Panthers come back to defeat the Arlington Colts. Many people have asked for James "Boobie" Miles footage, so here some is. It's all I've got, in fact. He has a few big plays, but Shawn Crow is the hero in this game.

To clear up some confusion, I'll try to explain why Permian "wins" 35-35. Before overtime existed in high school football, if a game ended in a tie, it counted as a tie. However, in the playoffs, a winner had to be determined to see who would advance. Penetrations, or trips inside the opponents 20 would be the deciding factor. If penetrations were tied, it would go to which team had more first downs. If first downs were tied, it went to total yardage. If total yardage was tied (VERY unlikely), I don't know what would have determined a winner, maybe penalty yards.

When Permian scores to make it 28-27, they're tied on penetrations at 4, but are losing on first downs, so they try to go for 2 and the win but are stopped short. Arlington immediately scores, only picking up one first down in the process, and taking a lead on penetrations 5-4 as well as a lead in the game 35-27. Permian gets the ball back, ties the game 35-35 after a two-point conversion, ties the penetrations 5-5, and takes a 13-11 lead on first downs. Arlington gets the ball back and needs either points to win the game outright, a penetration to win 6-5 on penetrations, or two first downs to tie the first down category and win on total yardage. They get one first down, but Permian intercepts the pass before they can tie the first down category, so Permian wins on first downs.

This game is briefly touched on in the beginning of the book Friday Night Lights.