The colors are black and white, but the collars are blue.
Permian’s football players wouldn’t have it any other way.
The Panthers understand the expectations that comes with the program.
More importantly, they embrace the amount of work needed to turn dreams and goals into reality each week.
The team known for its Friday Night Lights actually does its best work from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Wednesday.
Not that the efforts on the weekend have been too shabby this season, the Panthers undefeated through six games and hungry for more.
Results that have germinated on the turf of Wilkins Field, inside the weight room of the indoor practice facility and during the weekend video and skull sessions with the coaching staff.
It would be easy for the players to relax.
Fortunately, this group of Panthers has a set of leaders that works harder than everyone else on the field.
Rarely do seniors Rodney Hall, Harris Sewell or Bryce Woody take a play off in practice, itching to get back in when coaches force them to let others get some reps.
That enthusiasm is infectious, but it’s their will that separates them and elevated the trio to the leadership positions their teammates bestowed upon them.
“We just had to play Permian football,” Woody said after helping the Panthers rally for a 28-27 victory against Killeen Harker Heights earlier this season.
“I just told them there was no way we were losing this game,” Hall commented after watching Waco Midway pull even with the Panthers in the third quarter on Sept. 2.
Hall was true to his word, guiding Permian to three second-half scores for a comfortable 41-20 triumph.
Sewell isn’t quite as vocal as his co-captains.
He doesn’t need to be.
His message comes in the form of opposing linemen or linebackers picking themselves off the turf after being driven there at the snap of the ball.
Sewell plays with the edge needed in the trenches, the linchpin of an offensive line that loves punishing opponents and has helped the Panthers build plenty of momentum heading into the final four games of the regular season.
Hall, Woody and Sewell are a triumvirate that has seen thousands of snaps against the top programs in the state.
More importantly, it is a trio that has spent hundreds, if not thousands of hours helping to continue a winning culture at Permian.
They hold themselves to a higher standard and make their teammates rise to meet those expectations.
Day in and day out.
Win or lose.
That will be their legacy.
>> Follow Lee Scheide on Twitter at @OALeeScheide
