GREG LUCA | STAFF WRITER
McAllen High coach Kevin Brewer thinks a lack of exposure is the biggest reason Valley teams have typically struggled to get past the third round of the state playoffs.
So, he’s exposing the Bulldogs to one of the state’s most storied programs.
McAllen High will face six-time state champion Odessa Permian, the school known nationwide as the home of Friday Night Lights, at 1 p.m. on Saturday at D.W. Rutledge Stadium in Converse.
“The talent is here to compete with anybody,” Brewer said. “They just don’t get exposed to that enough. And when they do play an out-of-Valley team, you go through the big-eyed syndrome. ‘Wow, who are we playing? What kind of scheme is this?’ If we did it on a regular basis, besides just us and Harlingen every year, I think you would see more competitiveness against other areas of the state.”
Brewer acknowledges that, in some respects, teams outside the Valley are simply more talented. A look at track results shows the speed and athleticism edge is in favor of schools from the Houston, Dallas and San Antonio areas.
But as players? Brewer thinks the Valley athletes are right on par.
“They’re as good as any that I’ve seen in the state,” Brewer said. “I’m also impressed with the quality of offensive and defensive linemen in the Valley. I think there is a boatload of line talent in the Valley.”
Brewer spent the spring looking for a chance to prove it. He was hoping to find an opponent from San Antonio with little luck before Permian coach Blake Feldt gave him a call out of the blue. Feldt was also struggling to find games out of his area. “We’re so isolated down here in the Valley,” Brewer said. “A lot of people don’t want to come down here. We have to make the effort to go find them and go play at places outside the Valley to get that exposure to other programs and the other ways people skin their cat.”
McAllen and Permian exchanged film from scrimmages, but Brewer said only so much can be learned from that. He’s tried to pick up some of Permian’s scheme tendencies, but mostly he’s just focused on McHi.
He hasn’t worried about Permian’s wealth of talent at the skill positions, or about the potential to exploit a Panthers’ offensive and defensive line that return just one starter between them.
“You can’t worry about that, because you can’t do anything about that,” Brewer said. “We can’t do anything about how fast or anything they are. That’s totally out of our control.”
Brewer expects the biggest keys to be special teams and the turnover battle, two things that are critical to every game.
If McHi can win both of those areas, the Bulldogs will have a chance to prove that Valley teams can hang with anyone.
“That’s what we want to do,” Brewer said. “We want to show people that we can compete with the top programs in the state. And we’re looking forward to the challenge.”