What kind of season did Permian fans expect in 1988? What did this mean to Coach Gaines?

Whatever else Odessa had or didn’t have, there had always been high school football. Everyone knew where they had been when the team won a State Football Championship, so it isn’t unusual that expectations are high at the beginning of the 1988 season. No one can see how Permian could miss a trip to State. Coach Gaines hates the assumptions, because it creates more room for anger and disappointment if the team doesn’t get there.