Amarillo’s Oldest Football Rivalry Ready To Take The Field Friday

There's nothing like a Friday night in the Texas Panhandle during football season. Friday night lights is a time-honored tradition, and if you aren't at a game somewhere, you're pretty much nowhere.

Sadly, I don't get to personally attend many football games because one of my kids has baseball practice every Friday night, but there's one this week where I want to pull my kid from practice and bring them both with me to the game.

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The game is set to take place Friday, September 19th at Dick Bivins Stadium, and it could very well be one of the best of the season in Amarillo. Both teams are off to decent starts, however, neither team is undefeated as they both lost a close one last week.

WHO'S PLAYING

The Amarillo Sandies are set to do battle with the Palo Duro Dons. It's a game that is each school's last non-district game before things start to get really ramped up, but this one always feels like a district game.

Amarillo comes into the matchup sitting at 1-1 after recently losing 49-23 to Midland, while Palo Duro enters the contest at 2-1, most recently losing to Canyon in a tight one, 26-23.

WHY IS THIS SUCH A BIG GAME

It all started 68 years ago when the Sandies knocked off the Dons 27-7 in their first-ever meeting, and it's been one of the city's biggest rivalries ever since. Amarillo has gotten the better of Palo Duro with an overall record of 42-19-2.

Generations of families have played in this game. In fact, Palo Duro's head coach is one of them. His dad has played in this rivalry game, as has he. Now, he'll coach his alma mater against the Sandies looking to put a halt to Amarillo High's 17 game winning streak in the rivalry. This will be the 64th meeting between the two teams.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR

These two teams are relatively different in style of play, with Palo Duro being a bit more defensive, and Amarillo being an offensive juggernaut so far.

The Dons are averaging only 14 points allowed per game this season, while Amarillo is averaging 45 points scored per game. In other words, it's up to the Palo Duro defense to figure out a way to slow down the Sandies, or it could be a long night.