I’m not from Port Neches but recently a friend who is from there got me interested in learning more about y’all’s football program and I plan on making it to a game soon. I’m a rabbit-hole type of person, so I wanna dig into the culture and I’ve already found out a good bit about yall, and I’ll continue to do so, but I’d like y’all’s input on a quick rundown of your football and your community to get me started. Anything you feel is pertinent to a new fan like myself, but specifically I want to know things like:
Which players to keep my eye on
Coaching staff history and style of play
Any game day traditions I should know about
What should I buy at y’all’s games
Some history on Port Neches itself
Advice for a first timer
My dad used to say
“they need to just name that town FOOTBALL”
You’ll regularly see an 80 year old lady say “that wasn’t holding the referees are blind”
Season tickets are held for decades by families and season tickets (somewhere near 8000) are sold out within 2 minutes (I knew a family who had 6 different sets of season tickets
You’ll regularly be offered tickets by other purple people when standing in line for playoff games (the lines sometimes stretch for literally a mile or maybe more)
Bum Phillips coached at both PNG and rival Nederland which is literally separated by a railroad track in some places and Wade Phillips played at PNG QB and LB
The Indianettes cheerleaders and twirlers do the same dances as their grandmother did (and maybe great grandmother)
The Indian spirit used to go to the Alabama-Coushatta reservation to train for the dances
(The dance has changed a little since I was 7)
I think I notice it more because there was a 30 year gap for me
PNG is famous for undersized over achievers in the past (like when we beat Permian) but lately we’ve had the Beef on the OL and pushed people around (not as much this year just yet)
You’re most likely to encounter fans who actually KNOW football including the women.
Let’s see
There will be somewhere in the numbers of 3-500 golf carts at each home game who carry 4-8 people which is the only reason the rest of us can find a parking place
We probably have the best concession stand of any HS game you’ll ever go to
They used to have CC TVs so you could watch the game while in line
They removed those for some reason
My advice for your home game
Get there about an hour early and feel the energy.
One of my favorite parts is
All the little girls (even infants) have a purple cheerleading outfit and the boys dress up like the Indian spirits or wear their little league (PNGYFA) jerseys
And kids can act like we did in the 70s (play touch football in the side areas and they’re safe (if anyone tried to mess with them the kids themselves would probably kick their butts)
Everyone at least knows OF (almost) everyone there (I come from Houston to the games and people are starting to recognize me as well) and the crowd WILL look out for your kids
Anyone if I got any facts wrong correct me please
The pep rallies are attended by quite a few in town and people literally take off from work to go to games in which they don’t have kids participating (myself included at times)
I’ll think of more because I think I may have a unique perspective having moved away from PN at 6
So I have nostalgia that I might not have had I graduated from PNG
