By Angie Ledbetter

The 89-0 South Panola Tigers will roar in to Veterans Memorial Stadium tonight for the 5A State Championship game where they will play for a sixth straight title, to add to seven already collected.

It’s been a long road to Jackson in 2008 as the Tigers look for another victory against a tough Meridian Wildcats team.

This will be the third meeting in the state championship between the two teams who wrangled each other in 2005 and 2006. In 2006, the Tigers defeated the Wildcats 28-21 on December 1 and 52-14 in 2005.

The Tigers are ranked No. 1 in the Clarion-Ledger and the Wildcats are ranked No. 4. Both teams are ranked in the Rivals.com national polls. South Panola at 10 and Meridian at 74. Also ranked are the two teams in tomorrow’s 4A clash, D’Iberville at 51 and Noxubee County at 53.

Tiger head coach Lance Pogue has been talking all week with media about the Wildcat/Tiger matchup. Starting with Wildcat quarterback, Tyler Russell, Pogue said he is as good as they get in high school.

“Tyler Russell, the quarterback, is a great player, one of the best I’ve seen in this state myself in 17 years of coaching. He is 6’5” and has great arms. He is a smart guy, very poised and very athletic. He is everything you want in a quarterback and he has great receivers. They’re the most explosive offense that I’ve faced in a long time, especially in high school here. They have a lot of weapons.”

Michael Pack leads the Wildcat defense.

“They’re kind of a no name defense because they get over looked and shadowed by all of the success that their offense has,” Pogue said. “They’re a scrappy group with a lot of speed but not a lot of size. They rely on speed and quickness and chase the ball.”

The Wildcat line is unlike Madison Central who was a big physical line, according to Pogue. He said the Tigers will have to shift gears a bit but the Tiger strength is running the football and play action pass.

“They’re going to move the football, make catches and score some points,” he said. “We’ve got to continue to fight, scratch, and claw to get them stopped some. Hopefully we’ll get our hands on a ball or two and at times get to the quarterback. It’s not just one thing you can do because if you’re just relying on one thing, he is good enough to hurt you. We’ve got to give him a lot of different looks and try to keep hanging on.”

The road to the state championship has not been easy, according to Pogue, because 5A football is outstanding.

“It’s the best I’ve ever seen 5A from a competitive stand point,” he said. “Everybody has good players like Tupelo, Olive Branch, Madison Central, Oak Grove, Ocean Springs, Meridian and on. They’re all really good and I’m just proud to be in the position that we’re in. We beat a lot of tough football teams. With us, we take everybody’s best shot.”

This year has been challenging as any other, according to Pogue.

“One thing I will say is that we have a great group of kids with great heart, great character and great attitudes. They’ve been a joy to coach and it’s been a lot of fun.

“There have been some tough games and we’ve had to play hard and coach hard. We’ve had to keep fighting, scraping, and clawing but that’s the make up of our team.”

Pogue said the coaching staff is “outstanding.” “I wouldn’t trade them for anybody in the state of Mississippi. The offensive guys do an unbelievable job and our guys on defense have done a great job. We’re all tied in together and pulling for each other. For us, it’s all about the team and all about winning. Everybody does a good job leaving their egos at the door. They’re just a great group of guys.”

How did he keep the guys believing in themselves?

“Again, we make them understand that in 5A football there are some great teams and everybody is going to play us hard. We’re not just going to roll over everybody 40 points. You have got to fight for everything you get and no body is going to give you anything.”

Pogue said the players have a feeling that if they keep fighting and get to the fourth quarter, they will find a way to out last somebody and be a little bit tougher.

“Hopefully, we’ve got one more game in us where we can continue to do that,” he said. “This is going to be the same way. Hopefully, it’s going to go to the  wire and hopefully we’ll find a way to win it.”

Marvin Burdette

At the MHSAA State Championship press conference Monday, Pogue took senior leaders Marvin Burdette, David Conner and David Renfroe.

Burdette talked about winning the north half trophy against Madison Central last week.

“It meant a lot and something special,” he said. “When it got hard was when I had to look over my side and I didn’t feel that brotherly love.”

Dennis Draper came in for the injured Conner.

“When David (Conner) got hurt, it was kind of on my back,” Burdette continued. “With both being my cousins, it was a big thing. I knew everybody had to play as a whole but with someone coming in that hadn’t really practiced and try to help our defense, that had to be hard. He did a tremendous job coming in and stepping in for David. I went to the sideline and told David I still didn’t feel that brotherly love. I always knew if I didn’t have it, then he would. I missed my brother out there.”

Burdette is looking forward to tonight’s state championship contest.

“To me it means so much because it finally pays off because you work so hard in the summer,” he said. “It feels like a blessing because you know you’ve worked so hard and you deserve it.”

Burdette never doubted the team would make a return trip to Jackson.

“I figured if we came together as a team, there would be a good chance that we would be going back to Jackson.”

He said coming together as a team was not an obstacles to overcome.

“It was just coming together as South Panola does, play hard and just stay on it,” he said.

Burdette listed Tupelo as their toughest game this year.

“As a senior, who wouldn’t want to go out with a 15-0 record?” Burdette asked. “As I leave, I’d like to tell the younger players to always keep your heads up. You make a mistake, we try to encourage them and keep them going.”

Burdette has big family support at the games each week.

“Giving honors to God, I have my family and it’s a blessing. Many people can’t come off the field and have a family to go home to where I have a mother and a father. They’re always there for me and haven’t missed one game.

“I truly believe that if it was snowing or ice blocks out there, they would still be there for me,” Burdette continued. “I also have a sister and a niece that are always there. I also have aunts and uncles that are always at the games. I love them to death. I appreciate them being there for me. My mom, she is here for me, David and all of the team.”

Burdette does not see the team as having to do anything different tonight in order to win that they have not done the other 14 games.

“To win Friday night, everybody has got to work together like we’ve been doing and just play hard,” said Burdette.

David Renfroe

David Renfroe talked about returning to the state championship game for his third trip.

“It means a lot to me. All of our work shows by us coming here every year,” Renfroe said. “It has taken a lot of hard work to get back here this year. We lost a lot of seniors, Tig (Barksdale) and a lot of the offensive line from last year. We had to get our young guys to step up.”

The most important thing to Renfroe was team leadership.

“I felt I have done that this year, the same as Marvin (Burdette) and David (Conner). We’ve helped to carry us back to Jackson again. The senior class is very close. It’ll be tough after Friday night. I go to baseball in the spring but we’ll stay in touch.”

There was not just one tough game this year to Renfroe, he listed Tupelo, Olive Branch, Madison Central and Apopka as all tough. “Apopka was a great team,” he said.

Renfroe does not pay any attention to what people say about the team not winning by a lot of points each game.

“They forget that the fact is a “W” is a “W”,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if you win by one, two or thirty five. A win is a win.”

As Renfroe looks at his championship rings after he graduates, he will have lots of memories.

“I’ll remember all of my friends that I made on the team. I’ll reminisce on all the big games like we’ve had like Apopka.”

Renfroe talked about the way they approached the games this year.

“We’ve had to take a little bit of a different approach because last year we had Tig and he could run all over the field. This year we had to spread it out and be more balanced. That’s why you see our stats from this year may have 200 rushing yards and 200 passing.”

Renfroe predicts tonight’s game will be a good game.

“It’s going to be a great game Friday night because Meridian is a great team,” said Renfroe. “To win, we have got to play hard and not make many mistakes. They’re big play makers and can score on any play.  They have a great quarterback and great receivers. We’ve got to come out and just fight.”

Renfroe has big plans ahead of him. He plans to attend Ole Miss and play baseball. But the pro draft comes up in June and he will wait to see the outcome of that. He said he will miss football.

 David Conner

David Connor talked about making another trip to Jackson.

“It’s a blessing for it to finally be my senior year and for us to do what we did for a couple of years and doing it now again.”

This is Conner’s third trip to the state championship round. He said the toughest things they have had to overcome have been hard practices and injuries.

“We’ve had a lot of young guys that have been stepping up to the plate and we’ve encouraged them to play their best,” he said. “Winning North Half was a great feeling. I wasn’t out there and it was hard for me on the sideline but when I saw zero on the clock, I was happy. When people were talking to me, it brought tears to my eyes. I had a younger cousin that went in for me and I told him everything that he needed to know. He did a good job and I was proud of him.”

Conner said his backup did not know many of the plays but when it came to him getting the job done, Conner told him what was what.

“He went out and got it done,” Conner said. “I knew if the team just stayed focused they would continue to play hard and they  did. I will be ready for Friday night, no doubt.”

Conner moved to linebacker this year and had a different coaching staff, but he rated the staff as “great.”

 “It wasn’t really hard to adjust because the things that we had in the past, we still relate to them,” he said. “It’s the same but different people. They stay on us about going out and practicing hard and working hard. The way we practice is the way we play.”

Being a senior leader is in keeping with tradition, according to Conner.

“We encourage the young guys to keep their head up when you make a bad play, always keep the team in good shape, and make sure that everyone is focused when game time comes.”

Conner admitted to a few doubts of returning to Jackson due to the loss of starters from last year especially with the offensive line and defenisve secondary.

“But just like Coach Pogue said, with senior leadership, we’ve helped our younger guys develop real fast and they came in and got the job done,” he said. “I started believing the night we played against Tupelo. We finally came together as a team. At the end of the game, we never stopped fighting. That was a inspiration for me. The seniors saw the young guys step up to the plate. Tupelo was tough but I think Madison Central was the toughest game we played this year.”

Conner left some parting words to the upcoming players.

“As I leave a senior, I’d like to leave with the younger guys that they should never quit. They’re going to have some ups and downs but everything is going to be alright as long as they play as a team and a unit. Listen to the coaches and everything will be alright.”

He set some goals at the beginning of his senior campaign and would like to go out a champion.

“As a senior this is the way I’d like to go out. It’s actually one of my senior goals. I started with a lot of goals my senior year and this was my first one to accomplish. I wanted to come back and stay undefeated and win state again.”

What Conner will remember most when he looks at his state championship rings is that “how we came back, never stopped, and all the hard fight, the blood and the tears. It was a dream come true for me.”

Connor talked about his family support.

“I have a whole lot of family support all through the year even at Madison Central. I would just  like to thank them for supporting me because it’s a real big  combination between being out there on the field and not having your family out there in the stands cheering for you. It’s nice to have all that support.”

After graduation, Conner plans to attend Auburn University and play football. “I still have my options open. I’m committed to Auburn but they haven’t talked to me any. I’m considering other SEC teams.”

Conner said to beat Meridian, it’s going to take playing  physical. “We’ve got to get to the quarterback and don’t give him any time because he is a great quarterback. We’ve just got to be calm and play the game of football. We know they have a good offense, a couple good receivers and their defense is pretty good. We’re just going to go out and play state 5A football.”

Each week the live broadcast of the games are brought to the many fans by a WBLE crew  with Judge George Carson and Steve Wingert on the play by play; Kenny Hopper, live stats ; Tim Crist and Richard  Hudson, spotters; and Cam Coker, production manager.

The radio show will start at 6 p.m. Pregame will be at 6:30 p.m. on FM 100.5. Kickoff will be at 7:00 P.M.

Everyone is asked to wear red to show support for the Tigers. The gates will open at 6 p.m.

Weather forecast is clear but cold with temperatures expected to be in the 30s during gametime.       

Directions to Veterans Memorial Stadium: Take I55 south to Jackson. Take a right on Woodrow Wilson Drive. Go past the Veterans Hospital and take a right. See the stadium on the left.