By Angie Ledbetter
South Panola head coach Lance Pogue recorded his 100th victory as the Tigers’ head coach Thursday in a 52-3 whipping of Hernando 52-3.

Pogue, in his seventh season, holds a 100-10 overall record with a national championship and four state championships.

“Obviously I’m happy about all of the success we’ve had here,” said Pogue. “It seems like a long time but it really hasn’t been that long. I’m the first to say we’ve had a lot of really good football players and a great staff through the years. We’ve also had so much support from the community. With all of those things combined, it’s been a lot of fun. It’s been a collection of everyone.”

The South Panola Tigers won their fifth home game of the season to go 7-0 overall and 3-0 division.

South Panola jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter when Darrell Henderson scored on a three-yard run and Tyler Pogue connected with Demetrius Market on an eight-yard touchdown pass. Steven Collins kicked a perfect seven of seven extra points on the night.

In the second quarter Hernando fumbled on South Panola’s 46 and Ladarrius Rudd recovered. The Tigers drove down the field in nine plays and 26 yards to set up a 39-yard field goal by Collins with 4:31 left in the quarter.

Right before the half, Pogue connected with  Donald Twilley for a 53-yard touchdown. With the extra point, the Tigers led 24-0.

Turner Rotenberry intercepted Hernando’s pass and returned it several yards but it was negated due to a roughing the passer penalty.

Hernando got the ball on the Tiger 33 with 22 seconds left in the half. Hernando’s Keith Stepter kicked a 42-yard field goal as time expired to cut the lead 24-3.

South Panola received the second half opening kick and scored 21 points in the third quarter.
Henderson scored his second touchdown of the evening, a 57-yard run with 10:55 left. He ran to the right, made a trick move on a defender and ran the middle, then cut to his left and sprinted for the end zone.

Derrick Sanford sacked Hernando’s quarterback Robert Wilcke to bring up 4th and 16 on their own 39 with 9:35 on the clock.

Pogue connected with Market on a 73-yard touchdown pass and took a 38-3 lead with the PAT.
Then Pogue found Market for a 27-yard touchdown pass on a two play, 39 yard drive for the 45-3 lead after the extra point to end the third quarter.

The last score of the night came from backup quarterback Donald Twilley’s 14 yard pass to Stevon Hill, who made a circus catch with one hand with 8:06 left in the game.

South Panola ended the game with 523 yards, 232 yards rushing, 291 passing. Pogue completed 13 of 20 passes for 269 yards to give them 523 total yards. Twilley completed his only pass for 14 yards and a touchdown and Cornelius Lee completed his only pass for eight yards.

Hernando was held to 41 yards rushing in the second half and 18 yards passing for a game total of 179 yards.

Henderson had 11 rushes for 138 yards with two touchdowns. Oluwain Hoskins had seven carries for 53 yards. Cornelius Lee had three carries for 26 yards.

Henderson said, “The way we’re playing now we’re on a roll. I don’t see anyone beating us because we have a good team.”

Market led the receivers with six receptions for 155 yards and three touchdowns.

Other receivers include Twilley, two for 67 yards, one touchdown; Brycen Robinson, two for 25 yards; Hill, one for 14 yards, one touchdown; Cole Rotenberry, two for 11 yards; Jamien Johnson, one for 11 yards; and Love McBride, one for eight yards.

Leading South Panola’s defense was Sanford with eight tackles and two sacks for a 13-yard loss.

Other defensive contributors include Drelan Porter, eight tackle; Desmond Lester,  four tackles; and Ephraim Kitchen, three tackles, one interception, two pass deflections. Getting three tackles were Quandarious Hamilton, Anfernee Benson, Marcellus Scott, D. J. Hall and Kasey Hankins.
“South Panola is made for defense and it’s what we strive for,” senior Kitchen said. “We just practice every week like we’re playing Meridian and we just come out ready to play. It feels really good to be 7-0 but we haven’t reached our task yet. We have several more games to play and we’re going to be ready.”

Pogue said, “I didn’t want our focus to get ahead of ourselves down the stretch and sometimes that can happen. Overall I thought we played well. It’s a good win for us and puts us at 7-0. We’re one game closer and the season is getting away from us fast. We like our position but just have to keep our foot on the gas.”

Even though the defense held Hernando to only three points, Pogue did not feel the team played as sharp as he would have liked.

“We missed a few tackles but made plays when we had to,” he said. “You have to give Hernando some credit. They’ve got a young quarterback that played tonight for some reason and he played well. Not sure why their starter didn’t play.”