By Brad Greer
Special teams are often forgotten about but at times play a key role in determining  the outcome of a game. But two key plays helped spark North Panola in securing their first win of the year with a 42-7 romp over Coahoma County AHS Friday night in Clarksdale.

Martavius Lantern’s kickoff returns of 89 and 76 yards set up two short North Panola scoring drives as the Cougars erased an early 7-0 deficit to score 42 unanswered points.
Freshman quarterback Kenneth Jefferson threw for 128 yards and four touchdowns while Justin Connor rushed for 101 yards on 10 carries, to go with a pair of touchdowns as the Cougar offense rolled up 451 yards of total offense.

“I felt like special teams was the difference in the ball game. The first one by Martavius set the tone after they had scored and it gave us a short field to work with. The second one that started the second half led to a touchdown seem to give us a little breathing room. I really thought he was going to take both of them to the house but Coahoma County has some great athletes and they ran him down. Anther big factor is we only punted one time tonight so that goes to show our offense was clicking,“ said Cougar assistant coach Carl Diffee.

After a scoreless first quarter, Coahoma County took advantage of an interception to march 62 yards on seven plays capped off by a 26-yard scoring pass from Marquez Griffin to Cadarius Bass with 10:54 left in the half.

The lead was short lived however as on the ensuing kickoff, Lantern returned the ball to the Aggie 26 to set up North Panola’s first score. Following a holding penalty that negated a touchdown, Jefferson hit Kiron Covington on a 19-yard reception to the Coahoma County 20 yard line. Connor crashed into the endzone three plays later to make the score 7-6 with 8:36 left before intermission.

North Panola put together their most impressive drive of the night by going 93 yards on seven plays with Connor ending it with a 30- yard scoring run as Kordariel Preston added the two-point conversion to give North Panola a 14-7 lead at the 2:50 mark of the first half.
The second half was all North Panola as the visitors found the end zone on all four possessions. First,  Jefferson connected with Trai Sanders on a 14- yard touchdown reception on fourth-and-goal. A failed pass on the two point attempt made the score 20-7. The Jefferson-to-Sanders duo connected again later in the quarter on a 23-yard strike on 3rd-and-19 to extend the margin to 26-7 with 1:12 left in the period.

Sanders led North Panola in receiving with three catches for 75 yards to go long with four carries for 30 yards and two punt returns for 34 yards for a total of 139 all-purpose yards.
The Cougars salted the game away in the fourth quarter with two touchdowns coming through the air as Jefferson hit Sylvonta Oliver on a three-yard pass and 22 yards to Montreal Conner with 2:40 left in the contest.

Marvin Adams followed Justin Connor in the rushing column with nine carries for 79 yards as the Cougars rushed for 286 yards. Jamel Leverson chipped in with three carries for 42 yards while Preston also had three totes for 22 yards.

Covington and Montreal Conner had two receptions for 41 and 31 yards. Delvin Kimmons caught one pass for eight yards. Tim Marshall was also threw one pass for 37 yards.
The North Panola defense also played a key role in the win as the Cougars held AHS to one first down and 36 total yards in the second half and 161 yards for the game.

Coahoma County fell to 0-2 on the season and is coached by former North Panola quarterback Clifton Davis III and assisted by Cor’tez Hibbler. North Panola (1-1) returns home Friday to take on former South Panola assistant coach Eric Rice and his Benton County squad at 7 p.m.