The kicker is if South Panola wins this game they will win the 1-5A district championship.

"It’s not going to be a game. It’s going to be a war. That’s what you play for," said Tiger head coach Ricky Woods.

The nationally ranked No. 13 USA Today Tigers (9-0 overall, 5-0 district) will travel to enemy territory tonight to take on the fighting Yellowjackets (4-4 overall, 2-3 district).

The Tigers, going for a history making 25-game win streak, have already clinched a playoff berth, so that’s one hurdle leaped.

The talk between these two teams is erasing the two-hour drive and 105 miles that separate the two schools.

The Tigers have national reasons to do a little talking. They still top the Associated Press Polls where they have been all season. They are listed on the USA Today poll at 13,   national poll up to 18 and on the Tony National Poll at 19. The Tigers have outscored their opponents 388 to 83, the most points in 5A and 4A statewide, and the fourth most points in all regions statewide.

South Panola head coach Ricky Woods is highly complimentary of the team’s efforts over the past nine weeks.

Woods said the team is almost hitting on all cylinders. The team has been plagued with some injuries.

Tightend Justin Davis has been out for three weeks and Woods did not know if he will get to play tonight.

"He is still questionable," Woods said.

"We are playing really, really well," he added. "I thought overall the Southaven game was our best game of the year. We were really pleased with the kids’ performance, all of them. We didn’t have a bad game."

At this point of the season, Woods said the team is having fun.

"The kids are enjoying it. We are practicing hard. That’s what you need to be doing this time of year. It gets to being a long year if you don’t. I think we are where we need to be. I think we are as good as we can be at this point," Woods said.

The game is most likely to be in more warm weather with some rain in the forecast.

Woods said he sort of likes this warm weather.
"I don’t like it real hot but I don’t like it real cold either. It’s about right for me. I don’t know how the kids feel about it. They are adapting well. Everything’s going really, really well for us," he said.

Woods also commented on the positive attitudes of the team.

"The attitudes are straight and are real important. We have some good leaders on our team. We have some good young kids who have really stepped up for us. That’s real positive. Our older kids are playing hard and leading by example," Woods added.

Starkville, under returning first year head coach Bill Lee, is struggling through some conference games.

They did however give the Associated Press No. 6 ranked Olive Branch a tough row to hoe last week in the 7-3 loss.

The Yellowjackets know how to win as their seven trips to the state championship round proves. Of those seven games, they have four champion rings to show for their efforts. The last visit to the state championship was in 2001 where they shut out Moss Point 34-0.

This year the Yellowjackets’ trip to the playoff round is in jeopardy. The Yellowjackets know they are in a win/lose situation if they cannot pull out a victory over the Tigers tonight and Columbus next Friday.

There is a three way tie for fourth place in the district right now. Starkville, Columbus nad Tupelo each have a 2-3 district records and need the final two wins to claim that fourth spot.

South Panola is in first, followed by Olive Branch with one district loss and West Point with two district losses.

The Tennessee at Ole Miss game was a great one for TV on ESPN2. They told me the ratings skyrocketed after halftime due to the score and 3rd quarter play. We call that one the "Night Cap" game with it’s kickoff around 8:00 PM. Those start times are always flexible since it trails a game that started at 5 p.m. (Central Time).

We typically start the game before the first one is over and then we are joined in progress. I ended up having to reset the stadium clock twice before the game started – once due to no one starting it when they should and then when ESPN2 decided to back up the kickoff five more minutes. They have that much flex in their deal with the SEC.

The stadium clock is supposed to start exactly sixty-minutes before kickoff and when it didn’t I had to find the game administrator and see why not. Someone dropped the ball, as it were, so I got on the sideline phone to the pressbox clock operator and to get it reset to the right time.

Then at eight minutes before the original kickoff time, TV said they need to back up five minutes from 8:05 to 8:10 to let the Purdue-Wisconsin game get closer to it’s conclusion. That meant a hurried notification first to the Referee and then to both coaches followed by getting the clock reset once again. Everything from the changing of the boundaries on the field for team warm-ups to when the captains walk out goes by the stadium clock not to mention the timing of the warm-ups and the pre-game activities. Never know what’s going to happen next. It’s always something new.

I will be in the Auburn @ Ole Miss game on the 30th on ESPN. Another night game which is great. In their effort to get the better camera views, ESPN has added the "SkyCam"(tm) which has been in use for a few years in the NFL. These "flying" cameras work directly over the field and were just allowed this season in NCAA rules. ESPN was the first network to spend the big cash to get one. My first game with one of those went well but it always looked like we had a UFO buzzing around over the field. This flying camera is attached to four cables that hang from each end of the pressbox with the other two on the other side at the top of the stadium structure. Each cable is attached to a motor driven winch and a computer controls all four. The operator has a joystick to fly the camera with another operator who controls the camera itself.

The operators have to keep the camera behind the offense to prevent a passed or kicked ball from hitting it, which has already happened in one of our games. The control computer had gone down and the cameral was over the defense and couldn’t be moved when a punt hit it. The procedure is to blow the play dead and replay the down which is not something we like to do. So if they have this going at Ole Miss you’ll see some interesting views not usually seen in college football. If you’re at the game then you’ll see what I mean about the "UFO".

I had an honor bestowed on me back at the first of the season I haven’t mentioned here. I became one of sixty writers in the state who vote on the Conerly Award. The Conerly Award has been given annually since 1996 to the top college (four-year) football player in the State of Mississippi. It is not a requirement to go to a quarterback in spite of its namesake either. A linebacker from Southern won it year before last. You probably remember that Eli Manning won it twice ? once as a sophomore and then last year as a senior. But I will say there aren’t any Eli’s around this year. There are some really great players in our state this season but there sure isn’t any one real "standout". They always have a big name present the award too. Frank Gifford, Jack Kemp, Tom Landry and Bart Starr are past presenters of the award at the annual dinner. So I’ve got my notes going from the papers and online sources too. The first ballots are already out and due back with three nominees by the end of November. More voting to worry about in November.