Sports / Outdoors – 10/14/2005

Published 12:00 am Friday, October 14, 2005

The Panolian: SPORTS – October 14, 2005

  From the 10/14/05 issue of The Panolian     *REVISED*    

  

     Pope quarterback Lee Self avoided the triple team as he swept to the right and got some yardage in the game against Calhoun City Tuesday night.
    
Green Waves prepare to meet Colonels for biggest rivalry of season
By Angie Ledbetter

The North Delta Green Waves will travel about an hour and a half away to take on their biggest rival of the year, the Indianola Academy Colonels at Indianola tonight.

This game will be big in the fact that it is one of the biggest district games left on the Green Wave’s schedule and the Green Wave players will be going up against one of their former coaches.

Coach Lance Thomas is the new head coach at Indianola this year and he was at North Delta for three years as an assistant coach. He was the line and strength and conditioning coach to most of the Green Wave team that his team will play against tonight.

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The Green Wave enters this game in third place in District 1. The Colonels are in first place with an undefeated district record of 3-0 and they are tied with Lee Academy from Clarksdale.

In district play, the Colonels have shut out Kirk Academy 41-0 September 2, Bayou Academy 42-0 on September 9, and Marshall Academy 60-0 on September 23.

The Green Wave are only one game behind Indianola and Lee Academy with a district record of 2-1 and they really need this win tonight.

After tonight, the Green Waves will have two district games left on their schedule to play for the season.

The Green Wave will go into the game with an overall record of 6-2. The only two loses have come to district rival Lee Academy and 3A Magnolia Heights.

The Colonels will also go into tonight’s game with an overall record of 6-2. Their losses have come at the hands of 3A Oak Hill Academy and 3A Washington Academy. Oak Hill defeated them 34-7 and Washington defeated them 29-16.

One key player to watch on the Colonels’ team tonight will be running back Ben Stallings, who transferred from Bayou Academy this year. Other players to watch will be quarterback Thomas Gresham, Randle Wells, Ryan Lester and Kyle Andrus.

"Ben Stallings is a tremendous athlete and a heck of a football player," Johnston said. "He had some good summer camps and I know that he has some colleges looking at him."

Johnston said that his team knows what is at stake tonight.

"We are going to prepare our butts off this week for them and get ready to play Indianola Academy," he said. "We are going to have to play a mistake-free football game. We are going to have to execute. If we have three or four people doing what they are supposed to be doing and seven or eight not, we are not going to get it done. We have got to come together as one and get this thing done."

As for going against a former assistant, Johnston does not concentrate on that aspect of the game.

"I really don’t have any feelings one way or another," said Johnston. "I wish Coach Thomas the best. He did a tremendous job while he was here at North Delta. I hope that Indianola wins every game except when they play North Delta.

"I think that they have a real good football team," Johnston added.

The game is not about the coaches, according to Johnston, but about the players.

"When going up against his team, our scheme is going to be to try and do better than the people who are trying to stop us," said Johnston.

Two years ago when these two teams played each other, the Colonels came out with the win 9-6. Last year, the Green Wave won the battle with a score of 28-7.

The coaches said throw the record books out the windows when these two teams meet on the gridiron.

Johnston said he hopes the fans and the crowd will be with the team tonight as they have all year long.
Game time is at 7:30 p.m. and it will be broadcast on FM 106.9 with play by play action with Kirk Willingham and Mickey Aldridge. The pregame show is at 7 p.m. with Johnston.
 


Directions to Indianola football field:
Take Highway 6 West to Marks. Turn left at four way stop sign onto Highway 3. Continue on Highway 3 until it ends at Tutwiler. Take a left onto Highway 49 and go over the railroad tracks. Bare right onto Highway 49 West. This will take you to Indianola. When you get to Indianola, you will take a right onto Highway 82 West. The Indianola Academy football filed may be accessed via State Street or Park Street from Highway 82. You will take a left off of Highway 82 onto State Street or Park Street.
 

Cougars will host winless Byhalia
By Myra Bean

The North Panola Cougars look to redeem themselves with a win over new district foe Byhalia.
Byhalia is in its first season as a district competitor in football and all is not going quite as well as the Indians had hoped.

Byhalia is 0-6 overall and 0-2 in the district. The Cougars are 2-4 overall, 1-2 in the district.

Independence, who defeated North Panola last week, leads 3-3A with a 5-1 overall record, 2-0 district record.

North Panola and Byhalia will kick off at 7 p.m. tonight. Then next week the Cougars will take a break and have an open week. Tickets are $5 at the gate.
 

Saturday, October 15
South Panola High School will host a baseball clinic from 9 a.m. to noon. Children ages 7 to 12 are eligible to attend. The clinic will be held at American Legion Park. Cost is $25 and registration will be held the day of the clinic. In case of bad weather, the clinic will be held in the indoor practice facility behind the high school (up the hill from the practice football field.)
     For more information, contact head baseball coach Patrick Robey at 934-2104.
   
USA Today Super 25 Football Rankings
October 11, 2005
1. Lakeland, Fla. (7-0)
2. Mission Viejo, Calif. (5-0)
3. Southlake (Texas) Carroll (6-0)
4. Joliet (Ill.) Catholic (7-0)
5. Independence, Charlotte (6-0)
6. Westfield, Spring, Texas (4-0)
7. Warren Central, Indianapolis (8-0)
8. Bishop McDevitt, Harrisburg, Pa. (6-0)
9. St. Thomas Aquinas, Fort Lauderdale (6-0)
10. Springdale, Ark. (6-0)
11. Bellevue, Wash. (5-0)
12. South Panola, Batesville, Miss. (6-0)
13. Byrnes, Duncan, S.C. (6-0)
14. Hoover, Ala. (6-1)
15. Hamilton, Chandler, Ariz. (6-0)
16. North Penn, Lansdale, Pa. (5-0)
17. St. Xavier, Cincinnati (7-0)
18. Landstown, Virginia Beach, Va. (6-0)
19. Glenville, Cleveland (7-0)
20. Euless (Texas) Trinity (6-0)
21. Notre Dame, Sherman Oaks, Calif. (5-0)
22. Gilman School, Baltimore (5-0)
23. Colerain, Cincinnati (6-1)
24. Don Bosco Prep, Ramsey, N.J. (4-0)
25. St. Joseph’s Prep, Philadelphia (5-1)
Tigers head to Falcon territory
By Myra Bean

After that big emotional win over Olive Branch last week, the South Panola Tigers are gearing up for another big game on the road this week.

The Tigers (6-0 overall, 2-0 district) will head to Columbus to take on the Falcons (3-3 overall, 2-0 district) for a district matchup.

South Panola moved to No. 12 in national rankings by the USA Today in the polls released Tuesday. The Tigers will take a 36-game win streak into this contest with the Falcons.

The Falcons have suffered losses to West Point, Noxubee County and West Lauderdale. The Falcons won their first game of the season, then lost those three straight non-conference games.

In district play, Columbus defeated Tupelo 24-13 and last week defeated Southaven 17-10.

In the standings, South Panola and Starkville are both undefeated overall and in the district. Columbus is in third place in the standings with its undefeated district record.

The Falcons will be partially depending on the arm of quarterback Tyson Lee to help them win this game. Lee threw a 50-yard pass to Leroy Wilson with 7.4 seconds in the game last week to defeat Southaven.

Those two players lost three balls last week to Southaven, two interceptions and one fumble.

In a huge, emotional game for the Tigers last week, they had two fumbles but did not lose one. They forced Olive Branch to turn the ball over twice within scoring distance of the endzone to keep the Quistors from scoring a touchdown.

The other games to be played in Region 1-5A tonight are Grenada at Olive Branch, Horn Lake at Starkville and Southaven at Tupelo.

Kickoff is 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on WBLE, 100.5 FM beginning at 6:30 p.m.
 


Directions to Columbus:
Take Interstate 55 South to Winona. Take a left onto Highway 82 East and go about one and a half hours. Signs to Columbus will mark the way. Coming up to Columbus, take the Highway 50 and 12 Exit. At the traffic light at the intersection keep straight. There will be signs to Columbus High School. Go across a long bridge. When you come to intersection at Lehmberg Road, take a right and see Columbus High School sign. Take the first right at the traffic light on Warpath Road. Go to 3-way stop and keep straight. Take second left past the Elementary School and you will see the stadium.
 

Tiger ninth grade shuts out Olive Branch; B-team falls to Quistors
By Myra Bean

The South Panola B-team and Ninth grade team hosted Olive Branch in games Monday night.

The ninth grader Tigers had little problem with the Olive Branch team as they won in a shutout 36-0.

The B-team Tigers had big trouble and lost 26-12.

The ninth grade Tigers started the game off right with an interception by Antonio Miles with 6:03 on the first quarter clock. He returned the ball to the Olive Branch 49 yard line.

With 5:06 left on the clock, Deshone Blakely scored on a 32-yard touchdown run for the opening score. Ira Perry took in the two-point conversion for the 8-0 lead.

In the second quarter, quarterback David Conner faked a handoff to Perry, then broke for a 75-yard touchdown run with 3:54 left in the half. With the two-point conversion, the Tigers led 16-0.

The Tigers got the ball back and Ira Perry scored on a one-yard touchdown run with 1:18 left in the half. Conner took in the two-point conversion for the 24-0 lead.

In the third quarter, Conner hooked up with wide receiver Ernest Towns for a reception. Towns caught the ball but was stopped short of the touchdown at the three yard line.

Perry took the ball in from the three at 2:01 for the 30-0 lead after the two-point conversion failed.

In the fourth quarter, Richard Rudd caused an Olive Branch fumble and recovered the ball. The Tigers fumbled the ball and then Olive Branch recovered to stop the scoring threat.

With 5:26 left in the game, Rob Stewart scored the final touchdown of the game on a 40-yard run, but the Tigers missed the two-point conversion.

B-team
In the B-team game, Olive Branch scored with one minute gone in the first quarter on a 90-yard touchdown run, but missed the two-point conversion.

The Tigers answered on a 66-yard run by Justin Market with 6:45 left in the first quarter.

It was looking like a shootout was in the making as Olive Branch scored with 3:38 on the first quarter clock on a one-yard touchdown run for the 12-6 lead after the two-point conversion failed.

Running back Montez Austin scored on a 12-yard touchdown reception from quarterback Mario Nash to tie the score 12-12 because the Tigers missed the two-point conversion.

That ended the scoring for the Tigers. Austin did intercept an Olive Branch ball with 4:01 left in the quarter. Nash was tackled in the endzone for the safety and Olive Branch took the lead for good 14-12 with 3:54 left in the second quarter.
 

 
 

                                         
                         
 

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