There is a big grin on a whole lot of faces following the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 21-10 Super Bowl win over the Seattle Seahawks Sunday.

Becoming one of the stars of the show was Batesville’s own Deshea Townsend who had a critical quarterback sack of Matt Hasselbeck in the fourth quarter. He also recorded six tackles in the game.

Townsend recognized his hometown during his introduction on television when he said he hailed from South Panola University.

In the first three quarters, Townsend was not seen much as Hasselbeck dodged that side of the field. But he had to go to Townsend’s side when Joe Jurevicius’ route ran him that way but Townsend was there to break up the pass.

The end of the game was a lot smoother for Pittsburgh than the beginning. The Seahawks led
3-0 at the end of the first quarter.

There were numerous controversial calls and missed opportunities throughout the game which could have changed the whole outcome of the game.

Steelers’ quarterback Ben Roethlisberger scored on a touchdown run, which to some looked like he was down short of the goal line. A review of the play let the call on the field stand.

Seattle was denied a touchdown in the first quarter when Darrell Jackson was penalized with an interference call in the endzone. Seattle’s Josh Brown kicked a 47-yard field goal but missed on kicks of 54 and 50 yards, respectively.

The game was dragging a bit until Seattle intercepted a Roethlisberger pass and returned it to the Steeler 20 yard line. Seattle scored on a 16-yard pass to pull within four points, 14-10.

The Steelers pulled the old switcheroo play out of the bag of magic tricks and on a reverse pass from Antwaan Randle El to Hines Ward, 43 yards down the field, the Steelers extended the lead.

Ward was the MVP of the game. Ward has been to Batesville most years with Townsend to help conduct the All-American football camp.
 

From Northwest Community College, Kendrell Barksdale and Lendrell Barksdale, both defensive linemen of Courtland, signed national letters of intent to play at the University of Central Arkansas.

Kendrell, 6’2", 260 pounds and Lendrell, 6’2", 265 pounds are twins and both played at South Panola.

Hollis Hoskins, offensive lineman out of Northeast Mississippi Community College, will be playing with Arkansas Tech University this fall.

He will join fellow Panola Countian Johnathon Webster.
 

The Desoto Central Lady Jaguars felt the crushing jaws of the South Panola Lady Tigers Friday night.

The Lady Tigers took no prisoners in their 70-47 win over Desoto Central in non-conference action while the Tigers won by only four points, 50-55.

The Lady Tigers found themselves in early foul trouble but were able to win the game when Desoto Central had trouble finding the basket.

The lady Tigers had a slight 7-3 lead going into the second quarter.

In the second quarter, the Lady Tigers exploded. It was Kim Sanford with the hot hands who scored 17 points for the Lady Tigers.

She had the first three baskets for the Lady Tigers in the second quarter and also had two steals to her credit. Before the Lady Jaguars could turn around, the Lady Tigers led 15-4 with 4:20 left in the first half.

Vetorra Cole got in on the scoring then it was Sanford again aggressively getting inside and scoring from the low post with 3:16 left in the second quarter for a 17-6 Lady Tiger lead.

The Lady Jaguars scored five points before they were silenced again as the Lady Tigers ended the first half 27-11.

Going deep into his bench, Lady Tiger head coach Ralph Stallings let all the players see some time on the court in the second half.

Eleven Lady Tigers contributed to the scoring for the game.

Courtney N. Jones was the only other Lady Tiger in double figures with 11 points. Freshman Skylar Barnes had nine points.

Tigers
The Tigers had a lot more trouble with the Jaguars in the second game. The Jaguars just never took the hint the Tigers did not want them hanging around.

No matter what the Tigers did they could not shake the Jaguars off their backs. In fact the Tigers were called for so many fouls in the first half, it was almost a miracle they were ahead 29-22 at halftime.

The Tigers started off with a 7-0 lead with 5:26 in the first quarter. With 4:17 left in the quarter, Desoto Central was down one, 7-6 on a three-point play.

On a steal, offensive rebound and field goal, the Jaguars took the lead 8-7 but the Tigers took it back on a Shawn Daniels field goal with 3:48.

The Tigers shook the Jaguars for a little while and led 17-12 at the end of the quarter.

The Tigers led by many as 15 points in the second quarter, 29-14, with 2:33 left in the quarter.

Rodney Gray scored with 2:03 left in the first half for the 29-14 lead, but the Jaguars held the Tigers scoreless and dug a hole in the Tiger lead and filled the deficit to a seven point Tiger lead.

The Jaguars made more strides and pulled within one point, 34-33, in the third quarter with 5:47 left to go. The Tigers shook them off again and went back up by 11 points, 46-35 with 1:19 left in the third quarter. But at the end of the quarter, the Tigers only had a six point lead, 46-40.

The Jaguars could not play consistent enough ball that night to overtake the Tigers. They were down 10 in the fourth quarter and then pulled back within one point, 56-55, with 11.8 seconds left on the clock.

To keep the ball out of the Jaguars hands, Gray hit one of two free throws for a 57-55 lead. Cordell Austin was at the free throw line but missed both with 1.2 seconds left, but Daniels was there for the tip in at the buzzer to end the game, 59-55.

The Tiger teams honored seniors in the final home game of the season Friday night. The teams will be on the road for the final two regular season games this week. Tonight they will be at Independence at 6 p.m. and Friday they will be in Clarksdale for games beginning at 4 p.m.

The next week the Tiger teams will be at Southaven High School to play in the district tournament. As soon as the brackets are set, the schedule will be released.