The most exciting time of the football season is upon the South Panola Tigers.

The Tigers (11-0 overall, 7-0 district) will host the Provine Rams (9-2 overall, 5-2 district) in the first round of the 5A playoffs.

The last meeting between these two teams occurred in 1992 in the playoffs and Provine won that game.

Since that time South Panola has claimed five 5A state championships and amassed a 56-game winning streak.

The Tigers have won the last five district championships and gone undefeated in the last five regular seasons under the leader of head coach Ricky Woods. Woods just logged his 200th career coaching victory with the 23-6 win over Grenada last week. In the five years under Woods, South Panola has amassed a 70-1 record.

Provine stunned the Clinton Arrows last week with a 49-28 district win.

South Panola and Provine have not been strangers since the last time they played in a regular game. They have played spring and preseason scrimmages against each other.

As a matter of fact, Provine defeated South Panola by one score in the preseason scrimmage in August of this year.

"So maybe we’ve gotten better," Woods said, smiling, in an interview Wednesday morning.

Provine will come to Batesville with senior running back Anton Taylor who has logged over 2,000 yards for the season. He won the 100 meters in 5A, according to Woods.

"He may be the fastest person in the state and he weighs about 215 pounds," Woods said. "He’s pretty good."

Woods describe Provine as big and physical up front on the defense.

"They have a real solid defense," he added. "Their middle linebacker is their best player. They have a good team. They are real balanced all through, just real solid.

"They are very well coached," Woods continued. "Coach (Willie) Collins does a good job with them."

Provine took advantage of some big mistakes Clinton made last week. Clinton turned the ball over on their own 10 yard line after trying to fake a punt. Then Provine returned a punt and a kickoff for two touchdowns.

" I don’t think there is much difference between Clinton and Provine," Woods said. "If the game were played again, it would still be a toss up. Clinton has a pretty good team also."

South Panola and all the teams have had to deal with the changing weather for the last two weeks. One week the fields were muddy after a day and a half of rain and last week the temperature plummeted to the 40s in areas.

Woods took the opportunity to explain why he believes in the run game.

"We have been throwing a little bit, but one of the main reasons I think you need to run as much as you can is the Mississippi weather will catch you in the playoffs," he said. "The better you can run the ball, the more chances of you have of winning the state championship.

"Come this time of year the last four weeks in November and first of December usually will be real nasty," he continued. "That’s one reason we try to run the ball. It’s not like we are going to play in any domes."

According to Woods, the running teams usually win out over the passing teams in the end.

"Maybe not early in the season but in the end," he said.

Woods said this will be a good game and Provine is good competition. According to Woods, in the 5A playoffs there should be some "mighty good games."

"It will be a great game," Woods said. "It’s probably not really what you want to hear. The players just have to play real hard for every quarter, every down."

He went on to say the kids are up for the game.

"They are looking forward to it," he said. "It’s the playoffs. If you don’t play good, you go home. They have to play good. The pressure’s on the kids. They will have to do well."

Woods reported a great week of practice.

Provine has scored 343 points against opponents this year and allowed 131.

South Panola has scored 337 and allowed 72, the lowest in 5A.

The Tigers will be without offensive lineman Hunter Bailey who was ejected from last week’s game against Grenada in the fourth quarter, according to Woods.

MHSAA rules state that ejected players must sit out four quarters, so he will miss the entire game.

Tickets for tonight’s game will be on sale at the high school from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. for $7.

The ticket booth will open at 6 p.m. No reserved seating will be sold for playoff games.

Kickoff is 7 p.m.
 

The North Delta Green Wave (6-5 overall) will start its new season tonight when they travel to Natchez to take on the Trinity Episcopal Saints (8-2 overall).

The Green Wave team, under first year head coach Richard Russo, accomplished one of their first goals from the beginning of the 2006 season and that was to make it to the playoffs.

"It was my goal from the day that I was hired to make the playoffs," Russo said. "I would have been very disappointed if we had not made the playoffs this year."

The team’s next goal is to win one game at a time. Their No. 1 Wildcard position in Class A gave them an opportunity to travel to Natchez to take on the District 7 Champions, the Saints.

Even though the Green Wave ended the regular season 6-5 overall and the Saints finished 8-2, all records can be thrown out the door tonight because every team in the MPSA start all over again. The Green Wave and the Saints will go into this game with even record of 0-0. The team that wins tonight will continue in the playoffs next week, which will be played on Thursday, November 16.

The games were moved to Thursday because Division 3A will play state championship games on Friday.

The Saints have a roster of 31 players, 12 seniors, eight juniors, four sophomores, six freshman, and one eighth grader.

Trinity has not had a problem putting points on the scoreboard this season. They have scored 412 points and only allowed 155 points from their opponents.

All eyes will be on one player from Trinity, No. 22 Steven Ridley, a 6’0", 230 pound senior.

Ridley has been one of Trinity’s key players all season. He will play as quarterback, running back, offensive linebacker and on special teams. He has scored 194 points this season which includes 26 rushing touchdowns – 13 of those for 30 yards or more.

Of those 13 touchdowns, Ridley had runs of 94, 92, 87, 86, 71, and 67 yards.

He had one 58 yard reception touchdown, one 52 yard fumble recovery in the end zone for a score, one 33 yard interception returned for a touchdown, one 71 yard punt returned for a touchdown, two 60-yard punts returned touchdowns, which totaled 32 touchdowns and one two point conversion. He has passed the ball six times for 237 yards, averaging yards per pass.

Ridley has verbally committed to the LSU Tigers in Baton Rouge, La. to play football next year.

"He’s the quarterback in two formations," Russo said. "He’s the tailback in one formation, and fullback in another formation. He’s definitely the center of their team. He’s super fast, he breaks tackles, and he is just a great player.

"To stop him, we better play as a team," Russo continued. "We better carry out the assignments that our coaching staff has given each player and we better play 100 percent every play. I know that a lot of people are scared of this team because they have a LSU commitment, but I feel if we play as a team and play hard, we can come out on top."

The Saints will be under the leadership of Head Coach David King. King has been a coach at Trinity for 11 years but has been the head coach for nine years. The assistant head coach is Matt Mason. Assistant coaches include Rudy Wilson and Ryan Marchbanks.

Trinity was 2A and went to 1A after the MPSA realignment. Trinity has a history of football championships. They won the State Championship in 1989 and in 2001 they defeated Wayne Academy 14-0 for the State Championship. That year, Stevan Ridley’s brother, Chad Ridley, was the quarterback for the Saints.

Chad Ridley played football at Delta State but transferred and currently plays as wide receiver at University of Central Missouri.

Trinity was the South Half Champions in 1975, 1977, 1989, 2001 and 2003. In 2003, they ended their season 13-1. They lost in the State Championship game to Heidelberg Academy 19-14.
Tonight’s captains for the Green Wave will be the five seniors who have played football all four years of high school at North Delta, Nick Douglas, Evan West, Jim Beard, Dakota Mabry and Jon Michael Ware.

"Key players for the Green Wave team this year have been Dakota Mabry on offense and on defense, Evan West and Josh Garrott," Russo said. "Hats off to Jim Tyler Dalrymple for his punting average, his extra points, and his rushing touchdowns."

According to Russo, the coaching staff is very excited about the opportunity to play.

"We spent an extra hour and half for film study," said Russo.

When asked what it meant to him to be playing in the playoffs as a first year head coach at North Delta, Russo said it was "outstanding."

"I am proud of our kids and our coaching staff for the season that they have had," he said. "I am also proud of our seniors for setting a solid program at North Delta. The seniors have really set the tone for our program to come. It is a good foundation that we can build upon.

"We had to overcome a lot this year," he said. "The kids had to overcome a coaching change."

Russo talked about the other the changes the team had to deal with including new offensive and defensive systems, the loss of their emotional leader (Jon Michael Ware) in the fourth game of the season, and a lot of inexperience.

"For them to make the playoffs, it was outstanding," he said. "However, there are still some goals out there that we still need to accomplish. I am not ready to end the season. I know that the coaching staff isn’t ready to, and I know that the players aren’t either."

Upon a win, the Green Wave team will travel south again Thursday night to play either Heidelberg Academy or Glenbrook School. Heidelberg Academy is the District 5A No. 2 seed and Glenbrook School is the District 8A No. 2 seed. They are playing each other tonight at Glenbrook.

The Green Wave team will leave this morning at 7:30 a.m.; therefore, the mini pep rally has been canceled. The school held a bon fire for the team last night.

Kickoff for the game is at 7 p.m. Play by play action will be brought to you by Mickey Aldridge and Kirk Willingham on FM 106.9.
 

Some of the other players from last year started, but they were not consistent starters, said fifth year head coach Ralph Stallings.

As far as this year’s team is concerned, Stallings said they are more athletic than the teams of the last few years.

"But, we are still relatively young," he said.

Out of the 12 players Stallings will dress out, seven are sophomores. He has three seniors, and two juniors.

Because of that youth and inexperience, Stallings said he expects some mistakes at the beginning of the season.

Last year, Stallings’ disappointment for some of the losses was seen on his face.

"Throughout the whole season, we made too many mistakes," Stallings said. "I hate getting beat any time, but I can live with the fact that I am playing and get beat by somebody who is just better athletically than I am. But to get beat by mental mistakes is hard to deal with.

"We beat ourselves last year," he added. "We made so many dumb mistakes."

South Panola is in Region 1-5A, Division 2 with Horn Lake, Southaven and Olive Branch.

Stallings thinks the division will be "pretty even." He ranks Olive Branch as the stronger of the teams, followed by Southaven and Horn Lake, who were getting better at the end.

"I expect it to be a real balanced division," he said. "Whoever gets hot at the right time, avoids injuries and stays out of foul trouble, will emerge the champion. I think the division tournament will be real interesting this year."

Horn Lake will host the division tournament.

As for the strength of the Lady Tiger schedule, Stallings said it is a good balanced schedule from top to bottom with a good mixture of 5A, 4A and 3A teams.

The players worked real hard this summer, according to Stallings. The team attended a couple of camps.

"We had a real good summer program," he added. "They put in a lot of hours. I’m looking forward and hoping it pays off during the season.

"They made a lot of sacrifice to improve this year," Stallings added. "So for their sakes, I’m really looking for a good season for them."

The Lady Tigers started regular season play Tuesday night at Senatobia and will have their home opener Monday against Tupelo beginning at 5 p.m.
 

The South Panola Tiger varsity boys team are the defending district champions from last season.
They took their game to the first round of the playoffs and lost both.

Three-year head coach Charlie Howard said, "We will try real hard to repeat as district champions."

He followed that comment stating the team is really young.

South Panola graduated nine seniors from last year’s team. Therefore, the returning players did not get much game experience.

"We are inexperienced and little – as in short," Howard said.

Since the Tigers had not played a game at the time of the interview, Howard was not sure who would be his "go to" player on the team.

"We are starting from scratch," he said.

As far as the district, Howard said according to his sources Olive Branch will be tough again.

"I think they are going to be challenged by Horn Lake," he said. "Horn Lake has a player who is going to be one of the top players in the state."

As for Southaven, they have the whole team back from last year, according to Howard.

Horn Lake and Southaven boys teams have new coaches. Olive Branch girl’s team also has a new coach.

"Coach (Ralph) Stallings is the dean of coaches in this division because all three schools in DeSoto County have new coaches," Howard said.

Howard thinks the schedule for the boys is "pretty tough."

"We really don’t have any easy ones that I see," he said. "I know I sound kind of wishy-washy but I really don’t know. I don’t know how we will play."

In the state playoffs in Jackson, South Panola met some teams which could be described as being at a higher level in basketball than the Tigers.

Howard felt this was opening up a "can of worms."

"You notice that during the football season you are not going to see many of the Jackson schools in the playoffs," he said. "They will always be challenging for the basketball championships. That’s where their emphasis is. They play basketball 24/7. We don’t play basketball 24/7."

The new North Panola boys coach is Eric Rice, along with assistant coach Xavier Johnson.

Johnson coached the Cougars through preseason while Rice, who is also an assistant coach with the football team, was finishing the football season.

Johnson is a graduate of William Penn University in Iowa, where he played on the basketball team. He received his masters from Ole Miss. He was also a grad assistant for Ole Miss basketball.

Johnson is encouraged by the Cougar team with the athleticism of the team members.

"We have something we can actually grow on," he said. "The main thing is to get them mentally ready. Once we get there mentally, we will be on the right path."

The fundamentals of basketball for the Cougars is on target, according to Johnson. He said the shooting, running and defense are where they need to be.

"We just have to bring it out of them," he said.

Key returners on the Cougar team are Rodregues Black, Nick Black and Ramone Robinson.

Coming on strong is first time player Derek Armstrong. Johnson said Armstrong is showing a lot of promise.

"I’m thinking he will provide a lot of help with his speed and athleticism," Johnson said. "I see something we can definitely build on."

The Cougars are participating in the Horn Lake tournament this week and will start regular season play Tuesday, November 14, hosting Amanda Elzy of Greenwood at 5 p.m.

Chris Yancy has been tabbed as the girls coach, along with Tonya Lewis as assistant.

Yancy is an Ole Miss graduate and spent the last four years coaching at Water Valley.

The Lady Cougar team consists of nine seniors, three juniors and five freshmen.

"We are just trying to get good, get better every day, working hard and trying to build on some things," Yancy said.

He said the upcoming schedule will be a "dog fight" every night.

"It won’t be an easy one," he said. "I think we will be able to manage and handle it.

"I got some girls that have some experience and some basketball skills," he continued. "That will play key."

He said the team is pretty "athletic."

According to first year head coach Phil Douglas, only three girls committed to play for the Lady Waves, two seniors and a junior.

Douglas said other administrators canvassed the school but none of the girls were interested.

The varsity team was winless at the conclusion of the 2005-06 season.

Douglas is coaching the 20 girls on the junior high team and says the future looks good. Also 19 girls signed up for the fifth and sixth grade team.

There will be five ninth graders moving to the varsity level next year and a girls varsity team is expected to be back on the court.

There are also 11 seventh graders to make up the team and four eighth graders.

The junior high Lady Green Wave has participated in three preseason tournaments, hosting one.

"The girls are really making a positive commitment to the success of the program," Douglas said. "With those 39 girls, the program can’t get more positive than that."

Douglas said he is excited about the program. The team has made great strides, according to Douglas, and had some success.

"We have the opportunity to be in the mix in our division for a championship title," he said.

The junior girls and boys have a 34 game regular season schedule for the eighth graders and 22 for the seventh graders.

North Delta will be hosting the district junior high tournament this year.

As for the varsity boys team, headmaster Herman Coats will coach the Green Waves. Coats was the girls coach last year.

The varsity Green Wave will not practice and take the court until the conclusion of the football season as some team members are also football players.

The junior high boys will have third year coach Brad Wilson at the helm again this year.

The team has 14 players.

North Delta started regular season November 9 in Oxford.
 

I had the misfortune to listen to the South Panola/Grenada game (Nov. 3) on the Grenada station because I could not get reception from Batesville. I work in Grenada, at night, and usually I have to call home on breaks and lunchtime to get the score.

I was very upset at the announcers as they ridiculed the Grenada players throughout the game. Even when they made a good play (and they made quite a few) the guys on the radio had a smart remark to make.

I would just like to say I am proud of the announcers for the South Panola Tigers on Friday nights. They usually have good things to say, even for the opponents, and I am proud of our guys as they bring their own personalities to bear as they give us good play commentary.

Kudos for the Tiger radio personalities: George Carlson, Bob Norris, Kenny Hopper and Steve Wingert!!!

I’m proud to be a Tiger fan.

Wanda Crawley
South Panola Class of 1967