Note: Tickets for Tupelo Game will not be sold in Batesville. Tupelo will sell tickets at the visitor booth Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. Friday, the gates will open at 4:30 p.m.

By Angie Ledbetter

The South Panola tigers continue to roll past opponents each week and this past Friday night was no different in a division match up where they got win #82. They shutout the 5A Columbus Falcons 31-0 for their homecoming celebration and it took the entire team to get that shutout.

The first team played the first half  and one series in the third quarter before Head Coach Lance Pogue brought in his younger players for the rest of the game. Even though they didn’t score, they fought hard to stop the first string of Columbus from putting any points on the scoreboard.

The “B” team has gotten playing time during several of the varsity games when the first team gets a sizable lead.

“When we’ve had the opportunities I like to get them in the game. Columbus kept their first bunch in for the whole game but I understand that because they are trying to rebuild a program. I wished they could have scored. I am proud of our second string defense holding them out down here at the end. It is good to get them some work.          

The 7-0 Tigers are undefeated in their division with a 3-0 record with four games remaining. They have outscored their opponents 215-46 in those seven games.

For the game, the Tigers had 18 first downs. Total yards were 318 on 52, 205 rushing and 113 passing. They had one fumble, eight penalties for 55 yards, two interception returns for 25 yards, one punt return for five yards and a kickoff return for seven yards. They had only one punt for 36 yards. On third down conversions, they were four of nine for 44%. Time of possession was 22:45.

Dominque Carothers had 12 carries for 65 yards with one touchdown, Parker had five carries for 48 yards with one touchdown, and David Renfroe had one carry for 19 yards with one touchdown, and Qyendairs Griffin had seven carries for 48 yards. Xavier Lee had five receptions for 58 yards and Nicklos Brassell had four for 43 yards with one touchdown. Renfroe was 11 of 19 for 113 yards passing with one touchdown. Renfroe also had a 24 yard field goal.

The Falcons had nine first downs, 139 total yards on 49 plays, three fumbles lost, four penalties for 30 yards, one interception, four punts for 69 yards, and six kickoff returns for 78 yards.

The Tigers received the opening kickoff and started the drive on their own 23. With 7:50 on the clock, Parker took the ball 23 yards for the first touchdown of the night. Renfroe added his PAT to give the Tigers a 7-0 lead. Kendrick Market intercepted the Falcon’s ball on their 40 with 5:31 on clock. A few plays later Carothers took it in from the three yards and the PAT was good for a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Brassell connected with Renfroe on a 12 yard touchdown and PAT was good for a 21-0 lead. With 2:17 left in the quarter, Renfroe took the ball from 24 yards out and added his PAT to give Tigers a 28-0 lead. Ten seconds later, David Connor recovered a Falcon’s fumble on their 37 yard line with 2:07 on the clock. That play set up Renfroe’s 24 yard field goal with only 13 seconds left on the clock. The Tigers had a 31-0 at the half.

In the third quarter, Lee Self came in as quarterback for the Tigers. JaPeri Mitchell sacked the quarterback with 5:40 on the clock and Kendrick Market intercepted their ball on the Tiger’s 5 yard line with 4:34 left on clock. The Tigers had to punt the ball for the first time of the night with 2:16 on the clock. The third quarter ended with neither team scoring.

The fourth quarter was a defensive battle as Market recovered a fumble on the 45 yard line of the Falcons with 10:09 left in the game.

The Tigers fumbled a few minutes later on the Falcon’s 37 and the Falcons recovered then drove to the Tiger 12 with 1st and 10 and 1:42 left in the game.

Issac Gross saved the shutout by recovering a Falcon fumble for the Tigers with 50 seconds left in the game.

Each week, Pogue talks about his team getting better and says he has been pleased with their progress. “I thought that we played well the first half on both sides of the ball. We got the 31-0 lead and we played one series the second half and then we got all of our other guys in.”

Senior linebacker Marvin Burdette had six tackles for the night. “They had the trap and the counter and that was the main thing that they kept running all night so it didn’t make our job too difficult tonight,” said Burdette.

“Next week all we can do is come together as a team and try our best,” Burdette added speaking of the Tupelo game.

“All of the guys out there did great. We just had to push it. I saw it and hit him and he just let the ball go. I knew right then so I dove on it. I was going to pick it up but I didn’t want to take any chances,” freshman lineman Gross said of his fumble recovery.

 “Coach Weaver didn’t want us to let them score. It’s good to have a shutout and I am looking forward to having plenty more,” Gross added.

Other defensive players that stood out in this game were Kendrick Market who had two interceptions and returned them for 25 yards. JaPeri Mitchell had a quarterback sack and five tackles. Marjarvin Chapman had five tackles, David Conner had three and a fumble recovery, Terrance Martin had two and Ricky Scott had two. Temario Strong had one fumble recovery also.

Pogue was positive about the win telling his team after the game, “We had some good things tonight and some things that we can work on. We have got to get ourselves a good plan together and keep a great attitude for next week,” referring to perennial power house and district rival Tupelo.

Junior running back Nicholas Parker has scored 11 touchdowns and has 1,084 yards on 140 carries. Senior quarterback David Renfroe has passed for 940 yards on 59 competitions with nine touchdowns and one rushing touchdown.