By Myra Bean

After North Panola and Batesville Jr. High canceled, the Pope Bulldogs and the Batesville Jr. High Tigers met on the gridiron for a scrimmage. The Tigers dominated from the first down and took a 28-12 win.

Hundreds of families, friends and former players showed up to cheer on their favorites in the battle of the in-county teams.

Batesville went ahead 28-0 on touchdowns by Bailey Lawrence, Courtney Porter, Stephen Sanford, and Tavian Bibbs.

Pope scored in the bottom part of the second half on runs by Keyshaun Walls and Gabriel Lloyd.

Lawrence scored on a two yard run, but the two-point conversion by Quandez Lee failed.

Lawrence hit Porter on a what turned into a 70-yard touchdown pass. Porter’s left shoulder was turned to the ball, but he got a hand on the ball and was able to secure it. The Pope defender ran past Porter and Porter had a clear window to the end zone.

The two-point conversion by Brady Smith failed.

Sanford broke for a 61-run but was brought down at the Pope nine yard line. Two plays later he scored on a three-yard run. The two-point conversion by Tavares Lee was good for the 20-0 halftime lead.

Bibbs scored with 24:27 left in the game on an 18-yard run. Lee converted the two-point attempt for a 28-0 lead.

Pope’s second string was able to score a couple of touchdowns to avoid the shutout.

Walls scored on a two-yard run with 13:58 left in the game. The two-point conversion failed.

Lloyd took the final touchdown in from three yards with 49 seconds left in the game. Walls’ two-point attempt failed.

Pope will be back in action Tuesday to host Water Valley at 5 p.m.

Batesville Jr. High will play in Oxford at 5:30 p.m.