By Angie Ledbetter

 Head South Panola Coach Lance Pogue summed up Friday night’s game against Clarksdale in three little words, “Happy to win!”

The Tigers took their one game loss to Clarksdale to face a huge rivalry team and won 42-14.

A passing game, making all extra points, and freshman safety Antonio Conner’s three interceptions were obvious factors in last Friday’s win as South Panola came away a loser the prior week against MUS on national televsion.

“The difference in this week and last week was that MUS is a great football team and they beat us on the field,” said Pogue. “Clarksdale isn’t in that category right now but they played us hard and I knew they would.

“Overall, I thought our team had a great effort. We threw the ball well and thought we played good defense. We’ve got some areas that we’re going to work to improve on but this is a good win.”

The Tigers had been searching for pieces of the puzzle and seemed to find them as juniors Lee Self and Nick Brassell connected nine times during the game, four were touchdown passes.

Brassell added the first piece after he connected on a 25-yard pass from Self early in the first quarter and Nolan Parker capped it off with his PAT. Parker was a perfect six for six PATs on the evening.

After intercepting the ball, Steve Horton returned it from the Tiger’s 11 for a Wildcat touchdown but the two-point conversion failed.

On the return, Brassell zig zagged the field to the Wildcat’s 34 but an illegal procedure penalty put them on the 39. On the next play, Brassell scored on a 39-yard pass from Self. With the PAT, the Tigers were up 14-6. 

Antonio Conner intercepted a Wildcat pass deep in Tiger territory and Self ended the drive with a two-yard touchdown. With the PAT, the Tigers led 21-6 lead with 1:46 left in first half.

The Tiger defense held strong forcing several incomplete passes and Devin Clark sacked the quarterback.

Self hooked up with Brassell on a 64-yard pass touchdown and the PAT put the Tigers up 28-6 at the half.

The Wildcats added their last score game when Larry Mitchell scored on a one-yard run and the two point conversion was good.

A few minutes later, Self and Brassell connected again on a 21-yard pass to give the Tigers a 35-14 lead after the PAT at the end of the third.

Freshman safety Antonio Conner put together the last piece of the puzzle after he intercepted a Wildcat pass and returned it 37 yards for a touchdown. Nolan Parker kicked his sixth PAT of the night.

The Tigers ended the game with 401 total offensive yards against the Wildcat’s 199.

Lee Self completed 12 of 20 passes for 297 yards with four touchdowns. He also had two carries for six yards with one touchdown.

As far as improvements, Self was quick to say that his team was getting better each week but they still have some things to work on before divisional play begins.

Pogue talked about freshman starter, Antonio Conner.

“Antonio Conner had a big night at free safety. He has four games under his belt so he is growing up some. Now that he has gotten his feet wet, we’re expecting big things out of him each day because he’s a great athlete. All he lacked was getting some experience.”

Conner had three interceptions, one returned for a touchdown.

Connor said, “We had to come out here tonight and work hard to get this win. We had to put the loss from last week behind us and think about the future. Each game, we have to work harder.”

Brassell had nine receptions for 224 yards with four touchdowns. Montez Griffin had two receptions for 46. Nick Parker had 10 carries for 37 yards, Kendrick Market had five for 33 and Dominque Carothers had 10 for 24.

On the defensive side of the ball, Devin Clark had 10 total tackels, three for loss and one sack. Temario Strong had seven total tackes, two for loss and one and a half sacks. Justin Wright had seven tackles, one for loss and half a sack.

Conner had seven tackles and three interceptions with one touchdown. Issac Gross had six tackles, two for loss. Kendrick Market, Dennis Draper and Qyen Griffin all had six total tackles.

The Tigers will have a bye week and come back and face division foe, Horn Lake Eagles on September 25.

The Tiger team will be introduced to the  public at the Tiger Fun Fest Saturday afternoon at Tiger Field. The Fun Fest will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.