By Myra Bean

South Panola High School football team is gearing up for the football season with 7-on-7 games every Monday morning.

Preseason honors are rolling in on head coach Lance Pogue and two of the star players Kendrick Market and Nick Brassell.

All three have garnered attention from the U. S. All-American Bowl as announced earlier. Brassell and Market have been noticed by the preseason athletic magazines published each summer.

The finishing touches have been put on the football schedule as the first three games will be played on the road.

The first two games will be played on Saturday. August 21, the Tigers will travel to Petal for the inaugural game in the brand new stadium at 7:30 p.m.

The next Saturday, the team will travel about 12 hours to take on Colquitt County High School in Moultrie, Ga. The game will be played at 11:45 a.m. central standard time.

Hotel listings and accommodations can be obtained from Panola Partnership and South Panola High School.

The third week on September 3, the team’s first Friday game of the season will be played against Memphis University School.

MUS was the first team to defeat South Panola in the regular season since November 2001. MUS will enter the 2010 season with a 26-game win streak, after winning back-to-back state championships last year.

The first home game will feature rivals South Panola against an always tough Clarksdale Wildcat team.

After Clarksdale, the Tigers have to take a MHSAA mandated week off Septmeber 14 and then play seven straight district games starting with Horn Lake at home September 24.

The Tigers only won three games after the State Championship loss to Meridian in 2008 before the loss to MUS. Now the Tigers are beginning to build upon their own win streak with the clock sitting at 12 to begin the season.

North Panola

North Panola players are reporting to workout sessions which are held daily in the field house. The Cougars will face a tough 10-game regular season schedule which just switches the venue from last year.

The Cougars will open at home against Kingsbury of Memphis on August 20, the first of five home games.

North Delta

North Delta has to deal with a nine-game schedule which does not sit with second-year coach Dan Werner.

Due to Delta Academy dropping to eight-man football in 2009, the Green Wave has had trouble filling the spot on September 17. As with last year, the people in Panola County will have a night off from football on September 17 as all three teams have open dates.

Tres Brassell helps lead the Green Wave team in rushing as he has rushed for over 1,000 yards both his sophomore and junior years.