By Myra Bean

North Panola was one minute and 54 seconds from its first win of the season.

With 50.5 seconds left to go in the game, Rosa Fort scored on a six-yard run to retake the lead and win its homecoming game 28-26.

The game was rife with strife from both teams as a couple of fights broke out. North Panola had one player ejected. After the second fight, four Rosa Fort players were rejected.

It took about 10 minutes for the officials to clear the air after the second fight with six minutes left in the game. On the first down when play resumed, Hunt broke for a 20-yard run with 5:51 left in the game to pull within two points after he scored the two-point conversion.

Rosa Fort’s next offensive possession was totally upset by the Cougar defense as Eric Hibbler, Martez Hooks and Tony Hibbler were each credited with tackles for loss yards. The defense forced the Lions to punt the possession away.

On a broken play by the Lions defense on first down from the Cougar 29, Hunt broke for the 69-yard run which gave North Panola its first lead in any game this year 26-22, but the two-point conversion failed.

“I see this as us moving in the right direction,” said Cougar head coach Sean Norwood. “The only do-over I see would be to recover that kickoff. They never gave up and played the whole game. They left it all on the field. What else could I ask of them?”

After the Lions scored the final touchdown and kicked off to the Cougars, the Cougars were waiting for the ball to go out of bounds in Cougar territory. Rosa Fort jumped on the ball before it went out of bounds and took away any chances of the Cougars marching the ball back down the field to score.

The district matchup between the Cougars and the Lions started out like most other games for the Cougars this year. Rosa Fort took a 12-0 lead to start the second quarter.

North Panola finally got a break when Cordarius Salter recovered a Rosa Fort fumble with 4:04 left in the first half on the Lions 30 yard line.

Quarterback Martavius Butler connected with senior wide receiver Ricky Hunt on a 24-yard touchdown reception with 3:08 left to go in the half. Hunt scored all four of North Panola’s touchdowns and the converted the two-point attempt.

North Panola held Rosa Fort scoreless in the second quarter.

Rosa Fort had a 22-12 lead going into the final quarter. In the third quarter, Hunt broke for a 66-yard run with less than a second left on the clock. That two-point conversion attempt also failed.

Eric Hibbler recovered a Lions fumble in the fourth quarter which set up the 20-yard touchdown run.

The Cougars gained 305 total yards of offense with 176 passes and 129 rushing. Rosa Fort had 421 yard of offense. Hunt was again the leader with 10 rushes, 168 yards and three rushing touchdowns. He had eight receptions for 142 yards and one touchdown. He had two kickoff returns for 52 yards for 362 all-purpose yards.

Butler completed 10 of 18 passes for 176 yards and one touchdown.

Chris Connor had one reception for 12 yards and Salter had one reception for 22 yards.

The Cougars will celebrate homecoming this week with the theme “A Red Carpet Affair.”

The homecoming queen will be crowned Wednesday night at the corornation starting at 6 p.m. in the high school auditorium. The court will be presented at halftime Friday night. A homecoming parade will be held Friday starting at 5 p.m. at the Sardis Public Library and end at the school.