By Angie Ledbetter

On a night with beautiful weather, the South Panola Tiger fans witnessed a shutout at Robert H. Dunlap stadium as the Tigers (7-0, 3-0) downed the Columbus Falcons 44-0 in a district contest Friday night. The Tigers regained the winning streak in Mississippi with 22 straight wins.

With this victory, the Tigers remain in the driver’s seat in the district with a 3-0 record while the Falcons fell to 2-5 overall and 0-3 in the district.

Both teams had 15 first downs. The Tigers had 330 total offensive yards, including 209 yards rushing and 121 passing.

The Falcons had 194 total offensive yards with 191 in the air.

The Tiger’s time of possession was 20:08 and they were five of eight on third down conversions. They had 166 return yards which included two interceptions for 69 yards, two kickoff returns for 81 yards and one punt return for 16 yards. They had five penalties for 30 yards and recorded four sacks.

Nine players carried the ball for the Tigers. Running back Qyen Griffin led the offense with 117 yards rushing on 14 carries with one touchdown. Fullback Jonathan Bownes followed with 43 yards on six carries with one touchdown.

 Wide receiver Nick Brassell had five receptions for 92 yards with two touchdowns. Marcus Henry had two for 34.

Lee Self completed eight of 14 passes for 121 yards with two touchdowns. Griffin had one kickoff return for 81 yards for a touchdown. Tony Conner had one 58-yard interception return for a touchdown.

The Tigers recorded 49 total tackles. Leading the Tigers was Tony Conner with nine tackles, one fumble recovery and one interception.

Other players recording defensive stats include Issac Gross, seven tackles and one sack; Dennis Draper, six tackles; Kendrick Market, five tackles and one interception; Taylor Rotenberry, three tackles and two sacks; and Nick Johnson three tackles and one sack.

It did not take long fpr the No. 1 Rivals ranked team in the nation to get on the scoreboard.

Columbus’ Randell Cooper kicked off to Griffin and he returned it 81 yards for a touchdown with 12 seconds off the clock.

The PAT by Taylor Rotenberry was good to give the Tigers a 7-0 lead.

Six minutes later, Self connected with Brassell on a 40-yard pass. With Rotenberry’s PAT, the Tigers led 14-0.

Conner returned an interception 58 yards for the last touchdown in the first quarter. With the PAT by Rotenberry, the Tigers led 21-0 at the end of the first quarter.

It was another Self-Brassell hookup in the second quarter on a 22-yard touchdown pass with 9:41 left in the half. Rotenberry’s PAT capped off the drive with a 28-0 Tiger lead.

Nick Johnson sacked Columbus’ Cedrick Jackson for a 15-yard loss and a safety for a 30-0 lead with 9:02 left.

Griffin followed with a nine yard touchdown run. Rotenberry’s PAT gave the Tigers a 37-0 lead at the half.

With 2:32 left in the game, Jonathan Bownes scored on an eight-yard run. With the PAT, the Tigers  won 44-0.

Tiger head coach Lance Pogue told his team after the game that it was an another good win and to keep working.

“We have got to keep getting better,” he added. “We’ve got a big game on the road next week and we’ve got to get a win.”

The Tigers’ upcoming road game is against Tupelo in the second annual Y’all vs. Us televised series.

The game can be seen on channels: DirecTV 646; Dish Network 420; and cable Comcast 33.

South Panola will start selling tickets to the game today through Friday from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. Friday tickets will only be sold until noon.

The game kicks off at 7 p.m.