By Brad Greer

With four weeks remaining in the regular season, one local football team will look to stay undefeated while another area squad will be in search of their first victory of the year.

 Lewisburg at North Panola:

After dropping a gut-wrenching 28-26 loss last week to Rosa Fort, the North Panola Cougars returns home tonight to celebrate homecoming against Lewisburg in a Region 2-4A contest beginning at 7 p.m.

North Panola (0-7; 0-3) had victory snatched from their hands last week in Tunica as Rosa Fort’s Bernardrick McKinney, a Mississippi State commitment, scored the game-winning touchdown run with 50 seconds remaining to give Rosa Fort the win. Less than a minute earlier, Ricky Hunt gave the Cougars their first lead of the game with a 69-yard run.

Hunt was a one-man wrecking crew for North Panola as the senior amassed 362 all-purpose yards on the night which included 10 carries for 168 yards and three touchdowns to go along with eight receptions for 142 yards and a 24-yard scoring strike from sophomore quarterback Martavious Butler.

North Panola will need another solid outing from Hunt and the rest of the Cougars if they are to come away the victor against a Lewisburg club that broke a five-game losing streak last week with a 35-16 win over Byhalia.

North Panola will culminate homecoming week with the game tonight. Leszlie Dandridge was crowned Miss Homecoming in the annual coronation Wednesday night while senior running back/cornerback Martez Hooks was crowned Mr. Homecoming.

Lewisburg (3-5; 1-2) will platoon two quarterbacks in the game as Colby Sappington and Ryne Wammack will direct the Patriot offense which is averaging 170 yards rushing per game. The Patriots wins have come against Ripley (7-6) and Strayhorn (45-0) while suffering defeats at the hands of North Pontotoc (48-15), Memphis Sheffield (31-16), Amanda Elzy (18-14), Rosa Fort (28-7) and Center Hill (14-7).

Xavier Morris leads the Patriots in rushing with 532 yards and five touchdowns on the year while John Taylor has added 299 yards on 37 carries and two scores.

Taylor leads Lewisburg’s receiving corps with nine catches for 91 yards. A J. Rayford supplied the offensive firepower last week with 13 carries for 121 yards against Byhalia. Tyler Sullivan spearheads the Patriot defense with 43 tackles.

South Panola at Tupelo:

The South Panola Tigers will put their No. 1 state and national ranking on the line tonight as they face-off against long time rival Tupelo in the third installment of the “Ya’ll vs. Us” state wide televised event of the year.

“It is always exciting to be on television but more importantly it is an opportunity to get a victory against an outstanding team in Tupelo,” said South Panola head coach Lance Pogue. “Coach (David) Bradberry has done a fantastic job over there in his first year. He has really turned the program around from where they were last year. He has given his kids the belief they can win and that showed last week when the beat (No. 5 ranked) Southaven and here they are at 5-1 on the season and feeling good about themselves as well as they should,“ said Pogue.

Leading the charge for the Golden Wave is junior signal-caller  Luke Hobson (6-1;185) who tossed three touchdowns in last week’s 48-34 shootout win over the Chargers. Hobson’s main target will be Terrell Pinson (6-4; 205, Jr.) who reeled in two touchdowns and ran for another score against Southaven.

Pogue said sophomore Ashton Shumpert (6-1; 195) will be someone the Tigers will have to keep an eye on throughout the game.

“They have a very good running back in No. 22 (Shumpert), a big, tall, rangy wideout and their quarterback is playing very good. They have some weapons on both sides of the ball, “said Pogue.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Golden Wave have one of the South’s premiere defensive linemen in P. J. Jones (6-3; 265). According to Rivals.com, Jones has received scholarship offers from Ole Miss, Mississippi St., Alabama, UCLA and Tennessee.

Tupelo started the season at 4-0 with victories against New Hope (33-23), Itawamba AHS (31-6), Louisville (17-0) and Columbus (17-14) before losing to Starkville (47-14).

South Panola continued to steamroll over opponents which included a 44-0 thumping of Columbus last Friday.

Senior running back Qyen Griffin set the tone early with an 81-yard kickoff return to open the game. Griffin finished the night with 117 yards on 14 carries and one touchdown. With those totals, Griffin now has 1,215 yards rushing to go along with 17 touchdowns.

Nick Brassell snagged five receptions for 92 yards which included 40 and 22-yard scoring strikes from quarterback Lee Self. On the season, Brassell has 29 catches for 421 yards and seven touchdowns. Sophomore defensive back Tony Conner got into the scoring act with a 58-yard interception return and also recovered a fumble.

South Panola’s last trip to Tupelo in 2008 turned into a barnburner as the Tiger defense denied a two-point conversion attempt by the Golden Wave in the final minute of the game to escape with a 14-13 victory.

Tonight’s contest can be seen on DirecTV 646, Dish Network 420 and Comcast cable channel 33.

Kickoff is 7 p.m. Tickets for the game are $6 and may be bought at South Panola High School from 8 a.m. to noon today.

North Delta

North Delta has its second open week of the season, but will return to action next Friday in Greenville to take on Greenville Christian at 7:30 p.m.