By Angie Ledbetter

A special ceremony was held Thursday morning at the South Panola Media Center to announce the 2011 U.S. Army All-American Bowl selections from the South Panola 2010 football team.

Wide receiver Nickolas Brassell, head coach Lance Pogue and assistant coach Trey Dickerson were recognized as representing  South Panola before teammates, family and media.

The bowl will air live on NBC at noon January 11 from the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas.

Wide receiver Brassell was selected to play for the East team. Tiger head coach Lance Pogue was chosen as the head coach for the East and assistant coach Trey Dickerson will be an assistant.

Brassell said it is an honor to be chosen.

“It feels really good to be recognized as one of the top players. I was surprised that I was chosen especially being from Mississippi. A lot of teams will get to see me play that haven’t seen me. Now I just have to get out there and do my thing.

“It’ll also shows that South Panola has a lot of talent,” Brassell continued. “We’ll get a lot of recognition.”

Brassell is very excited about going and he will get to celebrate his birthday  while there on January 6.

He said it is a great birthday present for him.

“As far as my head coach going, it’s an advantage for me,” said Brassell. “I want to play offense and defense so I hope he gives me a chance to do that.”

Pogue said, “No question about it, it’s a great honor to be head coach but it’s a collective South Panola honor and I didn’t do it alone. It’s a team honor, a program honor and all of the things we’ve been able to accomplish in my four years.”

Pogue gave credit to the players he has coached, the coaching staff and included the principals he works under, Dr. Gearl Loden, Dr. Matthew Dillion and current principal Mr.  Jay Foster.

“It always includes all the fans that love South Panola football so much,” Pogue added. “I also think it’s a great honor for Mississippi and high school football. There are so many things we get ranked at the bottom for but we get recognized for football.”

Pogue was able to select one assistant coach from his staff after he was named head coach so he chose Dickerson. That is the only assistant that he was allowed to choose.

“I have so many great coaches and all of them are outstanding guys and it was hard for me to pick one,” said Pogue. “That was a hard deal when they asked me to select one of my own.

“I chose Dickerson because he’s the offensive coordinator and with his role with the offense, it would be the fair way to do it,” Pogue added. “He’s a great guy and a hard worker who’s done an excellent job here and the kids love him. I couldn’t have had a better hire when I first came here for an offensive coordinator. I credit all of our coaches and I think it’s an honor for all of us. The guys who coach the positions, there would be no way to pick one of them over the other.”

Pogue said Brassell is a great choice.

“He’s a great kid that comes from a great family,” Pogue said. “He’s done some tremendous things in his career at South Panola and is now recognized as one of the top players in the country. I also know with his humble attitude he’d say it’s a team achievement.”

Pogue named some players from South Panola who played in the past including one he coached, Darius “Tig” Barksdale from 2008, Chris Strong in 2007 and Derek Pegues in 2005.

As far as what this does for the program at South Panola, Pogue said people realize that South Panola is one of the top in the country.

“You can’t just be a team that pops up one year,” he said. “You’ve got to stand the test of time. It goes all the way back to the early ‘90s with coach Willis Wright and all the way up through the years. Four different head coaches have won state championships and there have been so many great players who have been humbled and wanted to win like this year’s team.”

Dickerson said, “I coached with Pogue last year in the Bernard Blackwell Bowl so after he got selected to be head coach at this, he came and asked if I’d be interested and of course I said yes. It’s a great opportunity to have that opportunity. Not a lot of high school coaches get this opportunity. I’d planned on going to watch it so when he asked me to be an assistant coach, it made it even better.”

Dickerson said he is excited.

“I think it’ll be neat to coach a lot of guys that’ll go on and play college ball and a lot of them will end up in the National Football League,” he said. “It’ll be a neat experience. We’ll be there for eight days and my family will come out to watch me on Wednesday before the game and stay until after it.”