By Angie Ledbetter

The No. 1 nationally ranked South Panola Tigers captured their ninth straight district championship title Thursday night as they stomped the Desoto Central Jaguars 50-7 in their twenty third straight victory.

The Tigers will be home Friday to host Grenada in the first round of the playoffs at 7 p.m.

The South Panola cheerleaders are asking everyone to help “Paint The Stands Red” each Friday night during the play-offs.  “Please come out and support our Tigers in their bid for a seventh state championship in the past eight years,” said cheer coach Tammy Wilkinson.

Tickets are $7 and will be sold Thursday and Friday at the high school from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. The ticket booth opens at 6 p.m. No reserve seating is available during playoffs.

Head Coach Lance Pogue let all Tigers play the winless 0-11 Jaguar’s team in cold and windy temperatures.

Tiger senior running back Qyen Griffin had another successful game getting the Tigers on the score board first on a three-yard run with 8:53 in first quarter. Clayton Sibley’s PAT gave the Tigers an early 7-0 lead.

The Tiger defense, known as the nasty bunch, held the Jaguars forcing them to punt on the next series. The Tigers took the ball at the Jaguar 49.

Senior athlete Kendrick Market threw two incomplete passes. With the aid of a Jaguar pass interference penalty, the Tigers got the ball on the Jaguar 34. With 6:06 on the clock, Market kept the ball himself and scurried 34 yards for the touchdown. Sibley capped off the drive with a PAT to put the Tigers up 14-0.

The Jaguars took the kick and started on their own 32. Facing a 4th down and 1 at their own 49, they successfully went for a first down.

The Jaguars got into Tiger territory on the 26 but ran into the brick wall of the nasty bunch defense. They punted and the Tigers took the ball at the Jaguar’s 28. After a carry by Jonathan Bownes, a pass to Tyler Beard and an extra 15 yards due to a horse collar penalty by the Jaguars, the Tigers were at the Jaguar’s 24 when the first quarter ended.

With 11:39 left in the first half, Bownes scored on a 16 yard touchdown. Sibley’s PAT gave the Tigers a 21-0.

The Tigers was faced with another fourth down and Sibley kicked a 20-yard field goal with 7:35 left in the half for the 24-0 Tiger lead.

The Jaguars turned their next possession over on downs and on the first play from scrimmage, senior wide receiver Marcus Henry scored on a 37-yard run with 4:59 left in the half. With Sibley’s PAT, the Tigers had a comfortable 31-0 lead.

Desoto Central was finally able to put together a successful drive. Breaking tackles and avoiding some Tigers, Jaguar Reginald Barron scored on a 40-yard pass from quarterback Kyle Morgan. William Collard’s PAT was good with 34 seconds left on the clock.

“That made us look bad,” said junior linebacker Temario Strong.

This from a defense who has three shutouts and has only given up an average six points per game.

The Tigers scored again before halftime with 11.7 seconds left on a Market 44-yard run. Sibley’s PAT gave the Tigers a 38-7 lead at the half.

Wide receiver Nick Brassell got in on the action scoring on a 45-yard pass from quarterback Lee Self with 9:16 left. The PAT by sophomore Sawyer Oakes was no good and the score stood 44-7. The touchdown capped a two-play 58-yard drive.

The last score came at the 5:13 mark in the third quarter when Market returned a fumble from the Jaguar’s 32.

The Jaguars’ punter fumbled and Market was there to recover and sprinted untouched in the end zone.

The PAT by Logan Roberson was no good giving the Tigers the 50-7 victory.

Leading the defense was freshman Quandez Lee with five tackles. Tony Conner and Lakedrick Flowers followed with four tackles each. Temario Strong had three tackles with one sack. Market had two tackles with one fumble recovery returned for a touchdown.

Pogue said he is 100 percent satisfied up to this point.

“I thought from start to finish through the season we’ve played well,” he said. “There were some times I would’ve liked to played a little bit better but each week is a different challenge. We’ve beat some good teams this year and some by big margins.

“I’ve been really pleased from week to week on the progress we’ve made,” he added. “We made improvements each week. I like our attitude and our work ethics.”

The Tigers finished the 11 game regular season out scoring their opponents 536 to 90 points.

“Every time you play a game, you want to win them all,” said Pogue. “It’s hard to do and very few teams do it. To win 11 straight and go undefeated in regular season, that’s a big deal. To go 11-0 in 6A is really hard to do. I’m very proud of them for that. It’s taken a lot of dedication from the players and coaches.”

Griffin scored 188 of those points finishing his last high school regular season with 1,979 yards on 192 carries with 28 touchdowns. Kendrick Market finished with 501 yards on 30 carries with five touchdowns scoring 56 points.

Nick Brassell finished with 42 receptions with 708 yards with 11 touchdowns scoring 76 points. Marcus Henry had 20 receptions with 388 yards with seven touchdowns scoring 50 points.

“It feels good to end the regular season undefeated again because we had to come back from losing one game last year,” said senior Nick Brassell. “We had a point to prove this season. We played a good game tonight. Everybody got a chance to do what they could and it showed that we have a lot of potential everywhere. A new season starts now and it’s a different ball game now. From here on out, its hard work and we’ve got to be dedicated. Next week we’ve just got to go out and give it our all and it all starts on Monday.”

Senior tightend Taylor Rotenberry said it was an amazing feeling to end his senior year undefeated in the regular season.

“Last year we were 9-1 and then we go undefeated this season. It’s just a great feeling. We’re going into the playoffs and got 16 more quarters to play. It’s going to take hard work and team work to finish out undefeated. We can do it too.”

Kenyahti McMurry, aka Big Baby, said going undefeated in regular season was good for him.

“We’re playing to our top ability every day no matter what kind of game or type of situation it is. We’re not going to let other teams determine anything. To get here, it’s took a lot of fighting in the weight room, on the field and amongst each other. We had to work it out as a family and families fight. It’s going to take a lot more fighting to finish out undefeated. This is a family that sticks together and does everything together. We’re going to fight to the end and hold our heads up to the end. It’s Tiger pride to the end. I want to the end my senior year undefeated with a state championship.”

Carlton Howard said, “It’s a pretty good feeling. We have a good team this year and everybody did their job. Now we’re getting ready for the playoffs and it’s a new season. It’s going to take focus, determination and hunger for winning. We have a bunch of talent on this team so I thought after last year’s state championship win that we’d be right here in this situation. I think all seniors that know South Panola would want to be in our position right now.”

Thomas Campbell said, “It’s just a great feeling to be back in this spot of being undefeated and making our way to the playoffs. This is how I want to end my season undefeated and make our push back to Jackson. It’s taken a full team effort from all the coaches, players and managers. It’s always our goal at the beginning of the season each year. We’ve done it as a team and that’s what it’s always going to take is a team effort. We have a little bit of adversity sometimes but it’s something that we have to over come and get done.”

In other district action Friday night Southaven defeated Horn Lake 35-7, Olive Branch defeated Tupelo 43-17 and Columbus defeated Starkville 34-32.

In the playoff picture, the Tigers will host Grenada, Southaven will host NW Rankin, Olive Branch will travel to Clinton and Tupelo will travel to Madison Central.