Congratulations to South Panola head coach Lance Pogue, his staff and the players of the 2010 South Panola football team! With all the great South Panola teams which have come before this team, the accomplishments of the 2010 team are unparalleled in South Panola football history.

Here are but a few: Class 6A title; No. 1 ranking in Mississippi; No. 1 ranking in the nation in at least three major polls; Nick Brassell, Qyen Griffin, and Kendrick Market selected to play in Mississippi-Alabama All Star game; Austin Douglas, Al Hentz and Taylor Rotenberry selected to play in Blackwell All-Star game; Coach Pogue selected as coach of USA Today’s All-USA football team; City of Batesville awards plaque to Coach Pogue for South Panola’s accomplishments, with State Senator Nolan Mettetal (a South Panola graduate) assuring Coach Pogue that a similar recognition would be forthcoming during the 2011 Legislative Session.

In addition, Coach Pogue named Mississippi’s 2010 Sportsman of the Year along with Sumrall High School baseball coach Larry Knight, whose  team won a national title earlier this year (Mississippi players and coaches in all sports at all levels are eligible to receive this award); Brassell, Griffin, Market, Deshondrick Hines and Antonio Conner selected to First Team All-State; Douglas, Isaac Gross, Kenyahti McMurry, and Temario Strong selected to Second Team All-State; Brassell and Griffin are two of three finalists for Mississippi’s Mr. Football, with Griffin taking the honor; Coach Pogue selected as head coach of the East team, and Brassell as a player, in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl to be played on Jan. 8 in San Antonio, Texas. Coach Pogue has selected South Panola offensive coordinator Trey Dickerson and Gulfport head coach Mike Justice as two of his assistants.

There are two things I’m certain about – I have inadvertently omitted some of the honors bestowed on the players and coaches; and the South Panola players and coaches I have named would be the first ones to give credit to all the players and coaches, as well as the entire school and the community, for the success this 2010 South Panola team has enjoyed. It was indeed a “team” effort.

I will close with two quotes from well known people. Jackson Clarion Ledger journalist Sid Salter once described Mississippi high schools in general, and high school football in particular, as the “quilts” which hold our communities together. Finally, as the South Panola radio crew was packing up the equipment after our game at Colquitt County in Moultrie, Georgia, Colquitt County’s head coach, Rush Propst (former head coach at Hoover, Alabama), came up to us and said, “You’ve got a great man and a great coach leading your football program, which is now nationally recognized, and if you keep your coach and you continue to have the support of your school administration and your community, he will take South Panola football to unparalleled heights.”

Amen to that!!

(Guest columnist George C. Carlson is a former Tiger, current Voice of the Tigers, and Presiding Justice on Mississippi’s Supreme Court)