By Angie Ledbetter

South Panola’s 28-game win streak, the longest active streak in the state, came to an end at the hands of Hoover in the ESPN High School Kickoff Classic, 24-13.

It had been two years since the South Panola Tigers were handed a loss. In 2009 the Tigers fell to Memphis University School.

However, this was only South Panola’s fourth loss in 137 games.

“Yes this hurts but its part of life,” said five-year Tiger head coach Lance Pogue. “No one wins every game. I’ve never seen anyone in the coaching business that does. The sun is going to shine in the morning and if it doesn’t then we have more to worry about than this game. It’s how you come back now and we’ll be back.”

Following the game, Pogue expressed to the team how important a positive attitude was. His plan includes getting back to Mississippi and making a run for the state championship because he was pleased with the team’s effort.

“These guys are fighters and they’ll be fine,” Pogue said. “This is going to be a good football team. There are two ways to handle this loss. We can hang our heads or fight back. I assure you we’re going to fight back.”

The team played and fought hard in Pogue’s eyes.

“We just didn’t give ourselves a chance to win by making enough plays, bottom line,” he said.
Looking back at the game, the coach who has faced three losses in five years with this team, said they needed to throw the ball a little bit better and he acknowledged the youth of starting quarterback, Tevis Flowers.

“We got in a bind over there, making a couple of mistakes early and got in a hole,” he said. “Realistically it should’ve been 3-0 or 30-3 at the half but we could’ve scored and went in. We’re going to get better at that. We didn’t dominate the game physically but we held up.”

Pogue spoke about some missed chances the Tiger team did not capitalize on but also noted Hoover is a good team.

“They have a good football team and I thought they did a great job making plays at times against us.”

There was some improvement from the Tigers in the second half, according to Pogue. The Tigers were down 10-0 at halftime.

“Our defense was good and created some turnovers but it just wasn’t enough today.”

On a fourth and goal from the three yard line, Pogue chose to go for the touchdown.
“I probably should’ve kicked a field goal looking back but I wanted to go for it to change the momentum. I’ll take that one.

“We planned a boot leg from Tony Conner and thought he’d come running up and have a high chance of throwing it into the endzone but we just didn’t make the play.”

South Panola held Hoover in its first possession, but the punt was blocked. Hoover recovered the ball on the Tiger seven-yard-line. With a goal line defense on the field, the Tigers held Hoover out of the end zone and forced them to kick a field goal.

With 9:25 left to go in the first quarter, Hoover kicked a 27-yard field goal for the 3-0 lead.

Hoover also attempted another field goal in the second quarter with 9:15 left in the half but it was wide left.

With 24.2 seconds left in the first quarter, the Tigers were facing a fourth and goal on Buccaneer’s four-yard line. The Tigers turned the ball over on downs after Conner’s incomplete pass.

Hoover capped a 13-play, 97-yard drive on a three yard touchdown pass. The PAT gave Hoover the 10-0 halftime lead.

Conner took a punt return, broke to his right, shook defenders all the way and scored on a 78-yard run with 7:46 left in the third quarter. The Tigers cut the lead 10-6 because Clayton Sibley’s PAT failed.

Hoover increased the lead again on a five-yard touchdown pass with 5:51 left in the quarter. The PAT capped an eight-play, 73-yard drive for the 17-6 lead.

The Tigers faced an 18-point deficit when Hoover scored on a 19-yard pass with 3:38 left in the game. The PAT gave Hoover a 24-6 lead.

That lead was the biggest since the Tigers came from a 21-0 deficit against Memphis University School in 2009. The Tigers lost that game 21-19 September 4,  2009which was the last loss the team had experienced.

Conner scored the game’s final touchdown with 6:02 left. Sibley’s PAT cut the lead 24-13.

Tony Conner led his team with 117 yards on 24 carries with one touchdown, one reception for 17 yards and one punt return for a touchdown for 78 yards.

“Conner is a big play guy. We got to the second half where we quit using him defensively and I think that’s going to be positive because he’s a home run hitter offensively. I know he’s going to give us that. It’s tough playing a guy both ways.”

The Tigers controlled the ball for 29:41 with 187 yards rushing and 60 passing for 247 total on 73 plays.

They had 15 first downs, seven penalties for 55 yards, were six of 18 on third down conversions, four of nine on fourth downs, one interception return for 11 yards, five punts for 102 yards and two kickoff returns for 33 yards.

Hoover controlled the ball for 18:19 with 108 yards rushing and 180 passing for 288 total on 58 plays.

They had 17 first downs and three penalties for 28 yards.

Tevis Flowers was six of 19 passing for 60 yards with one interception. His longest pass was 17 yards. DeAndrea Harris had three receptions for 36 yards.

Temario Strong led the team with eight tackles and one pass deflection. Brady Smith had six, one pass deflection and one fumble recovery. Dashawn Lindsay had five, three pass deflections and one interception. Conner had four with two pass deflections. Issac Gross, Carlos Hooks and Je’Tavious Turner had three each. Hooks had two pass deflections and Turner had one.

“Hoover is a really good football team and made a lot more plays than we did today,” Pogue said. “They should have a good future here this year. I look forward to playing them again next year and that’s just how the game goes.”

South Panola will play its home opener Friday, hosting Memphis University School (1-1). Tickets will be on sale at the high school from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m.

General admission is $7 and reserved is $10.