By Angie Ledbetter

It will be another tough battle on the road tonight as South Panola travels to Southaven for District 1-6A action.

It will be a division showdown because the Tigers (5-3, 3-1) are tied in second place with Horn Lake, one game ahead of the Chargers (6-2, 2-2).

Southaven is undefeated at home this season, 5-0.

The Tigers are ranked No. 4 in the state while the Chargers stand at No. 7.  

The Chargers bring a potent offense to the field and have scored 307 points this season while allowing 121. The Tigers on the other hand have scored 177 points and the allowed 108.

With a 6-2 overall record Southaven started the season defeating Charleston 27-13, Rosa Fort 38-6, Greenwood 53-6 and Washington 44-6.

Since starting division action Southaven lost a close match 49-41 division showdown against Olive Branch, defeated Columbus 35-7, lost a close one to Tupelo 28-27 and downed Grenada 42-6 last week.

Since Lance Pogue has been head coach, the Tigers have dominated the series 4-0 scoring 150 to their 34 points.     

Still, Pogue is impressed with Southaven.

“They’ve had a really good football team for the last several years. The first thing that comes to mind about them is it seems they have a lot of athletes with a lot of speed. They’re putting up a lot of points week in and week out and are really explosive offensively.”

Leading the Chargers on offense are seniors quarterback Tyler Hatch, running back  Chris Rice and wide receiver Shuntez Smith.

“Hatch is an outstanding athlete with a lot of speed and can really throw the ball. He’s a guy that’s been an exceptional player for them this year.”

Pogue described Rice as another fast guy who is a playmaker.

“Smith is a threat in the passing game for us,” he said. “Those three skilled guys have been the ones that have really been out front but they have some more.”

Pogue’s main concern tonight is continuing to be the offensive threat that showed up last week.

South Panola does not have tickets for tonight’s game. They will have to be purchased at the gate.
Pregame starts at 6 on WBLE FM 100.5 and kickoff is at 7 P.M.

The game will be live video streamed from ihigh.com (access through www.panolian.com) using the audio stream from WBLE and on www.panola.com.