By Brad Greer

Clayton Sibley drilled a 17-yard field goal as time expired to give No. 1 South Panola Tigers a thrilling 12-10 victory over West Point Saturday night at Robert H. Dunlap Stadium.

Sibley’s game-winning field goal, his fourth of the night, capped a 12-play, 62-yard drive that began with 4:22 left in regulation. Darrell Henderson’s 15-yard reception from quarterback Rip Kirk on 4th-and 7 from the West Point 29 kept the drive alive.

Trailing 9-2, West Point took its only lead of the game at 10-9 on a Roger Williams five-yard touchdown run with 4:22 remaining in the game. Aeries Williams converted the two-point conversion.

Sibley gave the Tigers a 3-0 lead with a 20-yard field goal with 9:06 left in the first quarter. West Point scored their first points on a safety as Kirk was called for grounding the ball at the 5:35 mark of the first quarter.

South Panola extended their lead to 6-2 at halftime on Sibley’s 33-yard field goal.

Ladarius Strong rushed for 101 yards on 22 carries to lead the South Panola on offense. The Tigers registered 246 yards of total offense while West Point garnered 182 yards, with 166 of that via the ground game.

Tony Conner registered 13 tackles to lead South Panola defensively and also caught one pass for 38 yards. South Panola will have a open date Friday before hosting nationally-ranked Hoover Ala. the following week in a CSS televised game.