By Myra Bean

A few years ago, Mississippi High School Activities Association (MHSAA) passed the rule that all public school football games will play at 7:30 through September and the first game in October will start at 7 p.m.

Tonight South Panola will host Columbus at that new time. North Delta is on the road to Lee Academy in Marianna, Ark. for a 7 p.m. game.

North Panola (3-3 overall, 1-0 district) will host one of the toughest teams in District 3-3A, the Winona Tigers at the new time.

Winona (4-3 overall, 1-0 district) is coming off a 52-0 pounding of district foe Independence.

Their losses have been to strong 2A opponents Ackerman and Eupora and 6A Grenada. In the non-conference season, they have logged wins over 3A Senatobia, 2A J. Z. George and 4A Kosciusko.

Winona is led on the field by senior captain Patrick Purnell, running back/linebacker. He also has some quarterback stats on the season, along with receiver and kickoff return stats.

Purnell is averaging 157 rushing yards per game and nine points.

“He is an amazing running back,” said Cougar head coach Derek King.

As a whole, Winona is a very solid team, according to King.

“They are very physical,” he said. “They are a very well-coached team, don’t miss assignments and have no apparent weaknesses on film.”

The team’s passing yards are not that impressive, but they average 253 yards per game on the ground. In scoring, Winona averages 30 points per game and on defense 66 tackles per game.

“They looked good against Independence,” King said. “They look ready for district play as well.”

North Panola received some good news from the MHSAA office. Ladarius Gates and Tacoris Lee will be eligible to play tonight. The two were ejected from last Friday’s game with four minutes to go in the first half due to fighting.

King appealed the ejections and sent the tapes to the MHSAA to be reviewed and the two were ruled eligible to play.

With that off their minds, they were able to get back to a hard week of practice, according to King.

“What we have to do is line up and not hurt ourselves with penalities and negative plays,” King said.

In last week’s 24-14 win over Palmer, North Panola only had 86 total yards of offense.

Quarterback Willie Hibbler was sacked for a negative 35 yards of rushing. North Panola’s Cedric Clay and Virgil Jones fumbled away the ball once each.

North Panola was also tagged with 114 yards on 13 penalties. Palmer had 126 yards on 15 penalties.

“I am glad we are playing at home,” King said. “We have to adjust to the 7 p.m. start, too.”

North Panola also played a tough non-conference schedule facing 4A Rosa Fort and Lewisburg and 6A Desoto Central to prepare for the two district leaders these next two weeks.

North Panola will host defending 3A state champion Charleston next Friday. Charleston and Palmer play tonight.