By Myra Bean

The South Panola Tiger football team takes it high-octane offense and nasty bunch defense on the road to its 14th appearance in the state championship games tonight.

Newly renamed the Mississippi Gridiron Classics will pit the best of the north against the best of the south starting today at 11 a.m. in the 1A contest between Stringer and French Camp Academy. Class 2A kicks off at 3 p.m. with north Eupora taking on south state winner Bassfield.

South Panola (12-2) will take on south state champion Brandon (12-2) in the premier game of the championships at 7 p.m. tonight.

All games will be televised on Mississippi Public Broadcasting. In case you are on the road, the game will be live video streamed through ESPN3.com or can be heard live on WBLE 100.5 FM with George Carlson and crew with the play-by-play.

The games continue Saturday with neighboring Charleston defending its 3A state title from last year against its same opponent from the south Hazelhurst at 11 a.m. The game will be followed by the 4A matchup of north’s Noxubee County taking on surprise team Greene County. The final matchup is against the north’s representative Starkville and another surprise team which got hot late Pascagoula. Pascagoula took out former No. 1 team in the state Picayune two weeks ago.

“We are thrilled to have the opportunity to broadcast all six of our football championships to every home in Mississippi through the Mississippi Public Broadcasting stations, and to make the games available to fans worldwide through the MHSAA Network,” said Don Hinton, Executive Director for the MHSAA in a press release.  “This is an amazing opportunity for the participating high schools, athletes and the MHSAA.”

South Panola School district will dismiss schools early today starting around 12:30 p.m., using the former Tuesday schedule.

The Tigers own nine state championship trophies from their time in 5A and 6A dating from 1993. A win tonight will give them their 10th championship, which is more than any other team in state’s history.

Fans should get ready to be host team as the north teams are home this year. The band will play the National Anthem and the ROTC will present the colors.

Tickets will be available at the high school today from 8 a.m. to noon for $12. They are one dollar more at the gate. The school retains half the proceeds of tickets sales that are pre-sold.

For those who get to the game early before the gates open, Farm Bureau of Jackson will have free tailgating in the northwest corner of the Veterans Memorial Stadium parking lot. Drinks and hotdogs will be available for all fans.