By Angie Ledbetter

It was the first shutout of the season for the South Panola Tigers as they slammed the door on district opponent Hernando 49-0 in perfect football weather Friday night.

South Panola (7-1) improved their district record to 3-0 while Hernando fell to 3-4 and 0-3 in the division.

Junior running back Darrell Henderson continued to showcase his talent rushing the ball 10 times for 130 yards and making it to the endzone three times. In eight games he has rushed the ball 143 times for 1,075 yards and scoring 16 times.

South Panola won the toss and deferred to the second half. Henderson scored back to back on runs of 4 and 13 yards in the first quarter and Matthew Williams added his PAT to put the Tigers up 14-0 going into the second quarter.

With 8:00 minutes left on the clock Rip Kirk connected with Bailey Lawrence in the south endzone corner for a 16 yard touchdown and Williams added the PAT.

Lawrence said, “I didn’t know the ball was there. I turned around and saw it in the air and I put my hands out and caught it. I’m glad we won this game because it’s going to help us next week.”

Henderson added his third touchdown run when he took the ball from the four yard line with 3.5 seconds left in the quarter and with William’s PAT the Tigers went up 28-8 at the half.

To start the second half South Panola received the kickoff. Four plays later Roosevelt Jones took the ball from five yards out and Williams added his fifth extra point of the night.

Sophomore quarterback Tyler Pogue came in the game to replace Kirk in the third quarter along with other new players seeing action. With the ball staying on the ground Pogue went one of three for 14 yards.

With 6:02 left in the quarter Tavian Bibbs scored on a nine yard run and Steven Collins added the PAT putting the Tigers up 42-0.

Bibbs ended the game with 10 carries for 132 yards with his longest being 64.

Late in the fourth quarter the Tigers added their last score of the night when freshman K. D. Chapman took the ball from the eight and Collins added the last PAT giving the Tigers the victory.

“Our kicking game was really good making all of our extra points with both kickers involved and we punted well,” said Head Coach Lance Pogue.

Kirk punted twice for 93 yards with his longest at 53.

Pogue said the team didn’t play extremely well but put up some good numbers.

“It wasn’t the sharpest that it needed to be. We put so much emotion into last week’s game and I was worried about us being a little flat tonight. We had enough that we kind of self-motivated ourselves. We had enough to where we could stretch it out and get it going. We were sluggish at times but sometimes that happens but you try to find ways to win and move forward and get ready for the next one. This was a good win for us coming off of Olive Branch game.”

Oluwain Hoskins had five carries for 61 yards, Jones had five for 40, Chapman had three for 26 and Dwayne Brassell had three for 19.

Antavion Reed had two receptions for 55 yards, Justin Armstead had one for 14 and Tyler Bradford had one for seven yards.

Dashawn Lindsay had one kickoff return for 54 yards and Henderson had one punt return for 11 yards.  

Hernando played hard and they’re a good physical team added Pogue.

“They ran the ball inside with no tricks involved but we don’t see their style of play much anymore. Everybody we play now spreads it out or throws it so hardly ever do we get to see the tight end and wing. It was kind of an adjustment for us this week in practice.”

South Panola ended the game with 19 first downs, one fumble and three penalties for 28 yards. They had 478 all-purpose yards on 50 plays and had the ball for 17:51.  

Hernando controlled time of possession with 30:09 with 10 first downs. They had 174 total yards on 56 plays with two penalties for 10 yards.  

On the defensive side of the ball Ryan Lee and Tavares Lee led the team with six tackles. Tavares Lee also had a pass deflection. 

Anfernee Benson had five tackles and Javarius Turner had four. Recording three tackles each were Donald Twilley, Matthew Davis, Desmond Lester and Drelan Porter. Porter had one sack for an eight yard loss. 

Javon Norris, Chance Griffin and Turner Rotenberry had two tackles on the night. Rotenberry had one pass deflection. 

Getting one tackle each were Quandez Lee, Brady Smith, Curinzo Towns, Jamarcus Brooks, Quentin Cox, Keven Black, Ephraim Kitchens, John Ellis, Kentravius Benson, Shaq McMurry and Kasey Hankins. Gabriel Lloyd and Kitchens had two pass deflections.    

 There were some upsets in 6A in the state including Desoto Central brought down then No. 6 ranked Olive Branch for the first time ever, 27-21. Olive Branch goes to 1-2 in the district and Desoto Central improves to 2-1. Tupelo remains undefeated with a 7-0 overall, 3-0 district record with the Tigers hanging on for the battle to be tested this Friday night.

In division 2 Starkville and Madison Central each have a 3-0 division record.

In the south, Petal upset No. 1 Brandon 20-13. That left Oak Grove with the only undefeated record and 3-0 in the division. Petal, Brandon, Meridian and Terry all have a 2-1 record in the division.