By Myra Bean
It may have only been junior high, but there was some hard hitting action in the Batesville Jr. High football scrimmage Thursday night.

Next year’s eighth graders got a jump start on the season as the coaches got to see what the Tiger running game will be like next year.

If the players keep playing and build on this season, some of their names are destined to become synonymous with South Panola Tiger football.

Under center was Jamichael Ford with any number of running backs at his beck and call including Derek Cunningham, Quin Bradford and Tyrus Bradford. They turned the reigns over to the second offense under quarterback Morris House with running back Nictravius Market.

Batesville played Clarksdale and Olive Branch and then in a last minute change also played Lake Cormorant. Batesville and Lake Cormorant were the only teams to play three scrimmage matches.

Batesville held Clarksdale scoreless 18-0 and defeated Olive Branch 12-6. However, they fell to Lake Cormorant 18-12.

Scoring for Batesville against Clarksdale were Quin Bradford on a 45-yard run; Tyrus Bradford on a 42-yard run and Market on an eight-yard run.

Against Olive Branch, Cunningham scored on a  32-yard run while Quin Bradford broke for a 38-yard run.

During Lake Cormorant’s possession, they broke for three touchdown runs through a Batesville defense that had held pretty strong through the other two games.

Getting through the Gator defense to score was Quin Bradford on two runs of 40 and seven yards. 

On the other end of the field were the division two teams with Lake Cormorant including Pope and Lafayette County. On the Lafayette sideline was assistant coach Luke Kiihnl, former South Panola player and coach.