By Angie Ledbetter

After a slow start in the season opener before the home crowd, the South Panola Tiger dominated the second half against Memphis White Station for a 62-27 victory.

The Tigers finished the game with 304 yards rushing and 139 passing for a total of 443 yards. 

The Spartans dominated the time with 31:40 but were held to 188 total yards, 58 rushing and 130 passing.  

Tiger head coach Lance Pogue said, “I never apologize for winning but it was a crazy first half with a lot of things. You have to credit Memphis White Station because they came out with a lot more enthusiasm than we did. They had some early momentum. We withstood that and had some bad mistakes that we made.”

A fumble by the Tigers on Memphis’ 20 set up a touchdown for the Spartans  when Burk Williams connected with Dillion Mitchel on a 43-yard pass. The Spartans led 7-0 after the PAT with 6:50 on the clock.

With 29 seconds left in the first quarter Tiger junior running back Oluwain Hoskins tied the game when he took the ball from seven yards out. Steven Collins added the extra point. 

“Hoskins had a good night running the ball hard and breaking tackles,” Pogue said.

In the second quarter at the 8:29 mark, Mitchell returned Turner Rotenberry’s punt 75 yards for the touchdown to give White Station the 14-7 lead after the PAT.

Tiger Darrell Henderson scored on a one-yard run but the PAT was no good and the Spartans retained a one-point lead, 14-13.

The Tigers took the lead for good with 3:03 left in the half on a Henderson 15-yard run. Twilley took in the two-point conversion for the 21-14 lead. 

A little later, Tyler Pogue connected with Cole Rotenberry on a 14-yard pass to give the Tigers a 28-14 lead after Collins’ PAT. 

“Tyler made a few mistakes but again that’s inexperienced and youthfulness. He made some plays and got some confidence.”

The Tigers only allowed four first downs for the Spartans in the first half and 64 total yards.

“We got in our groove and you can see what we can be. It started in the second quarter and carried it over.”

The Tiger’s defense continued to hold strong in the second half allowing only 13 points by the Spartans and the offense stayed in high gear.

 With 10:52 on the clock in the third Hoskins scored on a 42 yard run and the PAT was blocked. Demetrius Market followed with a 23 yard touchdown pass from Tyler Pogue. With Collins’ PAT the Tigers took a 41-14 lead over the Spartans. 

Mitchell caught an 18 yard pass from Williams and the extra point by Micah Breckerdg was good with 6:15 left in the quarter. Spartans scored for the last time in the game with 4:16 on the clock when Kjay Johnson took the ball 56 yards but the PAT was no good putting the score 41-27.

Donald Twilley intercepted the Spartan’s ball returning it 22 yards for a touchdown and Collin’s extra point put the Tigers up 48-27 to end the quarter.

The Tigers have basically two different offenses within their structure according to Pogue.

“Folks have to prepare for both of them and I think it’ll help us to keep getting better.”

It didn’t take Twilley long to get in the endzone in the last quarter. He scored on a 22 yard run and Collins added the extra point giving the Tigers a 54-27 lead.

 Pogue said, “We’ve got a little package for Twilley offensively and I thought he did a great job tonight. What I was really proud of was we didn’t have to put a major load on Henderson.”

Tyler Pogue connected with Market on a 20 yard pass and Collins added the PAT for the last score of the night.

Pogue said, “The offensive line did an excellent job giving our quarterbacks protection in our passing game. Thought they blocked good in our running game also.”

        “We’ve got some things to continue to work on,” said Pogue. “Some inexperienced guys got a little experience tonight and that’s good. When you win and you’re still not as happy probably as you should be about how you played then that’s pretty good because you go work on it.”

“I challenged the kids to be hungry and keep getting better. We got out of this game injury free and glad to get a win.”

One big thing Pogue thought about the Tigers was they were in better condition than the Spartans.

“Thought we wore them down and they got tired. I was really pleased with our endurance.”

Hoskins led the offense with 123 yards on 17 carries with two touchdowns.  Twilley had four carries for 102 yards with one touchdown. Henderson had 94 yards on 15 carries with two touchdowns.

Tyler Pogue completed nine of 16 passes for 139 yards with three touchdowns. He also had one interception and two sacks.

Market had four receptions for 60 yards with two touchdowns. Kitchen had two receptions for 47 yards. Cole Rotenberry had one 14 yard touchdown reception. 

On special teams Twilley had one interception for a 22 yard touchdown. Turner Rotenberry punted twice for 85 yards with his longest being 44 yards. Cole Rotenberry had one for 14 yards. 

Anfernee Benson had eight tackles and one interception. Kitchen had seven tackles and one pass deflections. Porter had six tackles.  John Ellis had four pass deflections. Desmond Lester and Kasey Hankins had one sack each. 

Mitchell led the Spartans with seven receptions for 94 yards with two touchdowns. Johnson had 14 rushes for 65 yards with one touchdown.  Williams completed 12 of 28 passes for 130 yards with two touchdowns. He had two interceptions and two sacks. 

The Tigers were back in action last night at West Point for neither non division game.