By Myra Bean
South Panola (8-0 overall, 4-0 district) held nothing back as the No. 21 USA Today nationally-ranked team took down Tupelo 35-0 in district action. The Tigers extended their win streak to 23 games.

This was the Tiger first shutout of the season despite some stellar play from the defense. Tupelo’s lack of offensive ability was exploited by the Tigers. The team had managed to score some points in every game even though it may be defensive or special teams. However, the Tigers did not give them a chance, restricting them to their own territory until the third quarter. They got to the Tiger 44-yard line one time.

The starting offense and defense played so well that the backup players got some game experience in the fourth quarter. The defensive linemen were waiting around assistant coach Terrance “Flutty” Pope hoping to catch a treat when he was substituting players. He was likened to Santa Clause handing out assignments.

“Once it gets down to the fourth quarter, all the young guys have been working hard, practicing on the scout teams. We want to reward those guys by putting them in, give them some game reps,” Pope said.

The offensive players got some time in even though at least one veteran player was on the field with the younger ones at all times.

Using the committee system to put some points on the boards, senior athlete Demetrius Market, 5’10”, 170 pounds, scored two rushing touchdowns to bring his total to six touchdowns on the year. He scored on a 24-yard run with 37 seconds left in the first half.

On the first down on the first possession of the third quarter, he scampered for 64 yards after initially dodging a few would-be tacklers. Then he sprinted for the end zone with 9:33 on the clock. He had a total of 65 yards on nine carries for the night to lead the rushers.

Senior kicker Steven Collins was perfect on the night kicking 5-of-5 PATs. He has completed 26 of 29 attempts this season and kicked both field goals he attempted for a total of 32 points.

Special teams was another strong area Friday night. Senior receiver Cole Rotenberry returned his second punt return for a touchdown this season. Friday, it was a 48-yard return to get the Tigers on the board in the first quarter with 8:04 left.

Senior receiver Love McBride scored his first touchdown of the season on a 16-yard pass from senior quarterback Tyler Pogue with 4:25 left in the first quarter. The PAT by Collins capped a five-play, 77-yard drive. The drive was aided by a 33-yard pass from Pogue to senior athlete Donald Twilley and on a 17-yard run by senior running Oluwain Hoskins. Hoskins had 38 yards on the night on seven carries. Twilley had 44 yards on two catches.

The final Tiger score came from the backup players. Sophomore quarterback Patrick Shegog found sophomore Jordan Strong for both of their second touchdowns on the season. The PAT by Collins capped a four-play, 80-yard drive by the younger crew. The drive was aided by a 40-yard bootleg by Shegog and an 11-yard carry by senior receiver Quadarius Shivers.

The Tiger defense was disrupted to the Tupelo game plan all night long. Junior defensive lineman Eriq Kitchen who had a banner game last week did not let us this week recording XXtwo sacks. Also sophomore Robert Hentz dropped the quarterback for a sack.

Ladarius Rudd returned after missing two games due to an illness and recorded two sacks.
In the first quarter, senior defensive back James Ellis recorded his first interception of the year. He was asked, “James did you step out of bounds?” His reply was “No, ma’am, I don’t know why they called the touchdown back.”

Everybody thought Ellis had returned the interception for a score but the ball was placed on the Tupelo 47. The Tigers did not capitalize on the turnover and score.

Senior Drelan Porter and juniors D. J. Hall, O’Bryan Goodson and Derrick Sanford just did what they normally do, rush the quarterback and mess up the other team’s plays with hurries, big tackles and intimidation.

Senior K. T. Pegues got his named called by longtime PA announcer P. R. Roberts and the WBLE radio crew with his three tackles, one for a loss and breaking up a possible touchdown pass.

Kentravious Benson also got a tackle for a loss. Contributing to keeping the Golden Wave out of the end zone in the fourth quarter are Kenon Johnson, Trammell Thomas and Senior Ontavious Johnson.

The Tigers had 346 total yards of offense with 256 on the ground and 90 in the air.