By Brad Greer
Countless numbers of times in the past it would be South Panola downing the ball deep in their opponent’s territory to end the game. Friday night however was a different story.
Madison Central quarterback Jack Walker took a knee to run out the clock as the visiting Jaguars came away with a 21-19 victory over a reeling Tiger squad.
With the loss, South Panola fell to 1-3 on the season while Madison Central evened its record to 2-2 on the year.
Just has been the case in all three losses, mental mistakes and giving up big plays at crucial times plagued South Panola yet again as they dropped several key passes that could have gone for huge gains.
 South Panola took a 13-7 lead into the lockerroom after a first half that saw the Tigers hold Madison Central to nine yards rushing and a 171-74 in total offensive margin.
Madison Central received the second half  kickoff and marched 65 yards on six plays to take 14-13 advantage as Walker connected with Myles Hobson on a 40-yard touchdown reception.
The score remained that way until the first play of the fourth quarter when Cedric Beal plowed his way into the endzone for a four-yard run to extend the Jaguar margin to 21-13. The scoring drive was set up by Braden Boykin’s 92-yard interception return of a Patrick Shegog pass to the Tiger three-yard line.
South Panola would not go away quitely as they would pull within two points as Shegog hit John Railey in the flat for an 11-yard scoring strike to make the score 21-19 with 3:51 remaining in the game. The Tigers would then go for the two-point conversion but could not convert as Shegog was forced out of bounds on the two-line line.
Madison Central would then run out the clock on the following possession by converting two huge third down conversions to keep the drive going.
South Panola had a chance to get the ball back with under two minutes left but gave the Jaguars a crucial first down by jumping offsides on a 4th-and-one from the Tiger 49.
Three plays later and facing another third down call, Walker’s 18-yard run  to the South Panola 14 iced the game for Madison Central. The Jaguars rushed for 65 yards in the fourth quarter alone after being held to 10 yards on the ground through the first three quarters.
“Give Madison Central credit, they made more plays than we did, but our guys played hard for four quarters and had a chance at the end to tie the game and possibly win if we just had made one or two plays. A couple of mistakes there on the final drive destroyed us, but I am proud of the effort we gave. We just have to just come pick ourselves up and come back,” said Tiger head coach Lance Pogue.
Special teams set up both scores in the first quarter as a blocked punt led to a Gabe Short four-yard run gave Madison Central a 7-0 lead with 9:26 left in the period.
 After being held to three-and-out on their following series, South Panola dug into its bag of tricks as D.J. Hall took a fake punt and rambled 47 yards to the Jaguar 13-yard line. Two plays later, Jamian Johnson scored on a one-yard plunge to tie the contest at 7-7 with Blaine Ware adding the PAT.
South Panola grabbed the halftime advantage with 13 seconds left before halftime as Shegog called his own number on a two-yard scoring run. Ware’s point after was then blocked.
South Panola out-gained Madison Central 271 to 211 in total yardage while holding a 16-9 advantage in first downs.
The Tigers rushed for 217 yards on 47 attempts while passing for 54 yards. Johnson led South Panola in rushing with 99 yards on 27 carries. Shegog followed with nine carries for 51 yards. Derrick Cunningham chipped in with 10 carries for 20 yards.
Jordan Strong led the receiving corps with four receptions for 29 yards. Railey had one catch for 13 yards while Norman Smith added one catch for 10 yards. C. J. Hardrick registered two catches for 15 yards.
Eriq Kitchen and Robert Hentz led the South Panola defense with five tackles each. Gerrian Key, O’Bryan Goodson and Jeterrion Draper accounted for four stops each while A.J. Polk supplied three tackles. Kitchen also had two quarterback sacks.
Montray Blackburn punted eight times for 26.9 avgage yards.
South Panola goes on the road Friday at 7 p.m. to take on Memphis University School who defeated Grenada 27-7 last week.