SP holds off Hernando

By Brad Greer
Don’t look now but here come the South Panola Tigers.
Having been basically left for dead after a 1-4 start, South Panola reeled off their third straight win with a 35-26 victory over Hernando Thursday night at Robert H. Dunlap Stadium. More importantly, it left the Tigers 3-0 in Region 1-6A play and sets up a showdown with undefeated and No. 2 ranked Tupelo Friday night at Tupelo. The Golden Wave ran its record to 7-0 with a 35-7 victory over Southaven last Friday.
JaMichael Robinson rushed for a season-high 116 yards and two touchdowns as the host Tigers broke open a 14-14 game at halftime with three scores in the second half. Jamian Johnson chipped in with 96 yards on 11 carries and one touchdown as South Panola chewed up 265 yards rushing.
“We knew this was going to be a battle tonight. Hernando has got a good ball team and it was going to take all four quarters to pull out the win because they were not going away cause they wanted it just as bad as we did,” said Robinson, whose 14-yard scamper with 25 seconds remaining iced the game.
“It was a total team effort tonight. The offensive line did a great job opening up holes and the defense came up with some key stops when they had to. We are going to enjoy this one tonight and get ready for Tupelo next week,” said Robinson.
South Panola grabbed a 21-14 lead on the opening drive of the second half as quarterback Patrick Shegog hit a wide-open John Railey on a 15-yard scoring pass on third-and-goal with Blaine Ware adding the PAT.
Hernando answered however as on the first play from scrimmage following the kickoff, Karleke Oliver burst through the South Panola defense untouched for a 80-yard scoring run that closed the margin to 21-20 after the point after attempt sailed wide right.
The score remained that way until early in the fourth quarter when Johnson capped off a six-play; 67-yard drive with a 13-yard scamper with 11:19 left in the contest to extend the margin to 28-20 after Ware’s successful PAT.
But yet again, Hernando would show its resiliency as on the ensuing kickoff, O.D. Wooten scooped up a squib kick and raced 80 yards for the score. The point after attempt failed yet again leaving the score 28-26.
South Panola survived two fumbles on consecutive offensive series as the Tiger defense held firm down the stretch. Robert Hentz delivered a huge quarterback sack on forth down at the Hernando 34 with 36 seconds left that led to Johnson’s late touchdown. Jordan Strong then intercepted a Robert Wilcke on the game’s final play.
“This is the second straight game that our offense has shown what they’re capable of,” said Tiger head coach Lance Pogue. “They are really coming on as a unit. We gave up some big plays on defense and our offense bailed them out which normally is the other way around. If we can keep doing that it will give us some momentum in these last three games.
“Jamian and JaMichael both had a really good night plus (John) Railey had a couple of key receptions including that touchdown catch,” Pogued added.  “Now we have to get ready for a tough, physical battle with a fine Tupelo team next week.”
South Panola led 7-6 after one quarter of play on Robinson’s eight-yard scoring run on the game’s opening drive. Markel Gleaton gave the Tigers a 14-6 advantage in the second quarter on a three-yard run. The drive was aided by Shegog’s 29 yard run to the Hernando seven with Gleaton scoring two plays later.
Hernando tied the game at 14-14 with 4:55 left in the half as Wilcke scrambled around and found a wide-open Dylan Albertson for a 40-yard touchdown pitch and catch.
Hernando outgained South Panola 369-346 in total yardage despite being held to 137 yards in the second half. Hernando was penalized seven times for 73 yards while South Panola was flagged five times for 57 yards.
Stedarious Sanford registered seven rushes for 21 yards for South Panola while Gleaton and Quin Bradford each rushed for 11 yards. Shegog was 9-of-18 passing for 81 yards and one touchdown to go along with five carries for 10 yards.
Strong led the receiving corps with five catches for 51 yards with Railey adding three receptions for 29 yards. Robinson garnered one catch for one yard.
James Johnson led the South Panola defense with 10 tackles and a blocked PAT. D. J. Hall and Hentz added five stops and one quarterback sack each. A.J. Polk supplied four tackles while Lakendrick Willingham chipped in with three tackles.
Strong was also credited with five passes-broken-up while Sanford added three. Montray Blackburn punted five times for a 39.8 yard average.