Tigers welcome Vikings

By Brad Greer
For high school football fans tonight starts the most exciting time of the year as the march to Starkville and the MHSAA State Championships get underway.
For South Panola, it marks a chance for redemption from last year’s early exit in the first round playoff loss. They host the Warren Central Vikings Friday in a 7 p.m. kickoff.
Tickets will be on sale at the high school today from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
Winners of six of the last seven games, South Panola enters tonight’s contest with a 7-5 overall record and a second place finish behind Tupelo in Region 1-6A.
Warren Central will be taking the three-hour trek from Vicksburg sporting a 9-2 record and a No. 3 seed in Region 2 behind Clinton and Madison Central.
The last time the teams met was in 2008 in the Red Carpet Bowl where South Panola won 31-18.
The two teams played in the 1993 State Championship game where South Panola won it’s first state championship, 42-28.
The Vikings’ only losses this season have come at the hands of Madison Central (28-25) and Starkville (35-28). Warren Central’s biggest win on the year came in week 10 as they handed then No. 1 Clinton a 50-32 loss after taking a commanding 30-3 lead at halftime.
South Panola head coach Lance Pogue said while there is no room for error, the Tigers are excited about the challenge of post season play.
“Our coaches were talking at practice yesterday about there is a different vibe in the air. The kids know what is at stake but that is why you play high school football. All of those summer workouts lead up to these types of moments. As I’ve said before, I feel like we are playing at our best right now and the only thing left to do is go out and give it your all for four quarters and see which team comes out on top,” said Pogue.
South Panola is coming off a 33-7 win over Desoto Central last week in which the Tiger running game, behind offensive linemen Thomas Turner, Desmond Shegog, Jamaul Lofton and Lacory Pegues, produced 263 yards rushing.
The Tigers are averaging 181 yards  and 78 yards passing on the season while scoring 18 points per game. The  defense is surrendering 13 points per game but is only allowing six points a game in district play.
A. J. Polk leads South Panola with 53 tackles followed by D. J. Hall’s 45 stops. O’Bryan Goodson is third on the squad with 41 tackles but has a team-leading 17 tackles-for-loss. Eriq Kitchen and Kalvin Hankins both have registered 11 tackles-for-loss. Jordan Strong and Jeterrion Draper are tied with three interceptions each.
Warren Central is led by senior signal-caller Jesse Wilson and running backs Demarcus Jones and Joe’Vontae Shorter. Wilson has passed for 1,270 yards and 13 touchdowns while Jones and Shorter have combined for 27 rushing touchdowns.
“Their district was a lot like ours as far as anyone of five teams could have  finished in first place. They have got a solid football team. Two of their running backs have rushed for close to 900 yards and the quarterback can run and throw the ball. Of their 22 starters, 18 are seniors so they have a lot of experience,” said Pogue.
The winner of tonight’s game will face the Hernando/Clinton winner next week.
Those who cannot make it to the game can listen on WBLE,100.5 FM or video stream it live on sptigerden.com/Home. Click on Tiger TV and go to Channel 1.