NP trumps Mitchell 44-6 to remain undefeated

Published 12:25 pm Tuesday, September 26, 2017

NP trumps Mitchell 44-6 to remain undefeated

North Panola’s Tracy Davis put his wide receiver skills to good use on defense as he went up and caught this interception against Mitchell Friday night.
The Panolian photo by Andy Young

By Brad Greer
North Panola head football coach Carl Diffee was somewhat concerned how his Cougars would play Friday against Mitchell after coming off an open date last week.
After a sluggish two series, the North Panola offense got going by scoring on its next six possessions as they ran away and hid from the Tigers 44-6 to remain perfect at 5-0 on the season.
North Panola junior quarterback K.J. Jefferson threw four touchdown passes and ran for another as the Cougars led 44-0 at halftime. North Panola ran eight plays in the second half as a running game clock was implemented.
“We were a bit rusty on the first two drives and definitely weren’t locked in on where we needed to be. I thought our defense came out and played solid from the start, those guys have been playing consistent throughout the year so far. But offensively we are not clicking early on in games and if we’re not careful it’s going to come back and bite us,” said Diffee.
Antoine Oliver’s 13-yard punt return late in the first quarter set up North Panola’s first touchdown as Jefferson connected with Tyler Shorter on a 42-yard scoring strike followed by Oliver’s two-point conversion to give North Panola an 8-0 lead.
The Cougars struck again with less than a minute remaining in the first quarter as Jefferson tossed a slip screen to Jamarvis Echols who in turn raced 38 yards for the score. Jefferson and Echols hooked up for the two-point conversion to give the home team a 16-0 cushion.
North Panola’s defense accounted for the next two scores as on the ensuing kickoff, Karterikkous Walls stripped the pigskin from a Mitchell ball carrier at the Tiger 14-yard line. Four plays later, Jefferson walked into the endzone from eight yards out as Oliver ran in another conversion attempt for a 24-0 Cougar lead.
Things got worse for the Tigers on its following possession as North Panola’s Tracy Davis picked off his first of two interceptions that led to Cougar touchdowns.
Clarence Taylor bolted in from two yards out at the 7:27 mark to increase the margin to 30-0 after pass receptions of 38 and 16 yards by Jamarvis Echols and Shorter keyed the drive.
Jarvis Echols got into the scoring act as the senior wide receiver hauled in a 34-yard pass from Jefferson with Oliver running in the two-point conversion to make the score 38-0 with 3:50 remaining in the first half.
North Panola put the finishing touches on the contest as a Davis interception at the Mitchell 10-yard line set up a Jefferson-to-Jonathan Harris touchdown pass at the 1:22 mark after the two-point attempt failed.
The Cougars garnered 370 yards of total offense on the night with 251 yards coming through the air and 119 on the ground. Jefferson finished with 10-of-13 passing, all in the first half, to go along with four rushes for 55 yards.
Jamarvis Echols led the receiving corps with four receptions for 100 yards while twin brother Jarvis reeled in two catches for 56 yards.
Shorter chipped in with two catches for 63 yards while Harris also contributed with two catches for 32 yards.
In the rushing column, Antione Oliver garnered three rushes for 27 yards, Taylor chipped in with 16 yards on two totes while Carl Robinson tallied two carries for 11 yards. Marvin Adams and Sylvonta Oliver each had one carry for seven and three yards.
“Coming into this game Mitchell had one on the top defensive teams in the Memphis area so we had a good offensive game plan and once we started executing it I felt like our guys did a really good job of running it,” said Diffee.
“But the thing I told them afterwords is we did not finish the game like we needed to. We didn’t start like we needed to and didn’t finish like we needed to. But in between that time we did a good job and I know its tough to stay motivated when you have such a big lead at halftime. We have to be a team that finds self-motivation because we have a big division game against a very good Independence team on the road next week,” said Diffee.

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