QB Draper leads charge with 5 touchdown passes

By Brad Greer

Friday the 13th turned into more like Nightmare on Tiger Drive for Meridian High School as South Panola stayed unbeaten with a 57-0 whitewash of the Wildcats Friday in Robert H. Dunlap Stadium.

The Tigers improved to 4-0 behind junior quarterback Anterrio Draper’s five touchdown passes.

Draper threw for 207 yards, leading a Tiger offense that rolled up 437 yards of total offense and led 38-0 at halftime.

Draper tossed scoring strikes of 28, 27, 27, 24 yards and ended the night with a perfectly placed 69-yard bomb to Ricky Farmer in the third quarter to give South Panola a 44-0 cushion.

“Everything seemed to have fallen in right place offensively for us tonight. My confidence level is pretty how right now knowing I have the best offensive line in the state blocking for me. We just have to keep improving every time we step onto the field,” Draper said.

While the Tiger offense was rolling the South Panola defense overmatched a Meridian unit by forcing six turnovers while holding the ‘Cats to 75 total yards.

Jalen Kirby, Tiram Wadlington,Trenderous Sanford and Ethan Johnson recovered fumbles while Marquavious Harris and Tim Taylor recorded interceptions.

Harris’ interception late in the second quarter set up a Nathan Wall’s 35-yard field goal on the last play of the first half.

South Panola took a commanding 21-0 lead after one quarter of play as Janari Dean raced 23 yards on the second play from scrimmage.

Dean, who played only one quarter, finished the night with 74 yards on four carries.

Draper then proceeded to zip scoring strikes of 28 yards and 27 yards to Martez Clark and Cameron Wright to give South Panola a 21-0 lead.

The Draper-to-Wright tandem struck again with 8:48 left in the first half as the junior signal-called connected with Wright on a 24-yard scoring play.

Wright showed why he is one of the top junior wide receivers in the state by taking the ball away from the Meridian defensive back and racing into the end zone.

Draper continued to pick apart the Wildcat defense later in the quarter as he connected with Christon Bobo for a 27-yard TD pass with Walls added the PAT to give the Tigers a 35-o advantage with 1:28 remaining in the half.

Damarron Shaw finished out the scoring barrage with  three-yard run with 33 seconds left in the game.The sophomore finished with 78 yards on 15 carries that included a 64 yard gallup to set up his touchdown.

Wright and LaAric Harris each posted three receptions for South Panola. Nate Harris, Artie Bobo, Farmer,Christon Bobo and Clark all registered one catch. John Blockmon completed 3-of-4 passes for 20 yards in a backup role.

Jaqualin Gillespie led the South Panola defense with eight tackles while Tra’ Norwood and Zach Brown followed with four stops. Sanford, Norwood and Michal Terry had quarterback sacks.

South Panola concludes its three-game home stand Friday as they host Clarksdale at 7 p.m.