Tigers fighting for playoff positions
Published 1:15 pm Friday, October 20, 2017
- Derrick Cunningham fights for extra yardage against two Tupelo defenders last Friday night. Cunningham had his career high last week with 135 yards rushing. The Panolian photo by Myra Bean
Tigers fighting for playoff positions
Derrick Cunningham fights for extra yardage against two Tupelo defenders last Friday night. Cunningham had his career high last week with 135 yards rushing.
The Panolian photo by Myra Bean
By Brad Greer
With three weeks remaining in the regular season, the Region 1-6A race to the secure a playoff spot begins to heat up tonight as teams start jockeying for position.
One game of interest will take place in Southaven as the Chargers of Southaven hosts South Panola in a 7 p.m kickoff.
Southaven (4-4;3-1 in district) currently tied for second place with Horn Lake, this after a 44-14 romp over Columbus last week.
South Panola meanwhile will be looking to get back in the win column after a 31-21 setback to Tupelo at home last Friday. The Tigers enters tonight with a 2-2 record in district play and 6-3 overall.
South Panola is currently tied with Oxford for third place, but holds the tie breaker over the Chargers due to their 14-0 victory three weeks ago.
Southaven got the 2017 gridiron season off to a slow start at 1-3 but has since gotten hot of late by winning its last three of four games with their lone district coming against Tupelo.
Southaven has collected wins over Holmes Central, Oxford and Hernando while dropping tilts to Germantown, (Tenn.) Olive Branch and Madison (Miss.) Germantown.
On offense, look for Southaven to possibly use a two-quarterback platoon system with sophomore Jonah Posey and junior Micah Chillers (5’11”-198) taking snaps.
Posey did the most damage in the Chargers win over Columbus by throwing for 206 yards and three touchdowns.
Joining the two in the backfield will be sophomore Zakarrius Towns and junior Amittai Hurt.
The Charger defense is led by senior trio of Kendarrious Reed,(6’1″-210) Gabriel Wilson (5’11”-210) and Cortez Parker (5’10”-185). Southaven’s secondary is spearheaded by senior Trey Perkins who returned an interception for a touchdown against Columbus.
South Panola will counter with a defensive line consisting of Quin Benson, Robert Hentz, Lakendrick Willingham and C.J.Hardrick. Wade Thornton led the Tigers with 11 tackles while Willingham posted a season-high ten tackles and a quarterback sack.
On the offensive side of the ball junior running back Cunningham looks to lead the charge.
Cunningham rushed for a season-high 135 yards that included a 91 yard scamper that set up a touchdown.
Kanoda Lewis reeled in six receptions from quarterback Patrick Shegog for 128 yards and a 20-yard scoring pass in the second quarter.
Other district games include: Oxford (6-3; 2-2) at Columbus (2-6; 1-3), Desoto Central (3-6; 0-4) visits Tupelo (8-0; 4-0) and Hernando (4-4; 1-3) hosts Horn Lake (6-1; 3-1).
