NP Cougars to host  Aberdeen in round 1

By Ike House
Excitement continues to build as it is playoff time in 3A football and the North Panola Cougars (10-0) are one of the teams favored to win the state title.
“I told y’all before the season started that they would have to win every part of the season which were spring, regular season and now the playoffs,” head coach Carl Diffee said to his team after winning the district championship.
Now the Cougars have the toughest task of the season and that is making it to Oxford to play for a 3A state title.
Their first test will be against Aberdeen, a team that defeated them in 2014 by a final of 46-16.
Aberdeen finished the season 5-6 and 2-3 in district but they faced some good talent in the district. Teams like Choctaw County and Houston sat atop of the district while beating them out last Friday for the third seed.
But the Bulldogs are not a slouch of a team. They are a team who passes for only 154.4 yards per game but rushes for 245.5 per game.
They are faced against a quarterback who has passed for 1,652 yards with 14 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
Fred Fields not only has put up good numbers in a classification that does not throw the ball a lot but he also has rushed for 1,130 yards with 14 touchdowns.
His running mate is athlete Dajoun Dobbs who has amassed a total of 1,766 yards of total offense along with 20 total touchdowns, 1,342 of those yards came on the ground.
The Cougars will have their hands full with stopping a duo of Dobbs and Fields that can grind the ball up and down the field.
Both players are responsible for all but three of the Bulldogs’ total touchdowns.
The Cougars are a team of balance and they have a big time defense in the “Jackboys.” They only allow a total of 7.3 points per game.
The Cougars have a sack master and run stopper in Demarco Smith and Quinterrious Walls. Both players combined for a total of 117 tackles and 26 sacks this season.
Another big key of success for the Cougars are their linebacker play in Malcolm Lyons and Kylan Osborn both with over 70 tackles.
The offense is not short of a leader with Kenneth “KJ” Jefferson running the show. Jefferson finished the regular season with 2,256 passing yards with 30 touchdowns and four interceptions to go along with his 928 yards and eight touchdowns on the ground.
His favorite two targets will be trouble for the Bulldog secondary in Jonathan Harris and Jamarvis Echols. Harris finished with 537 yards and nine touchdowns and Echols with 641 yards and nine touchdowns.
With both teams offensively talented, they will depend on their defenses for the win.
Look for a showdown in Sardis tonight between the #1 seed and the #4 seed. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.