NP Cougars advance to North Half

By Ike House
History and North Panola are going hand and hand this season and they continue to make new things happen after winning in the third round of footblal playoffs Friday night to advance to North Half for the fist time in school’s history.
The win set up a North Half matchup against undefeated Yazoo County at 7 p.m. Friday in Sardis.
The Cougars have never been this far and are making it seem as if they are regulars in late playoff runs. The coaching staff calls it the “new normal” and things definitely looked normal after the Cougars defeated Choctaw County Chargers 28-14 i the away game.
“I think we kept their run game in check for the most part,” Cougar head coach Carl Diffee said. “It was busted plays that hurt us. The biggest take away I got was the quarterback we play against next week will make a lot happen from busted plays.”
Despite it looking like North Panola had to play the team and the referees, the Cougars maintained their composure on the field, even when senior offensive lineman Quenterrious Walls went down late in the fourth quarter after a Choctaw player appeared to purposely hold onto his leg and twist it, even though the official had blown the play dead.
On the first couple of drives both teams got their defenses going. The “Jackboys” defense caused their first turnover of the night as Spencer Higganbotham made his first interception of the year. The Cougar offense awarded his turnover as they capitalized and got their first touchdown of the night. Sylvonta Oliver went 14 yards for a score. The score stood 6-0 Cougars after the two-point attempt failed.
But the score would not bring the momentum with it because both teams stalled until the Chargers took an 11-play drive into the endzone from two yards out. They converted on the PAT and took the lead to 7-6. The Cougars did not let that keep them down as things turned their way after that point. Oliver scored his second touchdown of the night on a 76 yard kickoff return. They got the two point conversion and led 14-7. Then the Cougars kicked an onside kick and it was recovered by Katerrikous Walls, who has recovered four this season.
“He (Oliver) opened the game up with that return and then our defense was able to get us the ball back,” Diffee said.
It did not turn into points but when the Cougars got the ball back they scored. Oliver got his third touchdown of the night with a five yard run. They converted the two points and led 22-7.
After a squib kick on kickoff the Chargers started their drive on the 50 and one 30 yard play put the Chargers at the 20 for a 30-yard field goal attempt. Luck was not on his side as he missed wide right sending the game into halftime with the Cougars up 22-7.
No one scored in the third quarter but in the beginning of the fourth that changed. Quadarius Jones got his first interception of the season and returned it 36 yards for a touchdown or a pick 6. They two-point attempt failed and the score stood 28-7.
The Chargers made up for their mistake on the next drive with a 21-yard touchdown run to cut the lead 28-14 after the PAT.
Choctaw attempted the onside kick and recovered. The drive ended with Malcomn Lyons second fumble recovery of the game. The Cougars held the ball as long as possible but were forced to punt.
The Chargers tried to score in the last minute but a sack by Zantavious Phillips thwarted their plans.
“We played offense and punted and you can’t get mad because you have to do that sometimes in order to survive and advance,” Diffee said.
Kenneth Jefferson finished the game going 8-13 for 135 yards and also added 11 carries for 50 yards.
Leading the ground attack was Clarence Taylor with 12 carries for 31 yards. Other rushers were Oliver with three carries for 19 yards and two touchdowns and Antwon Oliver with one carry for four yards.
Leading the receiver corps was Sylvonta Oliver with three catches for 65 yards. Other receivers were Jarmarvis Echols with three catches for 39 yards; Carl Robinson with a catch for 17 yards; Jarvis Echols had a catch for 11 yards and Tyler Shorter with a catch for seven yards.
On the defensive side of the ball Quinterrious Walls led the way with seven tackles and four tackles for a loss.
Other tacklers were Lyons, seven tackles and two fumble recoveries; Demarco Smith and Oliver, five tackles and a deflection each; Dennis Robinson, four tackles; Kylan Osborn, three tackles; Higganbotham, two tackles and an interception; Tracy Davis, two tackles and a tackle for a loss; Alex Gross and Jaylen Gipson, two tackles each; Chris Clark, one tackle and an interception; Phillips, one tackle, one sack and one tackle for a loss; and Shorter and Eric Bailey, one tackle each.