Yes, that was a hold that should have been called by the PAC 10 crew on the opening kickoff run for a touchdown in the BCS National Championship Game. I must have been asked two dozen times about it. Guess it means you are learning about the finer points of the game which is a good thing. Truth be known, that initial shock of a touchdown on the opening kickoff probably did more good for Florida than anything.

Not a bad season for the SEC. Finishing up the bowls at six and three is good. We could have done better on the losses but that last one sure made up for them.

It was a classic example of "why we play the games" for sure. Every sports media type in the country had written off the Gators and their biggest comment was how bad would the Buckeyes beat them?

I really had fun watching it and had my family shaking their heads with my "banshee-ish" screaming. I had worked Florida four times this season but I swear they never played with such intensity as they did in the big game.

All season, I could see how good their defense was but they played well above that. I almost ran down the street yelling "S – E – C" and all right after it went final but I did think better of that.

I have no idea how Fox came up with the broadcast crew but the best, to me, was Charles Davis. He used to be the Jefferson Pilot Sports sideline guy before they hired Dave Baker. Anyway, How ?bout them Gators!

One thing I noticed about the crew working the game was how they didn’t close on the play as the ball carrier is down. In the SEC, you can see all officials move toward the runner as he is tackled even on a short running play.

The reason for that is it helps to stop the little skirmishes that can and do break out between opposing players not directly involved in the tackling as the play ends. There were several instances of little chicken fights and one player getting a last "cheap shot" hit to make a statement with no official in sight except for the one with the spot.

We don’t mean to penalize each and every one of those but with a close presence of a striped shirt, ninety-nine percent of that won’t happen. But if it does, you have to get it early in the game to stop it before it escalates.

S-E-C, S-E-C. How sweet it is.

Betsy and I went to Noo Awleans for a wedding last week, and it was our first visit to the Big Easy since Hurricane Katrina. We’ve missed it.

I will always and forever be a country boy, but if God told me, "Okay, Neill, you’re going to have to live in a city for the rest of your life, but I’ll let you pick the city," I’d pick Noo Awleans, in spite of all the post-Katrina flack.

I care nothing about the year-long parties, Mardi Gras, the sports teams, or the crime rate. What we enjoy so much are the eatin’ places.

Of the which, our favorite one isn’t even in the city: it’s about 45 minutes north and west, at a turnoff called Manchac. Middendorf’s is the name of the restaurant.

My pick from the menu is always the broiled soft-shell crab, but the barbequed oysters and the gumbo are hard to beat. Betsy goes for the oyster po-boys, and the kids all loved the thin-fried catfish.

When we dropped in last Friday for lunch, that was obviously the most popular dish. Since we were directed to a table in the back of the back room, we had a chance to look at what everyone else was eating.

When the young waitress brought us our menus and water, she asked where we were from, and I replied "The Mississippi Delta."

Then I swept my hand at the other tables full of catfish platters and guessed, "Where I bet y’all buy most of the catfish you serve in here, right?" I have read that the Delta supplies nearly 75% of all the commercially-bought catfish in America – maybe the world!

She smiled, shaking her head. "No, Sir, all of our catfish is caught locally."

Now, that was a surprise, to me. My hat is off to the Middendorf folks. Our oldest daughter Christie went to Tulane, plus I have done a lot of fishing, hunting, and sailing with Admiral Drake and Captain Hook – Gene Drake & Ted Daly – plus I played football at Ole Miss when we owned the Sugar Bowl, so we’ve made a lot of trips to Noo Awleans, and we always plan to be going by Manchac on the way down and the way back, right at lunchtime!

This is an aside, but I counted at least 33 NCAA Division I bowl games this season. Do you realize that, 40 years ago, there weren’t but four? The Sugar, Orange, Rose and Cotton – the Gator Bowl was new, and a kind of consolation prize. Lordee, how times have changed!

At any rate, we departed Manchac full of crabs and oysters, then had another feast at the wedding in the St. Louis Hotel that night, everything from gumbo (made with a gizzard base!) to shrimp Creole to jambalaya to oysters Rockefeller to banana Foster, with lots more in between. We were only a block or so from Antoine’s, Gallatoir’s, Arnaud’s, and Brennan’s, and Caf? du Monde was walking distance, as was the Pearl Oyster Bar. Nothing downtown really showed the effects of Katrina, 18 months ago almost.

I’d probably weigh 500 pounds if I lived in Noo Awleans, but you know what? We got home about 6:30 Saturday evening, and about Rolling Fork, Betsy asked, "What would you like for supper?’ And before we realized it, we were placing a call to pick up a couple of Lillo’s Deluxe pizzas!

Yeah, we’d just been to the big city, with some of the best eatin’ places in the world, but we live within 15 minutes of some of the best eatin’ places anywhere: Lillo’s, Cicero’s, Flavors, Connie’s, Doe’s, & Tabb’s are some of our personal favorites, but there are many others in this middle of the Delta, none of them requiring two tanks of gasoline to get to, either.

(Another aside: we saw gas all the way up to $2.43 for regular, but when we got home, where I had filled up at Ed Loudon’s for $2.09 before leaving, Ed was down to $2.07.) Home sweet home!

We had a wonderful time at Angie and Sam’s wedding with old and new friends, and ate some delicious meals in Noo Awleans. To paraphrase Br’er Rabbit, "Everybody’s got an eatin’ place!"

Some of mine are a long way off, but most of them can’t beat the best of our own hometown folks!

He said he has secured all the games but one non-conference game to start the season.

The Tigers will open the season in the Red Carpet Bowl held in Vicksburg each year. This year South Panola will meet Warren Central on August 24 and next year Vicksburg High School.

Since Moss Point moved to 4A this year, their non-conference schedule is shorten by one week and Moss Point head coach Jerry Alexander reported his schedule is full. South Panola and Moss Point will not play.

The second game of the season is against Clarksdale. The third week of the schedule has not been filled yet. Woods said he is waiting to hear from Memphis Carver to fill the fourth week of play.

"It’s always a battle to get games," Woods said. He does expect to have the schedule completed by the end of February or first of May.

The only conference change will be the last game that was played against Grenada. Desoto Central will be filling that spot.

Rings
In the meantime, the coaches have been out gaining community support to pay for the State Championship Rings.

"We have had a good response," Woods said. "Any donation will be appreciated."

For anyone who wants to donate to the fund, contact Woods at the high school (662) 563-4756.

Tuesday night, the coaching staff was the honored guest at a reception sponsored by the South Panola School Board.

Superintendent Dr. Keith Shaffer and board president Lygunnah Bean took the opportunity to express to the staff how much they appreciate what the football team has brought to the community.

Board members took the opportunity to relay different anecdotes about their travels and the respect people give to the football program of South Panola.

North Panola was so close, but yet so far from its first victory of the season.

North Panola lost to Senatobia 75-72 in district action. The Cougars put up 20 points in the second quarter and 25 in the third quarter to tie the game and take the lead.

At the end of the first half the score was tied at 33.

Senatobia was held to 14 points in the third quarter as the Cougars nursed a 58-47 lead going into the final quarter.

Senatobia turned up the heat in the fourth quarter and took the lead and the game scoring 28 points. The Cougars were held to 14 points in the fourth quarter.

Leading the Cougars in scoring were Ramone Robinson with 18 points, followed by Dexter Roberson wit 14 points.

Other scorers include Marico Young, and Rodregus Black, 8 points each; Aldrick Russell, 7 points; Nick Black, 6 points; Michael Johnson, 4 points; and Derek Armstrong, 2 points.

Lady Cougars
The Lady Cougars fizzled toward the end of the game against the No. 5 Clarion Ledger ranked Senatobia Lady Warriors (20-1).

Senatobia is led by former Lady Cougar Portia Tucker, game leading scorer with 18 points.

Senatobia’s lone loss was to No. 4 ranked Tupelo December 29, 56-46.

In the first half, Senatobia only outscored North Panola by one point each quarter for a 22-20 halftime lead.

Then in the second half, Senatobia pulled away a little in each quarter to extend its lead and hold on for the win.

In the third quarter, Senatobia outscored North Panola 16-12.

Scoring for the Lady Cougars were Latorya Hill, 12 points; Kinshanta Bobo, 7 points; Joya Wilbourn, 6 points; Dynyel Presley, 4 points; Shanketta Newsom, 3 points; Gernesha Edwards, Brittany Patton and Jenisha Jackson, 2 points each.

The Cougar teams are off tonight, but will return to regular action Tuesday at home hosting Byhalia in district competition.

Sabrina Townsend led the Lady Tigers with 12 points, followed by Tenisha Mitchell with 10.

Lady Tiger Skylar Barnes had a rough time with her Southaven counterpart as she took numerous elbow jabs and was seen holding her arm after the game when she was knocked down and hurt her wrist at the end of the third quarter. Despite protests, no official whistles were heard to counter some of the more physical action going on on the court. Barnes put up five points for the Lady Tigers.

It was low scoring throughout the game. At the end of the first quarter, South Panola led 4-3.

Southaven saw many of its shots fall in the second quarter to outscore the Lady Tigers 11-5 for a 14-9 halftime lead.

In the third quarter, Southaven led by as many as nine points, but the Lady Tigers put forth a comeback strategy and pulled ahead 20-19 on an Mitchell field goal with 2:54 left.

A host of Lady Tigers scored in that comeback bid including Vetorra Cole, Barnes and Essie Thomas.
At the end of the third quarter, the Lady Tigers led 22-21.

The lead changed hands two more times in the fourth quarter, but the Lady Tigers retook the lead for good on a Mitchell field goal with 3:52 left in the game and never looked back. The Lady Tigers outscored Southaven 10-1 in a three minute 20 second time span to lead 33-25 with 33 seconds left in the game.

Also scoring for the Lady Tigers were Thomas, 7 points; and Cole, 5 points.

Tiger boys
The Tigers are still looking for a district win after coming up short against Southaven 50-42 Tuesday night.

The Tigers were down 31-27 going into the fourth quarter, but gave themselves a chance for the upset with some three-pointers by Antonio Allen and Nicholas Johnson. The tide turned when the Tigers were hit with a flagrant foul near the end of the game and Southaven went to the three-point line and completed four of four free throws.

South Panola led 8-5 at the end of the first quarter, and held the lead until 3:23 of the second quarter, when Southaven scored on a field goal to take the lead.

Southaven outscored South Panola 12-6 for the halftime lead, 27-14.

The teams were exchanged field goals throughout the third quarter. Southaven built up a 29-20 lead with 2:21 left, but South Panola whittled it away the last few seconds leading up to the fourth quarter.

Allen was the game leading scorer with 19 points. Other Tiger scorers include Kerrion Moore, 13 points; Michael Broadnax and Nicholas Johnson, 3 points each; Patrick Howard and C.J. Raynor, 2 points each.

The Tigers are home again tonight to host J.Z. George in non-district action beginning at 6 p.m.

Tuesday, the Tigers will host Horn Lake in district ballgames beginning at 4 p.m.