The South Panola Tigers used three touchdown runs by junior two-way starter Tony Conner in the first half to secure its second district road win over Columbus, 21-6, Friday night.

The Tigers improved to 4-2 over all and 2-1 to remain tied for second in the district behind No. 1 Olive Branch after defeating Desoto Central 62-21. South Panola is tied with Horn Lake who defeated Grenada 31-28; and Tupelo who narrowly defeated Southaven 28-27.

Conner scored the first touchdown on a 16-yard run up the middle, capping a seven-play, 61-yard drive with 8:37 left in the first quarter. The extra point kick by Clayton Sibley gave the Tigers a 7-0 lead.

The possession was stalled after a 48-yard run to the one-yard line by Conner. Conner went into the end zone on the one-yard run, but an illegal substitution penalty moved the ball back to the 16. On the same play, Conner scored from the 16.

In the second quarter, Conner scored on a 47-yard touchdown run from the Wildcat formation with 11:48 left in the first half. The PAT by Sibley gave the Tigers a 14-0 lead. The touchdown capped a six-play, 77-yard drive.

It seemed the Tigers’ last possession of the first half was going in the wrong direction for a while as a bad snap cost the Tigers seven yards and then a holding penalty brought up second and 29. Three consecutive carries by Conner netted the Tigers a 46-yard touchdown with 33.8 seconds left to go in the first half. With the PAT, the Tigers led 21-0 at the half.
The touchdown capped a six-play, 56-yard drive.

The only scoring in the second half of the game was a three-yard pass reception from Columbus wide receiver Demarcus Vance from  quarterback Trace Lee. The PAT was blocked by South Panola’s Adam Cummins.

The Tigers had 260 total offensive yards, all of which came on the ground. The Falcons had 213 total yards.

Conner ended the game with 192 yards on 17 carries with three touchdowns. Quandez Lee had nine carries for 50 yards and Marcus Dixon had six for 15 yards.

The Tiger’s defense held strong led by Issac Gross, LaKeddrick Flowers and Dashawn Lindsay who all recorded seven tackles each. Other tacklers included Je’Tavious Turner, five; Kendall Carr, four; and Temario Strong, three.

South Panola recorded four sacks for a total of 25 lost yards.
Recording two sacks for 16 yards lost was Gross. Stephen Sanford had one sack for five yards; and Flowers had one for four yards.

Tiger head coach Lance Pogue was proud of the win.
“It was a big win for us because we’ve been kind of hot and cold this year,” he said. “We dropped that Olive Branch game so we had to have this one. This puts us right back in it and gives us some momentum going back home next week to play at home against Tupelo for homecoming.”
Pogue applauded the defense.

“Overall I was really proud of them,” he said. “We gave up a couple of plays though when we weren’t where we needed to be. We had some big plays and our defensive line was a big deal.”
Gross’ performance was singled out by the fifth-year coach.

“Gross is a Southeastern Conference player and he’s playing his best right now. He has done that his whole career and all this year and we’ve got to continue to have that.”

Homecoming against tupelo will kickoff at 7 p.m. Friday. Tickets will be available Thursday and Friday at the high school during school hours.

The school will have different homecoming activities during the week.
South Panola’s homecoming theme this year is “Now You’re Surfin’ on our turf” (a Hawaiian theme).

Besides the class days, Tuesday night there will be a Tiger Follies program at 6:30 p.m. in the cafeteria. There will be skits, singing and dancing. Thursday is the Powderpuff game on the football field at 6 p.m. Friday is fun day for the students in the area opposite the football field.