Junior wide receiver Cam Wright grabs one of his three receptions against Greenville Friday at Dunlap Stadium. (Andy Young)

Clark gains 219, scores 4 TDs; Morgan gets 3 INTs

Playing under a full autumn moon, the South Panola Tigers celebrated homecoming in a big way by blasting Greenville 69-21 Friday night at Robert H. Dunlap Stadium.

The trouncing was the Tigers’ most points scored since 2003 when they beat Weston High (also in Greenville) 75-9.

South Panola improved to 8-1 and 3-1 in Region 2-6A play heading into a key showdown with formerly No.1 ranked Madison Central Friday night in Madison. The Jaguars fell 24-21 to Starkville Friday.

Martez Clark rushed for 219 yards and four touchdowns, all in the first half, as South Panola took a commanding 35-0 lead after the first quarter

The story of the night, however, was the Tiger defense as they forced eight Greenville turnovers, two of which were returned for touchdowns.

Wes Morgan led the way with three interceptions and three tackles.

Jaqualin Gillespie picked off one pass and scooped up a fumble and returned it 30 yards for a touchdown in the first quarter.

Marquavious Harris and Jamelvin Webb also intercepted passes, and Michael Terry ended the night with a 13-yard fumble return in the fourth quarter.

Greenville had more turnovers (6) than first downs (5) at halftime.

Harris and Tymdarreus Taylor paced the Tiger defense with five tackles each while Anterrius Howard added four. Harris and Morgan both had four pass break up.

“Overall I thought we played well, Obviously our defense did an outstanding job creating turnovers and our offense did a great job. Our defensive did a solid job on their receivers. They made a few plays but overall we kept them in check,” said South Panola head coach Ricky Woods.

Anterrio Draper also played in key role in the victory as the junior quarterback finished the night 9-of-13 passing for 84 yards while passing for two touchdowns and running for another.

Draper’s first scoring strike came with 5:38 left in the first quarter when he found Christon Bobo for 17 yards over the middle when connected with Ricky Farmer on a 18-yard touchdown reception on the following series.

Clark meanwhile had scoring runs of 47, 41, 13 and 4 yards.

Lataurus Carruth added a one-yard plunge in the third quarter. Nathan Walls connected on eight-of-10 point after attempts.

Nate Harris followed Clark in the rushing category with 35 yards on four carries while Damaron Shaw added 21 yards on also four carries.

Cameron Wright registered three catches for 21 yards while Farmer added two receptions for 41. Bo Williams garnered one catch for six yards.

The Tigers rolled up 403 yards of total offense while limiting the Hornets to 186 yards on 49 plays.