By Angie Ledbetter

It had been 87 years since a team put up 59 points on the Colquitt County Packers of Georgia. Saturday Mississippi’s No. 1 ranked South Panola Tigers showed little mercy while breaking that record, handing them a 65-35 loss on the Packers’ home field.

The final combined score of 100 also made its way into the Packer’s history book since the 90 points scored in 1931 when the Packers shutout Pelham 90-0.

South Panola lost a few games between 2000 and 2009, but not by large margins. The last time any team scored 35 points on the Tiger defense was September 28, 2001 in a triple overtime game against Horn Lake. South Panola won 46-39.

Tiger head coach Lance Pogue said, “It was a big time win for us on the road. I thought it was the best offensive performance we’ve ever had. We put up great numbers against one of the top five teams in Georgia.”

 Pogue added, “From last week to this week, I thought we improved offensively. We did what I wanted. . . picking up where we left in the second half of the Petal game. Our offensive line was excellent with the tightends, fullbacks and all of those guys. I think we’re beginning to see glimpses of what our offense can be if we can keep coming on, working and keep improving.”

The Tigers took advantage of several Packer miscues early in the game including a penalty, interception and fumble that all led to first half scores and gave the Tigers a comfortable margin although the Packer offense would continue to score on the Tigers.

The Packers received the opening kickoff after the Tigers deferred and on the first possession drove the ball down field 73 yards for a six-yard touchdown from Tyler Brown to wide receiver Octavius Little. The extra point by David Tyndall put the Packers up 7-0 with 10:05 on the clock.

The Tigers looked to be stalled on their first possession in what appeared to be a three and out.

A personal foul penalty kept the drive alive and a fake punt four plays later put South Panola on the Packer 15 following a 27-yard run by senior athlete Kendrick Market. Senior running back Qyen Griffin scored the first of his six touchdowns on an eight-yard run three plays later. The two-point conversion on a Market pass to Nickolas Brassell put the Tigers up 8-7.

On the next drive Colquitt was forced to punt and six plays and 52 yards later the Tigers scored on a Griffin five-yard run. Quarterback Lee Self’s two-point conversion pass to Brassell made it 16-7.

The Packers were responding with an impressive drive to the Tiger 18 when defender Market read a Packer screen, jumped in front of the intended receiver and raced 80 yards for a touchdown. Griffin scored the two-point conversion run to lead 24-7.

The Packers fumbled their next possession at the Tiger 40 and three plays later Market scored from the Wild Tiger formation on a 43-yard run.

Griffin racked up 286 yards on 25 carries with six touchdowns.

“I had told the coach all week I was going to try to get 300 yards but it didn’t work out as I planned, but I got 286,” said Griffin.

Pogue said, “Qyen had a great night and I’m seeing everything I ever thought he could be. He’s a big kid who is very strong and physical with a very impressive speed. I think he has a chance to be a complete running back and will have a great senior year.”

Market added 117 yards on nine carries with one touchdown and an 82-yard interception return for a touchdown.

Market said, “Our offensive line showed great improvement and came out and did their job.”

On the interception, Market said, “I just read the screen, took it and ran. I knew they weren’t going to catch me.”

The Packers added their second touchdown when D’Amonte Ridley scored on a one-yard run and the extra point was good by Tyndall in the first half.

After receiving a fair catch on their own 25, South Panola’s Griffin scrambled his way to the end zone. Taylor Rotenberry’s two-point conversion put the Tigers up 38-14.

With 5.3 seconds left on the clock, Packer Tevin King drove the ball from 45 yards out and Tyndall added the extra point. The Tigers were up 38-21 at the half.

The Tigers received the kickoff to start the third quarter, driving 80 yards on 11 plays. Griffin scored his fourth touchdown on a 15-yard run followed by Lee Self’s two-point conversion for the Tiger 46-21 lead.

The Packers answered with Brown’s four-yard pass to Ridley and the extra point was good to cut the lead to 46-28.

Griffin answered with a 76-yard touchdown followed by his two-point conversion run to cut the Tiger lead  54-28 at the end of the third quarter.

The Packers fumbled the kickoff to start the fourth and Timothy Gleaton recovered. The Tigers scored their final touchdown when Griffin took the ball from two yards out and Taylor Rotenberry added the two-point conversion.

Ridley scored the final touchdown for the Packers with 9:33 left in the game and the extra point by Tyndal was good.

The last score was a 24-yard field goal by Rotenberry with 9:33 left in the game.

Leading in tackles were Dennis Draper and Tony Conner with 12 each. Others helping were Market, Deshun Henderson and Gregdrecus Leland.

Draper said, “At first I thought it was going to be a tough game. They weren’t better than us. It was just those slant plays they were running on us.”

Pogue said yes the Tiger defense gave up points, but he gave credit to the Packer offense.

“I don’t think we played the very best of our ability but sometimes you have to give the guy credit,” Pogue said. “At times we played good when Market got the interception and ran it all the way back 80 yards. On fourth down, we caused a fumble at midfield. We had some spots where we were very good and at times we just didn’t play at our best.”

The Tigers ended the game with 447 total yards and 21 first downs while the Packers had 358 with 26 first downs.

The Tigers will finally play a Friday night game this week when they go to undefeated Memphis University School. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $7 and may be purchased at the high school from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. through Thursday. Friday, ticket sales will end at noon.

Directions to MUS: Take I-55 North to Memphis. Get off on the I-240 Exit East. Go to Poplar Avenue/Germantown exit and go east (right). Go to third light and that is Ridgeway Road and take a right. Entrance to the school is on Ridgeway Road or you can take the Poplar Avenue exit. Take a left into the school parking lot and see the stadium.