North Panola has strong showing in spring scrimmage

By Myra Bean

The North Panola Cougars participated in the Senatobia Spring jamboree Thursday night. Those in attendance saw how much the Cougar team has improved since the end of last season.
Sporting their new away uniform of white pants with red stripes and white shirt with black letters outlined in red, the team took the field in confidence.

The varsity team was under the field direction of Willie Hibbler who had to step back in as quarterback as Jatavious Farmer was not cleared to play due to his leg. Farmer broke his leg during last season and is still going through rehab.

One of the main concerns following the game was the offensive line, according to offensive coordinator Carl Diffee. Diffee and defensive coordinator Denver Wade shared duel roles of head coaching the team in the absence of head coach Derek King who was in Alabama due to the death of his grandmother.

Varsity
In the varsity games, North Panola defeated Lewisburg 6-0. Robert Oliver brought down a 29-yard pass from Hibbler and sprinted to the end zone for the only score of the game with 9:49 left in the first half. The extra point run failed.

Hibbler threw an interception in the first half, but the Lewisburg receiver fumbled the ball and North Panola’s Darius Thomas recovered..
Towards the end of the game, Kiron Covington at quarterback attempted a pass to Justin Conner which was intercepted with 11.1 seconds left in the game.

Lewisburg played hard during those final seconds, but Conner broke up a pass in the end zone with 3.2 seconds left. Then on the next play, Oliver broke up a pass to end the game.
During the game, North Panola’s Brandon Conner had two sacks and one tackle for loss.
Virgil Jones had three tackles and a fumble recovery.

Thomas had an interception with 1:41 left in the game.
Getting tackles for loss yards were Vondeddrick Hunt, Kordariel Preston and Derian Ferrell.
North Panola had 27 yards rushing and 70 passing for 97 total yards.
Lewisburg was limited to 16 rushing and 14 passing yards for 30 total yards.
Hibbler completed four for eight passes for 70 yards and one touchdown.
Darius Thomas also had 29 receiving yards. Lucious Walls had 2 receiving yards.
Justin Conner led in rushing with 34 yards on eight carries.

NP vs. Senatobia
Against Senatobia, the game ended scoreless. It was not for lack of trying on the part of both teams. As one would get close to the end zone, a fumble or interception would cut the drive short.

Senatobia put up a “Hail Mary” pass at the end, but it fell incomplete due to the presence of a Cougar defender in the close vicinity.

North Panola could only amass 42 rushing yards in that game while Senatobia had a total of 73 total yards, including 60 rushing and 13 passing.

Conner rushed for 24 yards on four carries while Thomas had 17 yards on one carry.
Jr. Varsity
The Jr. Varsity Cougars had a good showing in both games. They tied with Lewisburg in the first game 6-6 and defeated Senatobia 12-0.

Lewisburg struck first on a 22-yard pass touchdown with 8:32 on the clock. North Panola tied it up with 2:50 left in the game on a four-yard run by quarterback Ventravious Sanders.
Both teams attempted extra point runs which failed.

The Cougars rushed for 154 yards and passed for eight for a total of 162 yards.
Lewisburg had 26 rushing and 72 passing yards for 98 total yards.

Sanders completed two of five passing attempts for eight yards. He rushed for 40 yards on eight carries and one touchdown.

Willie Patterson was the leading rusher with 54 yards on four carries. Randy Harrell had 45 yards on six carries. Martavius Lantern rushed for 15 yards on one carry.

NPJV vs Senatobia
Senatobia had the opening possession and moved the ball to the Cougar 15 yard line and fumbled it away with 12:15 left in the game. North Panola’s Will Taylor recovered the ball on the 26-yard line.

North Panola drove the ball down to its seven yard line where Martavius Lantern took it in for a touchdown run with 4:23 left in the game.

On Senatobia’s next possession, they fumbled and the Cougars’ Deiontei Ballard recovers it with 1:42 left in the game.

Wasting no time, Ventravious Sanders hooked up with Lantern on a 63-yard touchdown pass to lead 12-0 with 1:29 left in the game.

Senatobia could not move the ball at all its last possession and North Panola came away with the win.

The North Panola JV again totaled over 100 yards of offense. They had 31 yards rushing and 89 passing for a total of 120 yards. Senatobia had 91 yards of rushing.
Sanders completed three of four passes for 89 yards and a touchdown. He rushed 15 yards on four carries.

Also carrying the ball were Lantern, eight yards on one carry; Patterson, six yards on two carries; and Harell, two yards on one carry.

Lantern had 85 yards of receptions on two passes and Jamal Leverson had four yards on one catch.

North Panola opens the regular season August 23 at home against Rosa Fort.