Young Tiger team played balanced game against OB

By Brad Greer
Since the start of the football season  seven weeks ago, South Panola head coach Lance Pogue has been waiting for his young Tiger squad to finally put together a complete game on both sides of the ball.
Everything seemed to come together Friday night, led by a swarming defense that allowed 65 yards and a solid offense, South Panola manhandled an outmanned Olive Branch team 19-0 to improve to 2-0 in Region 1-6A and 3-4 overall.
Eight different running backs carried the football as the Tigers chewed up 286 yards rushing and a season-high 408 yards total yards.
Markel Gleaton led South Panola’s ground game with 64 yards on 10 carries while Stedarious Sanford added 48 yards on 10 carries and a five-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.
“I am proud of the way our guys played tonight. There are some things that needs to be corrected, but we made some strides tonight. We got a little punch offensively and got the running game going and also hit some passes, but we have got to keep doing that and operate in a efficient manner and eliminate penalties. I feel like we made some strides tonight,” said Pogue.
South Panola got on the board in the first quarter as quarterback Patrick Shegog hit Jordan Strong on a 55-yard scoring strike to complete a three-play; 59 yard drive. Blane Ware added the successful PAT with 27 seconds left in the quarter.
The score remained that way until late in the second quarter as a roughing the punter penalty aided a Tiger scoring drive as Sanford scored his first touchdown of the season to complete a six-play, 45-yard drive with Ware tacking on the PAT, giving South Panola a 14-0 advantage with 4:39 left in the half.
Not to be outdone was the Tiger defense that held Olive Branch to one first down in the first half. The Conquistadors managed 31 yards rushing and 34 yards through the air and was forced to punt five times in ten possessions while turning the ball over twice on downs.
D. J. Hall led the defense with five tackles followed by O’Bryan Goodson and Eriq Kitchen with four stops each. Morris House added three tackles and a fumble recovery. Jeterrion Draper also recorded three tackles and two passes broken up. James Johnson also had two passes broken up.
South Panola received the second half kickoff and marched 67 yards on 14 plays that chewed up 5:51 minutes and was capped off by Ware’s 22-yard field goal, his first of his high school career, to increase the margin to 17-0 with 6:09 remaining in the third quarter.
The final points came one series later and back-to-back bad snaps by Olive Branch resulted in a safety.
“I thought Patrick had a really good night throwing the ball. We got a couple of more receivers involved which was good along with Strong. We saw some young running backs tonight that I think are going to be good players and we are trying to get those guys broken in. Sanford and Quin Bradford ran the ball hard and our defense played a great game,” said Pogue.
Shegog finished the night 7-of-11 passing for 122 yards and one touchdown. Strong reeled in four passes for 82 yards while John Railey added two catches for 34 yards. Jamichael Robinson had one reception for six yards to go along with seven carries for 46 yards.
Shegog added 11 carries for 41 yards while Bradford chipped in with 38 yards on 10 carries. Jamian Johnson totaled three rushes for 28 yards with Derrick Cunningham registering two carries for 17 yards. Gerrian Key contributed six yards on two carries.
Montray Blackburn punted two times for a 39 yard average.
South Panola returns home Thursday to take on Hernando in a Region 1-6A contest beginning at 7 p.m.