WEBB — The North Panola High School Cougars spoiled homecoming for the West Tallahatchie High School Choctaws by defeating the home team 44-14 during special festivities here last Friday night.
North Panola improved to 2-3 on the season while West Tally slipped to 1-4 (or 2-4, if a reportedly pledged state forfeiture win is honored by the Mississippi High School Activities Association).
“We didn’t play well, we didn’t tackle well. Defensively, we had a lot of third-and-longs that either they converted or we gave them with defensive holding calls, and we got beat several times,” said West Tallahatchie head coach Shane Hargett. “Offensively, we would negate big gains with holding calls.”
Hargett said turnovers also doomed his club.
“Some of it is just bad luck — a helmet hits the ball the wrong way,” he noted. “Sometimes you’re lucky, sometimes you’re good, and sometimes you’re a little of both, and sometimes you’re none of both. We’re good; we’re just a little bit unlucky right now. We’re hoping to change that.”
The Choctaws began the game with consecutive offensive turnovers.
After taking the game’s opening kickoff, the Chocs drove to the North Panola 40 before a fumble ended the march.
The Cougars answered with a 60-yard drive that drew first blood when the quarterback connected with a streaking wide receiver for a 43-yard touchdown. West Tally snuffed the conversion, but the visitors took a 6-0 lead.
On the ensuing kickoff, the Choctaws found new life when Ahmaud Ranson caught the ball and cut across the field from north to south en route to a 76-yard touchdown run. Althavion Hoskins ran in the two-point conversion to give the home team an 8-6 advantage — a lead that would hold into the second quarter.
A West Tally fumble was recovered by the Cougars at the Chocs’ 20-yard line near the end of the first period. North Panola would capitalize with a 2-yard TD run minutes later to go up 12-8.
The Choctaws punted on their next possession and the visitors mounted a 71-yard drive that culminated in a 10-yard touchdown pass. The conversion failed, but the Cougars led 18-8 and would eventually score again before the buzzer to take a 26-8 lead at the intermission.
A third-quarter pick-6 of 42 yards gave North Panola a 32-8 lead entering the fourth.
West Tally’s Kordell Robinson scored on a 10-yard TD run early in the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to 32-14, but the visitors closed out all scoring with a pair of late unanswered rushing touchdowns of 55 and 30 yards.
— * —
Despite this season’s difficulties thus far, Hargett said he has confidence in his young football team.
“Half of them are ninth-graders,” he noted. “They’re going to be great football players and hard to handle in the future. They’re going to be very tough to beat. But at the same time they’re still really young and developing.”
Still, Hargett said fundamentals must be abided.
“You still have to protect the football, you still have to keep from turning it over and you still have to eliminate penalties or you’re not going to win,” he explained. “Unfortunately, we can’t find a way to keep from shooting our own self. If it wasn’t for that, pretty much every game we’ve played, we’d have a chance to win the ballgames if not for all of our penalties and turn-overs. As lopsided as some of the scores have been, the actual games are a lot closer. ... Plus, on top of that, we’ve had tons of injuries. But that’s not an excuse; that’s football. The lack of depth we have, it’s just taken a toll on us.”
— * —
This week, the Class 2A Choctaws hit the road to face the Class 4A Gentry High School Rams of Indianola, who have lost three in a row.
The 1-5 Rams’ lone win came against a presently winless Humphreys County team. In four of their five losses, Gentry has been held scoreless, including in last week’s 48-0 home loss to Kosciusko.
Still, Hargett expects a struggle against Gentry.
“They are a big 4A team, so they’re going to be, regardless of record, a tough opponent. It’s going to be a tough battle,” he noted. “We’re going to give them all we’ve got.”
Hargett said the winning formula is a simple one, and it starts with executing a game plan, eliminating the turn-overs and stop drawing flags.
“Like we tell our kids every day, if you protect the football and do not kill yourself with penalties, you will most likely win the game or, at the very minimum, have a chance to win the game,” said Hargett.
The Indianola contest is the last warm-up game “before it really counts,” to quote Hargett, referring to the start of Region 4-1A play on Oct. 16, when West Tally visits Coffeeville. Region outcomes determine playoff seeding.
“Everybody will be zero-and-zero again at that point,” Hargett noted, alluding to the all-important won-lost record against region opponents.
