STARKVILLE — On the South Panola High School football team”s first play from scrimmage Friday night against Starkville, running back Qyendarius Griffin rushed to the right and was bottled up behind the line of scrimmage.
But the 5-foot-10, 220-pounder stopped in his tracks, reversed field, and cut up the left sideline for a 72-yard touchdown.
It was that kind of night for the nation”s top-rated team.
The Tigers amassed 476 yards of offense (419 rushing) in a 47-13 win against Starkville.
“That first play was unbelievable,” South Panola coach Lance Pogue said. “I thought we were going to lose 10 yards because they had us outnumbered, but the kid breaks it back and we reversed the field and had a bunch of blocks and he took it the distance. It was a big play. We”ve got some guys with big-play capability, but that was a lot of individual effort to get down the field, and once he got down the field a lot of guys were blocking. It gave us a good boost.”
Griffin churned out 291 yards on 19 carries and three touchdowns to help South Panola, the defending Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 6A state champion, improve to 10-0 and 6-0 in Region 1.
“He”s a big-time back,” Pogue said. “He”s a physical guy at 220, but you saw his breakaway speed. He”s got good agility and makes guys miss. He”s about as good as you will find and a tough, strong guy on top of that.”
South Panola”s rushing success helped keep its prolific receivers in check. Mississippi State commitment Nickolas Brassell caught four passes for 39 yards and a touchdown.
“With our running game, we”ve got some weapons at receiver but we didn”t throw it as well as I”d have liked to tonight,” Pogue said. “But we are capable, and when you run the ball and mix in the passing game we”ve got a chance to be really good offensively.”
Quarterback Lee Self was 6 of 13 for 35 yards, a touchdown, and two interception, while Kendrick Market was 2 of 3 for 22 yards and two touchdowns out of the wildcat package. Market also added 51 yards on five carries.
The Tigers built a 26-0 lead in the first quarter and cruised from there. Griffin followed up his 72-yard run with a 2-yard touchdown.
Kieddrick Flowers scooped up a Starkville fumble and returned it 34-yards for the next South Panola score. The Tigers” final touchdown of the opening quarter came when Market tossed a 19-yard pass to Taylor Rotenberry.
The Yellow Jackets (5-5, 3-3) scored with a little more than four minutes to play in the second quarter when Stanley Childs batted a Self pass into the air, intercepted it, and raced 15 yards up the right sideline.
But South Panola answered before halftime, when Market tossed his second touchdown on a 3-yard pass to Marcus Henry with 1:11 remaining to make it 33-7.
The Tigers added two more scores in the third quarter. Self hit Brassell in the back from 3 yards on the opening drive of the second half.
South Panola”s final touchdown came on a 65-yard scamper by Griffin with 2:30 to play in the third quarter.
The Yellow Jackets only offensive score came midway through the final quarter on a Preston Baker 21-yard run.
Starkville managed 214 yards of offense, including 139 rushing and 75 passing.
“That”s what they make a living at is getting you behind and getting you throwing the football more than you want to do it,” Starkville coach Jamie Mitchell said. “We”d have loved to be able to go with the run a little bit and hopefully stayed in the ballgame. But it was like digging a hole out there, and it”s tough.”
Starkville quarterback Jaquez Johnson was 5 of 11 for 75 yards. He had 31 yards on 10 carries.
Baker led the Yellow Jackets with 71 rushing yards on 11 attempts and a touchdown.
Shaquille Hill topped the receivers with three catches for 42 yards.
Starkville will play host to Columbus in the regular-season finale Friday. Southaven, Tupelo, and Olive Branch are tied for second behind South Panola in the race for the final three playoff spots. Starkville holds the tiebreaker against Tupelo, so it would need to beat Columbus and then have Olive Branch defeat Tupelo at home Friday to force a tie with Tupelo for the fourth and final spot.
Southaven travels to Horn Lake for its final regular-season game.
“This one is going behind us very quickly,” Mitchell said. “We don”t even have time to even think about it. This will be the biggest game we”ve played and we”ve got to have this one to get in (to the playoffs). We”ve got to have some help but we can”t worry about that. We can only take care of us and get to work as quickly as we can on Columbus.”
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