STARKVILLE — Darrell Henderson took the pitch and looked for running room.
He found much more than that.
With the No. 2 South Panola High School football team leading No. 1 Starkville 29-26, Henderson, the team’s leading rusher, pulled up to pass on a third-and-8 play with less than two minutes remaining Friday night in the Mississippi High School Activities Association Class 6A North State title game. With the defense caught by surprise, senior wide receiver Cole Rotenberry caught Henderson’s pass in stride and jogged into the end zone for a game-clinching, breathtaking touchdown that propelled South Panola to a 36-26 victory that ended Starkville’s quest for a perfect season.
“We decided to go for it,” said South Panola coach Lance Pogue, whose team improved to 14-0 and earned the right to play for its 11th state championship next week against Oak Grove at Mississippi State’s Davis Wade Stadium. “It was an option thing. If he had room to run, he could run it. But if the pass was there, he could throw it. Their defense wanted to make a play, and they crashed down on the run. (Henderson) made a great play. I can’t say enough about these kids.”
The late touchdown stretched South Panola’s lead to 10 and put the game out of reach. It also was the last in a line of big plays by the Tigers, who continually answered the Yellow Jackets’ challenges to win the battle of unbeatens.
Trailing 13-0 at halftime, South Panola’s offense took over after the break and helped the Tigers outscore the Yellow Jackets 36-13 in the second half.
“I thought our offense dominated the game,” Pogue said. “We were right there in the first half, had a couple of chances to score but we let them get away. They didn’t get away in the second half.”
South Panola didn’t flinch after a scoreless first half. In the second half, it flashed the resolve that has produced a state-high 10 state titles since 1993 and outgained Starkville 448-346. The Tigers, long known as a physical, run-first team, did it through the air and on the ground. Henderson rushed 26 times for 88 yards, and junior quarterback Tyler Pogue was 14 of 22 for 222 yards and three touchdowns. It was a 32-yard touchdown pass by Pogue to wide receiver Ephraim Kitchens with less than nine minutes to go that gave the Tigers the lead for good, 22-19.
But it was a 61-yard punt return, the first of two touchdowns by Rotenberry in the fourth quarter, that helped South Panola’s victory come into focus.
Midway through the fourth quarter, after the teams had exchanged the lead twice in the second half, Starkville was forced to punt from its 14-yard line. Punter Michael Godley’s kick forced Rotenberry back to South Panola’s 39, where he made one man miss, tiptoed along the visitors’ sideline, and then doubled back across the field for a dramatic score that turned out to be the biggest blow in the slugfest.
“Once I got past the first guy, it was just a matter of running as fast as I could,” Rotenberry said. “We knew they were a great team. We knew we were pretty good, too.”
The showdown that many fans wanted to see didn’t disappoint and allowed South Panola to reassert its place atop the state of Mississippi’s biggest classification.
“Down 13-0 at halftime against one of the best teams in the country,” Pogue said. “That was just an opportunity for our kids. We know how good they are. We knew how tough it would be, but our kids did it. They just got the job done.”
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brandon Walker on Twitter @BWonStateBeat
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