South Panola greets MaxPreps Football Tour of Champions for third time

With snow pounding the Northeast, it was a good time for the 8th Annual MaxPreps Football Tour of Champions presented by the Army National Guard to be down in Batesville, Miss. visiting South Panola High School for the third time since 2009.

Arriving at the school one could only be in awe of what the student body calls, the "mall area." Pictures of former championship football teams lined the walls, but most impressive was a picture commemorating their national championship in which MaxPreps had them ranked as the number one team in the country. Due to a few setbacks this season, the Tigers finished ranked 85th in the nation according to the MaxPreps Freeman Rankings, but the accomplishment wasn't lost on the team, coach, or school.

The night was full of celebrations; the boys and girls basketball teams' seniors were being honored as a part of senior night and of course the football team was being honored by MaxPreps and the Mississippi Army National Guard at halftime. While waiting for halftime to come, Justin Smith of MaxPreps got a chance to speak with Sergeant Ronald Maxwell of the Mississippi Army National Guard. While not new to Mississippi or the area, it was his first time being in charge of this region as a member of the Army National Guard. Through conversation Smith was able to find out the Tigers basketball opponent for the night was Water Valley, which is where his family is from. One of the most interesting topics that came up was when we talked about his time over in the Middle East, where he did a tour of duty serving and defending our country for over a year.

Once halftime arrived, it was time to honor the hundred-plus members of the football team. Standing near half court SGT Maxwell handed the Army National Guard national ranking trophy to coach Lance Pogue who then thanked and acknowledged the crowd and school for all of their support. Afterwards, it was time for the team to take the "Minuteman" trophy and start celebrating. Holding it high above their heads, every member of the football team huddled together and began to chant.

Back out in the "mall area" nobody wanted to let go of the prestigious trophy, especially the seniors. For the majority of the seniors, it was a big week. Fifteen of the eighteen seniors on the roster signed a national letter of intent this past Wednesday to play football, including the nation's number two safety. For them, this was the icing on the cake for their season and an excellent way to leave their mark on the storied South Panola football program.



But as coach Pogue mentioned, they have some juniors and other underclassmen on that team that have some real talent as well. With that much talent on the roster still, and a starting QB returning for another season, one can only imagine that they are going to be gunning to outperform this year's senior class. For a program such as the South Panola Tigers, No. 85 in the nation isn't bad but it's safe to say that coach Pogue and his team are itching to get back to that number one spot and have the MaxPreps Tour of Champions come back to the Batesville area school for a fourth time.