Arrows fall against South Panola to drop to 2-3

By Danny C. Davis

     The last two games have been tough for the Clinton Arrows, falling to top ten-ranked teams South Panola, on the road, 32-7, and to Grenada, 55-22, at home.

     Both teams the Arrows lost to the last two weeks are considered top contenders to win Class 6A this year. After a road trip to Terry on October 3, the Arrows will have a much-needed open date, followed by four Region 2-7A games against Starkville, Tupelo, Germantown and Madison Central.

     The Terry Bulldogs are 5-0 on the season, and they have outscored opponents 183 to 32 points.

     So, things do not get any easier for the Arrows, as they begin Region 2-7A play against Starkville, Tupelo and Madison Central, who are all ranked in the top ten polls, and Germantown has scored a lot of points this season, is 4-1 on the season and are ranked 17th on the Max Preps Mississippi poll.

     Stopping the run has been a major problem for the Arrow defense. Both Grenada and South Panola have some of the top running backs in the state. The best may be Grenada’s Mcalab Taylor, who scorched the Arrows defense for over 300 yards on the ground and seven touchdowns. The Grenada Chargers had 430 rushing yards against CHS, while the South Panola Tigers had 450 rushing yards, led by Tristen Colenburg, who had 15 carries for 204 yards and a touchdown and Anderrious Flowers, who had 19 carries for 88 yards. Also for the South Panola game, Marcus Christon had 6 carries for 74 yards and two touchdowns.

     The Clinton offense had their least productive outing at Batesville against South Panola, only scoring a single touchdown and a season-low 124 yards of offense, 51 yards on the ground and 73 yards passing.

     A driving rain storm from the remnants of Hurricane Helene over North Mississippi seemed to hurt Clinton’s offense more than South Panola’s, as the Arrows rely on the passing game, which was difficult to do in the inclement field conditions.

     Arrow junior quarterback Josef Walker was only able to complete five of 13 passes, with one interception, for 73 yards. Arrow senior running back Jakobe Williams only had 31 rushing yards on 11 carries, while sophomore Aaric Beasley had 30 yards on 7 carries.

     South Panola had the football almost twice as long as the Arrows, with a time of possession of 31:23, compared to 16:37 for CHS.

     The Tigers scored on long drives that kept the ball away from the Arrows and took a lot of time off the clock.

     South Panola led 13-0 at the end of the first quarter, and 20-0 at the half.

     Clinton closed the score to 20-7 with nine minutes left in the third period on Walker’s 38-yard TD pass to senior tight end Phillip Burchfield III.

     But that was as close as the score got. South Panola scored on their next possession to increase their margin to 26-7 and scored with about five minutes left to make it 32-7.

     Clinton threatened a couple more times in the final quarter, but the drives stalled with dropped passes of the wet football inside the South Panola 20-yard line.

     Arrow head coach John Carr says he is looking forward to playing the Arrow’s next opponent, Terry, on October 3 at Terry.

     “The loss at South Panola was disappointing, but I am proud of our effort,” said Carr. “The sun came up on Saturday morning, and we are looking forward to another opportunity at Terry next Friday night.”

     “It rained the entire game, and that affected our throwing the football against South Panola.”

     “We play well at times, but we are not stringing together enough good plays, and that is on both sides of the ball,” said Carr.