Riding the crest of a big victory, the Brookhaven Panthers seektheir second straight win Friday night when they host the unbeaten(4-0) Humphreys County Cowboys. Kickoff is 7:30 on King Field.

Riding the crest of a big victory, the Brookhaven Panthers seektheir second straight win Friday night when they host the unbeaten(4-0) Humphreys County Cowboys. Kickoff is 7:30 on King Field.

The Panthers (2-1), fresh from a 22-14 win over high-poweredMendenhall, need a victory over Humphreys County as a momentumbuilder for their Division 6-4A schedule. The Cowboys, Division3-4A members, haven’t played a division game either. Their divisionfoes are Cleveland, Clarksdale, East Side, Weston andGreenwood.

The Cowboys, based in Belzoni, use a SWAC-style offense. Theyare coached by Derrick Hooker, an Alcorn State graduate.

Brookhaven head coach Greg Wall said the Cowboys have size andspeed. “They have some big backs and a real good quarterback. Theyhave some receivers who can run pretty fast.

“They’ve scored 132 points in four games and allowed 56points.”

Directing the Cowboys is senior Cleotara Tanner (6-0, 170) atquarterback. He ran for two touchdowns and passed for two in lastweek’s 36-28 win over Indianola Gentry.

Tight end Ripiel Ward caught a TD pass last week. James Field(6-1, 220) and Chester White (5-10, 230) are powerful runners inthe Cowboys’ backfield.

“We will have to go out there and play hard, just like we didagainst Mendenhall,” said Wall. “We had some young kids grow up andplay hard. We had more of them play hard.”

Brookhaven senior linebacker Raphael Smith had elected to giveup football when preseason drills started in early August but hehad a change of heart when the season got underway. Brookhaven’stop returning tackler from last year played in the Mendenhallgame.

Defensive end Perry Brumfield provided the leadership on defenseagainst Mendenhall. He finished with 9 tackles, including 7 solostops and a quarterback sack.

“Perry had a big game for us,” said Wall. “He made some superhits.”

Emanuel Perkins and Rod Mackabee had 8 tackles apiece for thePanthers. Don Expose and Smith each had 6 tackles.

“Wall said he was encouraged by the performance of the defensiveline against a large Mendenhall front. “Our people up front did agood job. They didn’t get knocked off the football. Stephen Lloydhad a great game. Rayshon Autman, Kern Hoff, Don Expose and DanielWalker also played well.”

Offensively, the Panthers got an exceptional performance fromsenior quarterback Fred Perkins. He scored touchdowns on runs of 29and 87 yards as the Panthers took a quick 14-0 lead. Perkinsfinished with 16 carries for 186 yards.

“Fred ran the option well.” said Wall. “We had some big runsfrom him. Our kicking game was solid.

“The big deal was in the third quarter where we drove the ballfor about eight minutes and scored,” said Wall. Tailback CorneliusAllen ran 4 yards for the TD to cap the 13-play drive and SethFlynn scored the 2-point conversion for a 22-14 lead.

Panther Paws: Last year the Panthers traveledto Belzoni and escaped with a 35-32 win over the Cowboys.