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Mississippi Masters – Head Coach Lance Pogue of South Panola High School led his Tigers to a 15-0 record and the number one prep ranking in America.

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At South Panola High School in Batesville, Mississippi, they are not accustomed to losing. Since Head Coach Lance Pogue joined the school in 2007, the Tigers have an overall record of 58-2 and, prior to this year, had won two state championships in three years to add to their previous six titles.

    But this year South Panola set a new benchmark by not only winning another Mississippi 6A State Championship but by also capturing the mythical prep ‘National Championship’ by achieving the top spot on three of the most important high school sports rankings, Rivals.com, USA Today and MaxPreps. They completed this season a perfect 15-0 and generally dominated their opponents.

    Pogue, who is a native of Eupora, Mississippi, has both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Delta State. He previously was at Eupora and he became their head coach prior to coming to South Panola.
 

   Coach Pogue sat down with American Football Monthly to discuss his philosophy on the game, what is necessary to have a consistently successful program, and how he feels about winning the high school ‘National Championship.’

Q. What was it like for you and the players when you found out that you had been selected as the top high school team in the country?

A. We were elated. Besides the coaches and players, the entire town was thrilled. I was proud for our school and especially the state of Mississippi. We are often overshadowed by the programs in Texas, Florida and California. It was an honor to have a small, primarily rural, blue collar state like Mississippi win that distinction. We knew we had a chance early in the fall and now, to see the smiles on our players faces when it happened, was really something special.

Q. What was different about this year’s championship team than your first three after becoming head coach?

A. Athletically, it was the best team I’ve had in my four years in South Panola in all phases of the game. We had 18 starters back and they brought an attitude of selflessness that was apparent in everything they did – both on and off the field. The players had won a state championship the year before and so the combination of talent and unselfishness made this team an outstanding one.

Q. You’ve had a four-year run of 58-2. What are the keys to a program that – year in, year out – is consistently successful?

A. I think here it starts with tradition. South Panola began a very successful run around 1993 when many of the current players were born. They’ve known about the success the school has had since they were young and want to make sure they do everything they can to continue it. That’s motivation in itself.

    Two other things are important in our success – a work ethic and passion for the game from our players and everyone’s understanding that the team comes first. Individual accolades will come, but the team’s success has to be the number one priority.

Q. You don’t wear a headset on the sideline. Why? Do you let your coordinators make the offensive and defensive decisions?

A. It’s my style and I feel comfortable with it. I serve as the defensive coordinator and will signal in different formations, adjustments and schemes. I let our offensive coordinator and position coaches be on headset and coach that way. We put our game plan together each weekend and our number one goal – as a defense –  is to do everything we can to stop the run. If there are then adjustments to be made defensively during a game, I can make them without a headset.

Q. What do you look for in your assistant coaches? Have they been with you for all four years?

A. All of my assistant coaches have been with me at South Panola all four years except for two that recently left. I really believe in loyalty and having a common goal. But loyalty goes both ways. I will do everything I can to ensure their loyalty but I expect them to do the same. Having a consistent staff helps the comfort level of our players in terms of goals and overall communication.

Q. What type of offense do you run? Do you adjust the offense to the type of talent you have?

A. Our number one goal, offensively, is to be successful running the ball. To do that, we have a multiple offense that includes one and two-back sets, some shotgun and wildcat formations. It is critical to have physically tough offensive linemen to make the running game successful. We also try to utilize the strengths of our skill players and will tweak the offense from year-to-year depending on the type of athletes we have that specific season.

Q. What is the value of your strength and conditioning program to the South Panola program?

A. It really is a critical element to the success of our program. To show you what it means to the program, we won the championship game on Friday, December 3rd and our athletes were beginning the winter strength and conditioning program the following Monday, December 6th.

    While luck is involved to some degree, we did not have any serious injuries the entire season. I attribute that – to a large degree – to our strength and conditioning program. It’s not that we bench press or perform squats differently from another school. It’s the passion, work ethic, and blue collar attitude our athletes bring to the program.

Q. What defensive scheme do you run?

A. We play to the strengths of our players but traditionally have a multiple defense out of a basic 4-3. We will sometimes use an 8-man front and will pressure blitz roughly 50 percent of the time. Each week we tailor our defensive scheme to what kind of an offense our opponent presents. One of the keys for us defensively is to disguise coverage pre-snap and we tell our players to be aggressive at all times.

Q. What types of programs do you have for the team in the off-season?

A. From January through mid-April we’re in the weight room and then have 15 days of spring practice. We are allowed 10 days in pads and five in shorts. At spring practice we really focus on fundamentals – blocking and tackling – and have a regular routine. After school ends, we have an extensive summer strength and conditioning program put together until the start of fall camp.

Q. What about your feeder program? How extensive is it? Do you have all of the secondary schools in Batesville running your offense?

A. We have our 7th and 8th grade junior high team run our basic offense and defense as well as the elementary school in the area. In addition to focusing on fundamentals, we want to make sure the terminology is the same so it becomes almost second nature to our players by the time they’re in ninth grade. One of the things we do once players are freshmen is that we all practice together as one unit.

    In Batesville we have a program for youngsters that are 7 and 8 years old, one for those 9 and 10, and another one for those 11 and 12. Many of our former players volunteer to teach these kids and they begin, even at that age, to learn our system while they’re taught basic blocking and tackling.

Q. What are the intangibles you look for in a player?

A. The two things that are critical to me in every player I look at are his attitude towards the team concept and his overall character. We want players that are unselfish and put the team first. Overall character of the player will result in how he performs in school and how he handles adversity.

Q. Do you have an overall philosophy of coaching?

A. The biggest challenge each year is to make sure every player on the team buys into the team concept and that they, as players, don’t come first. Because of the nature of our society, this becomes more difficult each year. Our players watch college and pro football and see so many players pre-occupied with themselves. As coaches, we remind our players daily that sacrificing for the team is our number one goal.

    I also believe you win with defense. You need to have an identity as a defensive unit and you must be able to stop the run. Offensively, in order to win consistently, you must be able to run the ball with success and be a physical, hard-nosed team with that blue-collar mentality. Our O-linemen have to be both physically and mentally tough.

    We’ve been very fortunate having a community that loves our program and gives us tremendous support. It’s the goal of many young athletes to be a ‘South Panola Tiger.’ For that, my staff and I are very grateful.

    With three state titles in the last four years, South Panola is referred to as the University of South Panola. But there’s more to come – the Tigers dressed 58 underclassmen for their title game against Meridian. The names may change but the results don’t. 






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