Southside fell to its first region opponent of the season Friday night.

The close of the second week of the 2008 football season finds the Southside Panthers still seeking to get into the win column after falling 54-20 to Jemison.

The Southside offense never got going the first 36 minutes of the contest. It was forced to punt in its first five possessions of the game.

“Jemison was able to block, they were able to tackle, and they were able to run better than we were,” said Lem Jones, Southside coach. “Fundamental-wise, they were a better team than we were.”

Jemison, who recorded its second road win, had its way with the Southside defense Friday.

The Panthers (2-0) scored all of their points in the first three quarters of the game, including reaching pay dirt three times in both the second and third quarters, to win 54-20.

Jemison was able to take advantage of great field position as nine of its 10 possessions of the first three quarters began on the Southside portion of the field.

“We have to play good on the road because we only have four home games,” said Jemison coach Brad Abbott. “Southside always plays tough ball, and we were worried about a letdown from last week’s big rivalry game. But we were able to come in and get ahead early. Our kids did a good job of doing what they had to do.”

Meanwhile, the Jemison Panthers got on the scoreboard at the 4:45 mark of the first quarter on Merrell Morrow’s 30-yard gallop to the end zone, breaking five tackles along the way and giving his team a 6-0 advantage. The point after failed.

Jemison quarterback Eric Argo threw two touchdown passes and ran for another in the second quarter. His 2-yard plunge was sandwiched between a 21-yard pass to Jesse Taylor and a 15-yard pass to Christian Briscoe. Southside found itself in a 26-0 hole after two quarters of play.

Jemison scored its next touchdown when James Northcutt recovered a Southside fumble and rambled 57 yards for the score.

On the ensuing kickoff Jemison pounced on a mishandled return attempt to get the ball at Southside’s 33-yard line. It took four plays that consummated on another Argo-to-Briscoe touchdown pass. This time it was for 14 yards. Morrow plowed in for the 2-point conversion to send Jemison ahead with a 40-0 score.

Javea Swindle came off the bench to add another touchdown for Jemison. The team added one more touchdown after a Jacob Chapman interception.

Southside was able to get on the scoreboard in the final 12 minutes of the game when Wilbert McConico took it in from 3 yards out.

Bartavious Hall connected with senior Demarious Pratt once for an 18-yard touchdown pass, after which Jermal Dudley dove in for the 2-pointer; then again for 20 yards to make the score 54-20.

“We have some talented people that are not talented football players,” added Jones. “We are trying to mold our people to become good football players.”

Morrow finished with 166 yards rushing. Briscoe caught four passes for 61 yards.

Southside’s DeMarcus Smith rushed for 80 yards.