Playing in their first home game in seven weeks, the Southside Panthers gave the crowd plenty of reasons to cheer Friday night on homecoming.

Khamari Gibbs totaled 310 yards and three touchdowns as Southside marched up and down the field against playoff bound W.S. Neal in a shootout, but the Panthers had no answer for the Eagles either.

W.S. Neal compiled 438 yards — most of them on the ground — and had eight rushing touchdowns in a 56-42 win.

“It was just one of those games where we couldn’t stop them,” said Southside head coach Daniel Flowers. “We tried everything. It’s not like we didn’t make adjustments and they made adjustments. They couldn’t stop us and we couldn’t stop them. We made a mistake or two, they got the ball back and they got the game.”

Southside hadn’t played at home since a week two game against Keith. Over the past two months, the Panthers had agreed to play two scheduled home games on the road to help the football program gain its footing financially, so Friday night’s game probably felt like a true homecoming — for fans, players, coaches and alumni.

Both teams did their part offensively to put on quite a show.

The Blue Eagles marched down the field on a seven play, 53-yard drive to open the game and in turn set the tempo for the entire night.

All of the plays on the drive were on the ground and Quenton Samuel capped it with a 25-yard touchdown rush to make it 7-0.

After a three-and-out by Southside, W.S. Neal went back to work.

Malcolm Hawthorne used his speed to dash through a wide open running lane for a 35-yard touchdown to put W.S. Neal up 14-0 with 2:37 left in the first quarter.

The Southside offense came alive on its second drive, with Gibbs leading the way. He ran three times on the drive, including a 3-yard touchdown run, to pull the Panthers within 14-8. Gibbs’ pass to Gerquialius Fails was completed for the two-point conversion.

On the next W.S. Neal possession, quarterback Matthew Thomas was intercepted by Azrenda Pettway, who returned it 40 yards for a game-tying score. Southside failed on its two-point try to take the lead.

W.S. Neal came right back with a 28-yard touchdown run by Quenton Samuel to give the Blue Eagles a 21-14 lead.

On the next drive, the Panthers faced a fourth-and-9 at the W.S. Neal 14-yard line. Gibbs rolled out and avoided tacklers, but stumbled and used his hands to somehow keep his knee off the ground.

After stumbling, he twisted his shoulders and found DeQuan Johnson wide open in the back of the end zone for a 14-yard touchdown that pulled Southside within 21-20.

“He made two plays that if ESPN was here they’d be top 10 plays,” Flowers said of Gibbs. “To me, he played one of the best games I’ve ever seen him play.”

Gibbs completed 9-of-23 passes for 197 yards and a touchdown and also rushed 17 times for 113 yards and two touchdowns, but it wasn’t enough.

Malcolm Hawthorne added a 12-yard touchdown run before halftime and Jacobey Hawthorne scored on a 13-yard rush to begin the second half to put W.S. Neal up 35-20.

Southside answered with a 59-yard touchdown drive. Gibbs threw a 35-yard touchdown to Fails that set up an 11-yard touchdown run by Kentravius Moore. Southside’s two-point try failed and the Panthers trailed 35-26.

After a poor Southside punt, W.S. Neal took over at the Panthers’ 7-yard line and scored on a run by Samuel around left end.

On Southside’s next drive, Gibbs connected on a 52-yard pass to Johnson to put the Panthers at the 2-yard line.

Johnson scored from there and added the two-point conversion to pull Southside within 42-34 with 11:55 to play.

W.S. Neal answered with a Malcolm Hawthorne 14-yard rush around right end to put the Blue Eagles up 49-35. W.S. Neal recovered the ensuing kickoff and Malcolm Hawthorne added a 17-yard touchdown to make it 56-34 Blue Eagles.

Southside’s final score was a 18-yard rush by Gibbs. The Panthers will host Dallas County next week in their season finale.