Out-Of-State Games Face Many Obstacles – Matching up prominent national programs presents challenges to coaches and promoters.

It was a high school football game both coaches wanted to play. It was a high school football game fans would have flocked to see and networks fought to televise. So neither South Panola’s Lance Pogue nor St. Thomas Aquinas’ George Smith minded when the talks went into its second week, with both schools throwing out potential dates and sites, trying to make a match. They wanted to get this game set.    The matchup would be the closest thing to a belated national championship high school game as South Panola edged Aquinas for the 2010 title. And while both schools lost key players to graduation, enough returned to make a marquee matchup.    The game represented the future direction of high school football. National powers – often with the help of television money – are now able to test themselves against others more than ever before. There’s no