By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

A pair of longtime arch-rivals in two different counties in the “Southern Six” will square off intheir respective South State semifinal series over the next few days.

In Jackson County, Vancleave and East Central will face off for at least the fourth and fifth (and maybe sixth) time this season in the Class 5A South State semifinals when that affair starts Friday in Vancleave. Meanwhile, in Pearl River County, Picayune and Pearl River Central will face off oddly enough for the first time this season as the Class 6A South State semifinals start Friday in Carriere.

In Pearl River County, the Maroon Tide and Blue Devils didn’t meet in the regular season for the first time in at least 23 years. But that will all change over the next couple of days when the two teams, whose campuses sit literally six miles apart, meet in game on at PRC Friday night and in game two in Picayune on Saturday.

According to sources on both sides, the new athletic administration at PRC this season informed Picayune officials that they weren’t interested in keeping the football rivalry alive since the two teams weren’t in the same region anymore after reclassification and expansion by the MHSAA over the Summer.

Picayune officials responded by telling the PRC folks that if that was the case, then the two schools wouldn’t meet in any other regularly scheduled sports either causing the two longtime rivals on the diamond to not face off this season.

Pearl River Central, the number one seed from Region 3-6A, has the home-field advantage over Picayune, the number two seed from Region 4-6A, in the series.

The Blue Devils swept West Harrison to advance to this round while Picayune did the same to Hattiesburg. The winner of this series will face the survivor of the George County-West Jones series for the Class 6A South State championship next week.

Meanwhile, in Jackson County, no such issue exists between those two longtime rivals as Vancleave took two of three from two-time and defending back-to-back Class 5A state champion East Central earlier in the season to open Region 4-5A play.

Game one is set for “The Landing” in Vancleave on Friday night, and the Bulldogs also hosted the three game regular season series between the two teams. Vancleave wrestled the region top seed away from ECHS this season, and the Hornets finished as the third see in the loop.

Game two will be in Hurley on Saturday.

The Bulldogs advanced by sweeping North Pike last week, while East Central did the same to Florence.

The winner of this series will face the survivor of the Stone-South Jones series in the Class 5A South State title round next week.