By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

Resurrection has reached its fourth straight Class 1A South State championship.

And the Eagles hope the fourth trip turns out just like the past three.

Resurrection is looking to make its fourth straight journey to the Class 1A state championship series, after winning the past two state titles and coming in second in its first trip in 2021.

The Eagles head to Taylorsvile Friday night to open the Class 1A South State match-up, as the Tartars will host game one and game three if needed in the best of three series. Game two is set for Saturday night in Pascagoula.

The two-time defending state champ Eagles face Taylorsville for the first time in just over two years, since eliminating the Tartars in three games in the 2022 Class 1A South State Semifinals.

Heading into this affair, Taylorsville has won six straight postseason games while the Eagles have won six of seven encounters.

The Tartars have swept through Shaw, Enterprise-Lincoln and Nanih Waiya with their closest postseason contest so far a 8-1 win over NWHS.

Resurrection easily swept through the first two series over Noxapater and West Bolivar with home doubleheader wins before running into some issues with Ethel in the Class 1A South State semifinal round last week.

Ethel took game one at home 3-2, before RCS evened up the series at one game apiece in an emotional 9-1 win in game two in Pascagoula.

That set the stage for the decisive rubber match back in Ethel on Monday and RCS survived 9-8 to keep its quest for a third straight state championship alive.

“The last two wins say a lot about the makeup of this team and these seniors,” second-year RCS head coach Aron Frederic said. “With their season on the line and how they responded, not wanting it to end.”

Frederic’s Eagles jumped out to a 7-1 lead after three frames and stretched that advantage to 9-1 after five frames before the home type of Eagles countered with a seven spot in the sixth stanza to make things interesting.

Justin San Miguel smacked a grand slam home run in the third frame to make it 7-1 and seemingly give RCS a comfortable lead. He also added a run-scoring sacrifice fly in the win, and Harris Hinkle had an RBI-double in the three run first frame. Luke Schnoor had a run-scoring single in the fifth.

“The team was in good spirits traveling back to Ethel,” Frederic added. “Putting runs on the board early was crucial. We capitalized on some mistakes and got a big swing from San Miguel in the third. Got out ahead and needed every one of those runs to get the win.”

It had been a tough couple of days for Frederic, who after losing game one on Thursday night he lost his father Gene on Friday. But his Eagles came through for their head coach and put tothere back-to-back nine run outings to come back and win the series.

“It’s been difficult, but we are fortunate to have a lot of support,” Frederic concluded. “The last few days have been emotional but everyone has been very supportive. We now look forward to playing for a South State Championship.”

These two teams have long been considered the two best in Class 1A South all season long. Resurrection comes into the match-up at 25-5 while Taylorsville is 20-10.