By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

LUCEDALE — Twenty seven years ago, Brandon Davis was a senior standout catcher for George County as the Rebels captured the 1997 Class AA state baseball championship.

This week, Davis leads his alma mater into the state championship round once again only this time as the veteran head coach of the Rebels. And if his squad can come up with two more wins at Trustmark Park in Pearl, then Davis will be involved in adding even more chapters to the historic athletic annals at George County High School.

The Rebels face Warren Central in the Class 6A best of three state championship series beginning Wednesday at the home of the Class AA Mississippi Braves.

“It’s why I came home, to win more championships for George County.” Davis, now in his 13th season at the helm of the Rebels, said Saturday.

That 1997 squad, still the only state champion in a major boys sports in school history, won 30 games and that number still stands as the single season best for the Rebels.

The current GCHS squad sits 28-5 overall and would tie that team for the most wins in a season overall but surpass it for best winning percentage after the 1997 team went 30-7 overall.

Also, Davis is two wins away from his 400th as a head coach over the past two decades at both his alma mater and Richton, where he won three state titles in a four year span.

“It’s always special when you play for a state title,” Davis added. “It’s an unbelievable experience for the players, coaches and community. I am familiar with the process.”

Davis hit an outstanding .460 as a senior at GCHS in helping guide his team to the state title. He raised that impressive batting average to over .600 in the playoffs, and earned First Team All-State honors for his play.

Since graduating from GCHS in 1997, Davis hasn’t really lived more than an hour’s drive from Lucedale. Upon graduation, the stalwart catcher for the Rebels played at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College and the University of South Alabama, then spent two years as an assistant with the Rebels before landing his first head coaching job in 2005 at Richton, some 40 miles north of Lucedale. Richton won Class 2A state championships under Davis in 2007, 2008 and 2010.

He assumed control of the Rebel program before the state of the 2012 season.

“I always had the ambition to come back here,” Davis said. “It’s home.”

Since coming back to Lucedale, Davis has accomplished just about everything a head coach would want except that elusive state crown. This marks the fourth time in the past decade that he has guided his alma mater into the state finals, but came up empty in Class 5A in 2015 as well as Class 6A in 2016 and 2018.

“It’s not really something I think much about,” Davis continued. “I don’t have time to dwell on it, you just try to learn from the mistakes and try to prepare so it doesn’t happen again.”

Will this be the year that everything comes full circle for Davis at George County? The Rebels are considered by many prep baseball observers in the state as the odds on favorites to take down the Vikings and bring that long-awaited second state title back to Lucedale.

“It’s time. This community has supported us for so long they deserve it,” Davis added. “And this team has bought into every aspect of what we have asked them to do and more. So, it’s time.”

But in the end, Davis cautions those who say his team is the favorite.

“That means nothing in the state championship,” Davis concluded. “They are here for a reason also. It’s who plays best in the series.”