By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

D’IBERVILLE — It has been over 30 years since D’Iberville High missed the state football playoffs three straight seasons.
But that’s exactly the scenario the Warriors face entering this season.
D’Iberville has failed to qualify for the state playoffs the past two years under head coach Josh Ladner, a former Warrior player. The last time the Warriors missed the postseason for three consecutive seasons was from 1989-1991.
The Warriors went 3-7 overall last year and were 1-4 in the new Region 4-7A. In Ladner’s first year at the helm, in 2022 when DHS was still in Class 6A, the Warriors went 4-7.
“Our expectations are, really, to look more like Warrior football and the last two years we really haven’t been that way,” Ladner said in a recent interview. “It starts on the defensive side, and that’s what we’re going to do this year. We’re going to look more like Warrior football.”

Ladner has a solid senior class of more than 20 that hopes to mesh together to snap the playoff drought.
“We’ve had fourteen losses and seven wins in the first two seasons and we want to flip that,” Ladner added. “We want to get at least seven wins this year. That’s our goal and I don’t care how they come. I don’t care who it comes from, and honestly I don’t care where they get in line or what order that is, we just want to go out there and compete and let it take care of itself and I think it starts with winning everyday, day by day.”
Senior backfield mates return for DHS in the form of quarterback Connor Jones and running back Andre Crosby. The dynamic D’Iberville duo accounted for almost 1,500 yards combined offensively last season and 19 touchdowns. Crosby rushed for 12 touchdowns and almost 700 yards as a junior.
The Warriors started last season off with three straight losses before bouncing back to register a pair of impressive wins over Pascagoula (34-22) and Wayne County (64-32), two teams that qualified for the state playoffs in their respective classifications.

However, another three game losing streak began the following week as Region 4-7A play got underway and the Warriors managed only a 45-7 win over St. Martin the rest of the way.
Ladner, whose team started the season 1-5 in his first year in charge two seasons ago, hopes his squad can find a way for a more successful start to the upcoming season which begins on the road against Columbia on Friday, Aug. 30th.
“Each and every game, we want to make our home fans proud,” explains Coach Ladner. “We want them to walk to the car and be excited about what they saw. I want our boys to walk off the field proud of what they accomplished, and I want our opponents to respect us. If those three things are accomplished each and every Friday night, then I think the scoreboard will take care of itself, and that’s our goal.”