By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

OCEAN SPRINGS — Ocean Springs won its third consecutive region title last season.
But, for the first time in that successful span, however, the Greyhounds fell in the opening round of the South State playoffs.
Ocean Springs went 9-2 overall under first-year head coach Jake Bramlett, including 5-0 in Region 4-7A play before losing to Meridian 35-23 in the first-ever Class 7A state playoff appearance for the Greyhound.
“It was a successful year. A very successful regular season, obviously we didn’t end it the way we want to,” said Bramlett, in a recent interview. “It’s a long season, we were very successful going through it, and that is what we are building off of is finishing the season on a strong note.”

To that end Bramlett brings back some key contributors from last season to try and take that next step in the postseason. Ocean Springs has won 19 straight region games as well as 24 out of its last 25 league contests.
Sophomore Sharroid Whitehead and senior Conner White are slated to share time at quarterback. White played at Moss Point last season, where he father was a standout basketball player, before transferring back to OSHS this year.
Just a sophomore, the versatile Whitehead has quickly turned into a three-star recruit despite limited action as a freshman last season when he had 48 receiving yards and 43 rushing yards and 92 return yards. Whitehead has offers from Tennessee, Oklahoma, Baylor, Arizona, Texas Tech, UCLA, Wisconsin, Florida State, Penn State and Kansas State among others.
They’ll both turn to wide receiver Bryshen Smith in the passing department. Smith is the leading returning receiver in the “Southern Six” after hauling in 42 passes for 765 yards and three touchdowns last year while also rushing for five more touchdowns and returning two punts for touchdowns.
When the pair of quarterbacks decide to keep it on the ground, they’ll be handing the ball off a lot to senior tailback Will Smith. As a junior last season, Smith bounced back from an injury he suffered during his sophomore season to rush for 1,268 yards and 18 touchdowns on the ground.

Making all of that attack possible up front along the offensive line is Zaylin Deadeaux, among others. The monstrous 6-foo-6, 350-pound senior tackle returns for his final campaign with five Division I offers in hand and he was a Class 7A First Team All-State pick last season.
On defense, standout lineman Bryant Ausmer returns to lead the charge. The 6-foot-3, 230-pound senior standout is expected to control the trenches after he committed to Southeastern Louisiana University recently.
Ocean Springs begins the season Friday at home hosting perennial state power Madison Central. The Jaguars snapped the visiting Greyhounds 20 game regular season win streak in the season-opener last year 15-14.

“That game is something that we have looked forward to every day around here,” said Bramlett added. “Talk about it every day. We are preparing for it now. We talk about what happened last year, moving forward how we are going to fix those things this year, and be prepared for it. Having that mindset all the way through the summer carries us to that day.
“It’s keeping that same amount of preparation, that same mentality through the end of the season. You can’t taper off at the end and then turn it right back on when playoffs start. It’s about keeping that same mentality week in and week out.”