By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

D’IBERVILLE — A big early season showdown between a pair of “Southern Six” foes is this week’s Sonic of South Mississippi Big Game of the Week.
Gautier travels just across county lines Friday night to take on home-standing D’Iberville at 7 p.m. This marks the 19th all-time meeting between the two teams on the gridiron, and the series is pretty even with the Gaors holding a 10-8 lead all-time.

The Gators snapped a five game losing streak to DHS last season with a 41-20 win at home, which marked the first GHS win in the series since 2009.
Both teams are coming off big season-opening wins. D’Iberville, which shocked home-standing Columbia 51-15 last week, looks to start a season at 2-0 for the first time since 2021 which was also the last year the Warriors qualified for the state playoffs.

And, despite making it to the Class 5A South State championship round the past two seasons, Gautier is also looking for its first 2-0 start since that same 2021 campaign. The Gators snapped a five game losing streak to DHS last season with a 41-20 win at home, which was the first win for GHS in the series since 2009.
Gautier nipped Harrison Central 26-23 in overtime in the first-ever meeting between the two “Southern Six” foes on the gridiron last week. The game was the opener of the annual Port City Bowl doubleheader at historic Milner Stadium, and took just over three hours to play.
Gautier trailed the Red Rebels 20-17 with just over two minutes remaining in the game.
“We’ve been in big games, and we understand big games,” said Gautier head coach Marc High. “They were doing a lot early to hurt us, but we were able to come back. It’s a testament to these kids and these coaches.”

It marked the first win in a season opener for the Gators in three seasons, who fell to host Gulfport in the Port City Bowl last season 42-0.
Gautier junior defensive lineman Brayden Jackson picked up 14 tackles, including four tackles for loss, one fumble recovery and one pass breakup in the exciting win over the Red Rebels.
Gator linebacker Fredrick Nicholson came up with a pair of interceptions and collected 10 total tackles as well.
Gator quarterback Trey Irving ran for a score and threw the winning touchdown in the extra session.

In D’Iberville’s big win, Jayquan Havard rushed for 155 yards and one touchdown and Jaylen Jones ran for three rushing touchdowns as part of his 90-yard night on the ground. Also, versatile senior wingback Andre Crosby ran a touchdown, caught three passes for 96 yards and another score and returned a kick off 97 yards for a third touchdown.
Defensively for the Warriors, linebacker Josh Johnson recorded eight tackles, had one pass deflection and a forced fumble.
Sonic Drive-In of South Mississippi has always been a longtime supporter of student/athletes in South Mississippi and all across the Southeast.