By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

Week three of the prep football season is upon us, after after some interesting outcomes in the “Southern Six” last week.

“A Look Ahead” has been a part of the journalistic fabric of prep football across the “Southern Six” for most of the past three decades. Each week of the season on Monday, SouthMiss6 Sports takes a look at the action set to kickoff in that particular week all across this region.

There are some intriguing match-ups this week in week three.

Here are seven games in the “Southern Six’ to keep an eye on this week:

1. D’Iberville at Picayune — At the beginning of the season, if someone would have told you that just one of these teams would be unbeaten entering this match-up at Lee-Triplett Stadium most would not have picked the Warriors to be that squad but yet here we are. D’Iberville is 2-0 after smacking Gautier 33-12 last week, while the perennial state power Maroon Tide comes in at 1-1 but are coming off an impressive 35-0 win over Slidell Northshore last week. Even though Picayune has played in three straight South State championship games and won back-to-back Class 5A state titles in 2021 and 2022, and D’Iberville has even qualified for the state playoffs since 2021, this series has actually been prett even over the past six years with the Maroon Tide winning three out of five games. If not for the numerous heat timeouts, this one could be over in less than two hours as both teams will look to continue productive ground attacks which they have deployed the first two weeks of play.
2. Pascagoula at Gautier — The renewal of the “Singing River Classic” sees the Panthers headed to the “Swamp” in search of a 3-0 start for the second straight season. Pascagoula snapped a four-game losing streak in this series to the Gators last season with an exciting 28-27 win over Gautier at War Memorial Stadium, but the Panthers haven’t won at Vaughn-Wallace Stadium since 2019. Panther sophomore linebacker Jonathan Shelby registered 18 total tackles in a hard-fought 27-14 win over East Central last week and senior linebacker Wyatt Henderson added 16 total stops. Pascagoula leads this all-time series 13-9.
3. Biloxi at George County — In a series that dates back to 1970, the Indians and Rebels have only met 13 times total in that 54 year span but this marks the fifth match-up on the football field in the past decade between the two teams. For the second straight season, George County comes in at 2-0 and Biloxi at 1-1 after the Rebels dispatched Greene County in the “Battle for the Bell” last week and the Indians fell to Meridian just as was the case in both instances last year. George County has a slight 7-6 edge all-time in the series, but Biloxi has won four of the last five games played in the past 13 years including a shocking 34-14 win at home last season that gave GCHS its first loss of the season. Rebel quarterback Deuce Knight threw for 317 yards and tossed five touchdown passes against Greene County.
4. Hancock at St. Martin — The Hawks and Yellow Jackets face off for the 37th time Friday night, with Hancock coming in after winning the last two meetings over St. Martin including a 42-7 thumping last year at Brett Favre Field in the Kiln. This will mark the 14th consecutive season that these two teams have met on the gridiron in a series that dates back to 1960 and was renewed in 2011 when the current streak started after an absence of almost a decade. Both teams stand 1-1 entering this week. Petal pounded St. Martin 41-0 last week after the Yellow Jackets snapped a 17-game losing streak with a 24-14 win over Vancleave in week one.
5. Moss Point at St. Stanislaus — A pair of teams coming off different results last week face off at Brother Phillip Memorial Stadium as the Rock-A-Chaws host the Tigers. It will mark Moss Point’s second straight trip to the other end of the Mississippi Gulf Coast after the Tigers fell to home-standing Hancock 16-6 last week, and is the second of three trips overall that the Tigers will make to Hancock County this regular season. St. Stanislaus retained the trophy in the annual “Battle for the Crab Trap” with a 27-0 win over neighboring rival Bay High last week to even the Rocks’ record up at 1-1 while MPHS sits at 0-2 on the season.
6. Pearl River Central at Pass Christian — The Pirates sailed home with an impressive 48-9 win over home-standing Purvis last week as PCHS moved to 1-1 overall and prepare to host the Blue Devils. Pearl River Central comes in at 0-2 on the year and in possession of a 15-game losing streak after falling 35-33 to South Jones in their home opener at Kenneth Hendrix Stadium Saturday night. The Pirates traveled to Carriere last year to renew this series after a 17 year hiatus, and came back home to the Pass with a 42-0 win that marked the seventh straight defeat in the recent streak for PRC. This is the 26th overall meeting between the two teams on the football field, and PRC leads the all-time series 14-11.
7. Gulfport at Madison Central — Gulfport is 2-0 to start a season for the third straight season, including the second straight under the guidance of head coach Blake Pennock. Gulfport will face BY FAR its toughest competition of the season this week in the Jaguars, after recording easy wins over Vancleave and Greenville Christian the past two weeks. Madison Central stands 1-1 overall as the Admirials come calling, after a tough 21=7 loss to top-ranked and perennial state power Brandon last week. This marks the second game against “Southern Six” competition in just three weeks for MCHS, after the Jags opened the season in Ocean Springs with a 27-20 win over the Greyhounds in the season-opener for both teams. This is just the fourth meeting between the Admirals and MCHS all-time, all in the past 11 years, and Gulfport has never beaten the Jaguars including a 23-21 loss at home in historic Milner Stadium last year.