By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

PASCAGOULA — The fifth “Southern Six” Senior Spotlight sponsored by Reese’s of the new school year is Gautier’s Trey Irving.

Each week throughout the school year, we here at SouthMiss6 Sports will highlight a senior student/athlete in the “Southern Six” to honor.

Irving, the 6-foot-160 pound Gators quarterback, has guided his team to a solid 3-1 start to the season. His impressive play, especially over the past two weeks, is one of the main reasons behind Gautier’s third 3-1 start in the past four seasons.

In a pair of wins over fellow Jackson County foes the past two weeks, Irving accounted for five touchdowns in a 48-33 road win over Moss Point as he went 15-of-23 passing for 225 yards with two touchdowns and had 11 rushes for 90 yards and three touchdowns.

The week prior, in an exciting 38-31 win over visiting Pascagoula in the annual Singing River Classic, Irving was 21-of-32 passing for 188 yards and 12 rushes for 111 yards and two touchdowns in the Gators win over the Panthers.

Irving has been a part of Gautier’s back-to-back marches to the Class 5A South State championship game over the past two seasons as despite missing about half the season last year he began to come into his own as the season progressed and finished the year with over 1,200 yards passing and 11 touchdowns through the air with five more scores on the ground.

He showed what to expect this season as the postseason got underway last year as he accounted for 220 total yards and three scores in the Gators 50-18 win over Natchez to open the Class 5 South State playoffs and followed that up with an 11-of-18 passing performance for 170 yards with a pair of scores touchdowns and he also added a rushing touchdown in the Gators 36-34 win over Florence in the second round.

The Reese’s company has long been a big supporter of current and former high school student/athletes

For over a decade now, Reese’s® Peanut Butter Cups has been the title sponsor of The Senior Bowl played annually in Mobile, Ala.

In addition to its new partnership with the Senior Bowl, the Reese’s® brand is also the official candy partner of the NCAA® and the title sponsor of the National Association of Basketball Coaches’ Reese’s® College All-Star Game, which features the top Division I senior basketball student-athletes from around the country and is played the weekend of the NCAA Men’s Final Four®.

“The Reese’s brand is excited to continue our partnership with the Senior Bowl,” said Drew Iddings, Director, Promotions and Planning, The Hershey Company.  “We are confident that this partnership will continue to solidify the Reese’s brand’s leadership in collegiate athletics as well as honor senior student-athletes who achieved success on and off the field during their athletic careers.”

The 2025 Reese’s Senior Bowl will take place on Saturday, February 1, 2025 at 1:30 PM CT at Hancock Whitney Stadium in Mobile, Alabama. The game and practices will be televised on the NFL Network. 

The Reese’s Senior Bowl is widely regarded as the preeminent college football all-star game and the first stage in the NFL Draft process. The longest continual-running all-star game has taken place in Mobile, Alabama the past 75 years.  More than 900 NFL personnel, including key decision-makers from all 32 teams, and over 1100 media members from around the country were credentialed this year. This past April, the game produced 110 total picks, representing 43 percent of the entire NFL draft.