By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

The prep football season turns seven weeks old this week, after we managed to get through almost all of the open dates for the “Southern Six” squads in the past two weeks.

“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 take a look at the action set to kickoff in that particular week all across this region.

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

1. Gulfport at Biloxi (Thursday) — The longtime arch-rival Indians and Admirals meet for the 102nd time this week, and action gets started a day early in this Region 4-7A opener for both teams. . Both teams are coming off of an open date last week, and Gulfport stands 3-2 while Biloxi sits at 2-3 coming into this contest. Each team is also looking to bounce back from lopsided losses in their previous outings, as visiting Brandon bombed the Admirals 42-0 and home-standing Pascagoula slapped the Indians 44-3. Gulfport leads the all-time series 62-35-4, and the Admirals have dominated Biloxi as well of late winning three straight and 11-of-the-past-12 outings also. The Indians haven’t managed a win at home over GHS since a 20-17 win sin 2011, as the Admirals have sailed out of Biloxi Bay with five straight road wins in the series.
2. Pascagoula at Picayune — The Panthers and the Maroon Tide kick off Region 4-6A play at Lee/Triplett Stadium Friday night in the renewal of this annual battle. The teams actually faced off twice last season, with Picayune totally dismantling Pascagoula each time by a combined total of 89-14 as the Maroon Tide beat the Panthers both on the road at War Memorial Stadium 51-14 in early October as well as at home six weeks later 38-0 in the Class 6A South State semifinals. Picayune has won six out of the past seven meetings in this series and seven out of nine over the past decade. The winner of this one will take a big step towards possibly securing home field advantage in the opening round of the upcoming Class 6A South State playoffs which begin in just over five weeks. The Panthers were off last week and are 4-1 coming while while the Maroon Tide is coming off of a 24-21 road win over Petal and stand at 4-2 overall.
3. Pass Christian at Poplarville — Two teams coming off of different results last week in their respective Region 8-4A openers face off in a key league battle Friday night as the Hornets host the Pirates. Poplarville began its defense of the league crown with a 28-14 road win over Moss Point while home-standing PCHS fell to Greene County 33-25. Poplarville stands 5-1 overall and the Pirates sail into Pearl River County at 3-3 with two straight losses. Pass Christian finished as the number two seed in Region 8-4A last season, but a second straight league loss will make it tough for PCHS to duplicate that feat.
4. Gautier at Vancleave — A pair of arch-rivals renew the Battle of Gautier-Vancleave Rd., in the annual series as Region 4-5A play opens for both the Gators and Bulldogs. Vancleave is 3-2 and is coming off an open date on a three game win streak, while GHS came off an open date to slip past visiting Columbia 42-41 in exciting fashion last week and the Gators stand 4-1 overall. This marks the 24th all-time meting on the football field between the two neighboring foes, and Gautier has dominated the series 19-4 and the Gators come in to this one on an 11-game win streak against the Bulldogs. Vancleave hasn’t beaten Gautier since 2010.
5. Ocean Springs at D’Iberville — The Greyhounds and Warriors open Region 4-7A play against one another Friday night in the 43rd all-time meeting between the two teams on the gridiron. Ocean Springs has won three straight over DHS, after stopping a five game Warriors’ winning streak in the series in 2021. You couldn’t get more even than this series over the past decade with each side having earned five wins apiece in the last 10 games. The Greyhounds are coming off an open date, and are off to their worst start to a season in 22 years at 1-4 since finishing 1-9 in 2002. Meanwhile, DHS enters region play with a winning record at 3-2 after a 35-7 thumping of Wayne County last week.
6. George County at Long Beach — The wounded Rebels head to Lance Lumpkin Stadium Friday night to open Region 4-6A play against the home-standing Bearcats. George County has played most of the past four games without the services of all-star senior standout quarterback Deuce Knight, and after opening the season with two straight wins the Rebels have lost three out of their last four games including a 48-21 thumping from Hattiesburg last week. The Bearcats also fell to a Pine Belt area team last week as South Jones ended the game with 21 unanswered points after trailing 22-8 to pull out a 29-22 win in overtime. Long Beach sits at 2-4 overall and has also lost three straight games coming into its league-opener. The Bearcats have lost three straight games to the Rebels since this series was resumed in 2021 after a 20 year hiatus.
7. West Harrison at Hancock — This is the 16th season of West Harrison football all-time, and the Hurricanes stll have never qualified for a state playoff berth in program history. The march to what could be history in the making for head coach Quincy Patrick and his WHHS squad begins Friday night at Brett Favre Filed against the home-standing Hawks in the Region 4-6A opener for both teams. Both teams seem headed in completely opposite directions as league play opens as the Hurricanes have won four straight games and stand 4-1 overall coming off of an open date while the Hawks are on a four game losing streak including a 35-34 loss to Florence on the road last week. This marks the third straight season that West Harrison sits at 4-1 to start off a season, but can the Hurricanes build off that quick start this year and finally snag that elusive playoff berth unlike the past seasons?