By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

As the prep football season across South Mississippi continues to move further into the month of October, it’s time for our eighth installment of “Friday Night Rewind” here at SouthMiss6 Sports.

“Friday Night Rewind” 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 Sunday we’ll take a look back at the action that took place all across this region the previous week.

Here are seven things we noticed in the “Southern 6” Friday night:

1. Powerful Picayune — After losing two games in the first four weeks of the season, many armchair quarterbacks began to count perennial state power Picayune out as far as repeating as region champs for the fourth straight season. But the Maroon Tide had other ideas. Picayune picked up its third straight win Friday night with a 38-28 decision over visiting Pascagoula in the Region 4-6A opener for both squads. Maroon Tide senior standout tailback Darrell Smith continued to show why he is considered one of the best running backs in the state as he rushed for 256 yards rushing and four touchdowns in the winning effort. The drought in Picayune continued for the Panthers, who have now lost 13 straight road games to the Maroon Tide dating back to 1988.
2. Throwing up a Deuce — Due in most part to the absence of five-star quarterback Deuce Knight, George County had lost three of its past four games coming into the Region 4-6A opener against home-standing Long Beach. But the Deuce got loose upon his return, connecting on four touchdown passes and rushing for another to lead the Rebels to a comfortable 48-13 win over the Bearcats. Knight has missed the better part of nine games over the past two years for various reasons, and the Rebels are 5-4 in those games. In the 10 games he has played at least a half in during that same span, GCHS is 7-3.
3. Second Coming — Gautier has another Irving behind center, and he’s putting up stellar numbers like his cousin did several years back. Trey Irving has been solid for the Gators all season, and that continued in a 47-13 thumping of home-standing Vancleave in the Region 4-5A opener for both teams. Trey Irving, who replaced Kaden Irving as the starting quarterback last year at Gautier but suffered through some injury issues, ran for 108 yards and two touchdowns and threw for 225 yards another score Irving threw for 225 yards and a touchdown while rushing for 107 more yards and three more scores in the big win. His three touchdowns all came in the first 21 minutes of the game in guiding the Gators to a commanding 28-7 halftime lead.
4. Greyhounds Streak — Despite getting off to their worst start to a season in 23 years with a 1-4 mark in pre-region play, Ocean Springs showed up and showed out once the league bell rang against D’Iberville taking a 27-13 win in the Region 4-7A opener for both squads. The win marked the 20th straight region win for OSHS, which like Picayune has won three straight league titles. In his first start behind center this season, versatile jack-of-all-trades standout Sharroid Whitehead completed 10 of his 12 passes for 121 yards while throwing for a touchdown and running for another.
5. Hornets Howl — Much like Ocean Springs, Poplarville has been on an impressive region streak for some time now as well, including a hard-fought 19-17 win over visiting Pass Christian Friday night. The win was the 18th league win in the last 20 region outings over the past five seasons for veteran head coach Jay Beech and his Hornets. Poplarville has the best record in the “Southern Six” after seven weeks of play at 6-1, and they’ve done it all without the services of Bell Cow running back Tylan Keys who has missed all season with an injury. The win over the Pirates also clinched a berth in the Class 4A South State playoffs for the 13th straight season for PHS.
6. Sailing Away — Gulfport went into enemy territory to battle long-time arch-rival Biloxi on Thursday night and the Admirals sailed away out of the back bay with their sixth straight road win in the series. Trailing 7-0 at halftime, the Admirals snapped a six quarter scoreless streak with two touchdowns in the third period and 21 unanswered points eventually and cruised to a 21-7 win over the Indians at the Biloxi High School Sports Complex. Admiral defender Pierre Felder came up with two big turnovers for Gulfport that led directly to two of the GHS touchdowns. The win pushed GHS to 16-4 in its last 20 region games since the beginning of league play in 2021 with three of those defeats coming to Ocean Springs.
7.  Toppled Tigers — Once mighty Moss Point dropped to 0-7 for the second time in three seasons, and now the five time state champions face their first winless season since 1951 as well as missing out on the state playoffs for two straight seasons for the first time ever in the 41 year history of a statewide playoff system in the state of Mississippi after a 46-27 loss on the road at Bay High. It marked the fourth time this season that Moss Point allowed at least 46 points in a game, and MPHS is giving up an average of almost 34 points per game this season.