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 ninth 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. Wounded Warriors — Gulfport handed D’Iberville its second straight Region 4-7A loss Friday night at historic Milner Stadium with a 38-19 decision that also pushed the Admirals to 2-0 in the league race. Gulfport led just 14-13 at halftime, but capitalized on two huge third quarter defensive plays which resulted in a pair of touchdowns in the period to take control. Two short scorings runs, one from Cooper Crosby and one from DaKorean Payton, came directly from the two Warrior miscues and pushed the lead to 28-13 and the home team never looked back.
2. Galloping Greyhounds — Ocean Springs also moved to 2-0 in the Region 4-7A race with a 48-3 thumping of visiting Harrison Central at Greyhound Stadium. It marked the 21st straight region win for OSHS, which is a new school record. The Greyhounds jumped out to a 21-3 halftime lead as Sharroid Whitehead dashed in from 6-yards out to cap the opening drive for the Greyhounds and less than three minutes into the second stanza OSHS running back Will Smith flipped the ball to wide out Bryshen Smith on a reverse and he sprinted 20 to pay dirt and it was 15-3 OSHS. Smith then set up the final score of the first half when he dashed 44-yards on a run to the HCHS six-yard line then he covered the final three stripes for the score to make it 21-3 with just over five minutes to play in the first half.
3. Mighty Maroon — A trio of teams in Region 4-6A play all eclipsed the 50-point barrier in big league wins Friday night, with perennial state power Picayune topping the list in a whopping 69-50 win on the road over West Harrison 69-50. Picayune moved to 6-2 overall stayed perfect in the region race at 2-0 with the win. Picayune senior standout tailback Darrell Smith continued his assault on opposing defenses as he ran for 253 yards on 13 carries and four total touchdowns, while quarterback Brandon Parker threw for two scores also ran for a touchdown. It was the most points Picayune scored in a game since beating Long Beach 84-19 in 2012.
4. Rebel Yell — The second squad in that Region 4-6A triumvirate to post at least 50 points Friday night was George County, which slipped past Hancock 51-41 in Lucedale at Gill-Martin Stadium George County joins Picayune at 2-0 in league play and the shootout dropped the Hawks to 1-1. The Rebels move to 5-3 overall and Hancock is 2-6. Rebel running back Branden Gautier scored three second half touchdowns and ran for right at 160 yards in the win. Hawk quarterback Kaison Koennen ran for 183 yards and four touchdowns in a losing effort, while GCHS signal-caller Deuce Knight completed just nine passes but threw for 337 yards on the night and three scores.
5. Big Cats — And last but not least, Pascagoula completed the hat trick in Region 4-6A circles with a 50-14 win over visiting Long Beach at War Memorial Stadium. The Panthers are 1-1 in the region race and moved to 5-2 overall with the win, while Long Beach suffered its fifth straight loss and the Bearcats have now lost six of their last seven games to drop to 2-6 overall and 0-2 in the league standings. Pascagoula junior tailback Amarie Jackson ran for 150 yards and one touchdown on just 10 carries and he also caught a scoring pass from Panther senior quarterback Silas Corder. Corder threw for three touchdowns, all in the first half, two of those going to Christian Campbell. Tylan Wilson also ran an on-sides kick off back 50-yards for a PHS touchdown in the winning effort.
6. Home Grown — Gautier celebrated Homecoming with a big 31-8 win over visiting Wayne County as the Gators moved to 2-0 in Region 4-5A play. Gautier standout quarterback Trey Irving accounted for all four Gator touchdowns, as he threw for three scores and ran for another in the winning effort. The Gators moved to 6-1 overall with their fifth straight win, while once mighty Wayne County is 1-1 in the region race and 2-6 overall. Gautier, which has played in the past two Class 5A South State championship games, is in search of its first region crown in 16 years, since 2008. Irving is now up to four straight games with four touchdowns accounted for and has 22 total for the season.
7. Road Warriors — Vancleave won its third straight road game with a surprising 37-13 thumping of Stone at A.L. May Stadium on the campus of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College in Perkinston. Bulldog quarterback Wyatt Adams would complete 10 of 16 passes for 110 yards and a pair of touchdowns in the win and fullback Hunter Harper added two scoring runs.