By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

Those that have been awaiting the much-anticipated Region 8-4A showdown between home-standing Poplarville and Greene County will have to wait one more day.
The battle for supremacy in the region race has been moved back a day to the normal Friday playing date instead of Thursday, as it was originally scheduled. That’s because of Perl River Community College’s home regular season finale in Poplarville which will be played on Thursday.

Regardless of the outcome, both teams will have home-field advantage in the opening round of the upcoming Class 4A South State playoffs with the winner this week the top seed from Region 8-4 and the losing team the number two seed.
Buckley Out
Former George County head coach Steve Buckley is no longer with Jones Junior College.
The longtime head coach in the prep ranks across the state of Mississippi was in the midst of his ninth season leading the Bobcats, but apparently was relieved from his duties abruptly last week with his squad in the middle of a three game losing streak.

Buckley has led Jones to a combined 59-23 record during his tenure including four South Division titles a bowl victory and a Top 10 national ranking in all previous eight seasons. His .746 win percentage is second-best in program history and his 59 wins are third-most. 
The Bobcats started the season off at a solid 3-1 but lost three straight going into last week. The Bobcats missed the playoffs last season after going 6-3, just the second time in his tenure hiss teamed missed the playoffs.
Jones posted back-to-back eight-win seasons in 2021 and 2022, after starting 7-0 in both, and being ranked as high as No. 1 and No. 4 nationally In 2018, Buckley guided Jones to its first 10-win season since 2001. The Bobcats won their second straight MACCC South Division title and defeated Eastern Arizona 27-7 in the Mississippi Bowl.
Buckley served as head coach at Petal High School from 2007-11, making the 6A state playoffs four times including falling just short of winning a state title in 2011. He and was an assistant coach at Southern Miss on three separate occasions. He was head coach at Olive Branch High School in 2015.
The 1985 Southern Miss graduate began his coaching career as an assistant at Petal before becoming a graduate assistant at his alma mater for the 1988 and 1989 campaigns. He then became a full-time coach for the Golden Eagles in 1990.

Buckley then went on to work for four seasons at LSU (1991-94) before taking over at George County for two seasons in 1995 and 1996. During his time there, Buckley was named the District Coach of the Year and guided the Rebels to the class 4A South State championship game in his final year there before GCHS lost to eventual state champion Northeast Jone.was a South State finalis
He then returned to Southern Miss for another stint as an assistant coach from 1997-99, serving as running backs coach.
He left his post at Olive Branch to take over at Jones before the 2016 season began.
Deuce cuts Loose
George County senior standout signal-caller Deuce Knight, an Auburn commit, was elevated from a consensus four star recruit to a five start prospect last week.

He then decided to celebrate the new status in fine fashion Friday night.
Knight accounted for nine of the 10 touchdowns on the night for the Rebels in an impressive 69-48 win over West Harrison as he threw for seven scores and ran for two more. He also ran for a two-point conversion, passed 538 yards and ran for another 113 yards to combine for over 650 yards of total offense to go with his nine scores.
His TD tosses included throws from 80, 63, 56 and 45 yards and he also had a 68-yard scramble to set up one of his scoring runs, in leading the Rebels to their most points ever in a football game in the almost 100 year history of the program.