By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

New enrollment numbers for reclassification purposes were released by The Mississippi High School Activities Association on Tuesday afternoon.
And there will be some changes for some schools in the “Southern Six”.
Both West Harrison and Gautier are moving up a classification. West Harrison moves from Class 6A to Class 7A, and Gautier moves up from Class 5A to Class 6A.
In Class 7A, this will mean that there are now seven schools on the Mississippi Gulf Coast in the largest classification in the state.

It’s possible for the first time since expansion to seven classifications, that a region will have seven members instead of six and West Harrison would join Harrison Central, Ocean Springs, Gulfport, Biloxi, St. Martin and D’Iberville to form a revamped Region 4-7A.

If not, Harrison Central would move up to Region 3-7A and compete with Petal, Oak Grove, Meridian and several teams from the Jackson area.

Jackson Murrah, which remains in Class 7A to put 25 schools in that classification, played as an independent the past two seasons in football.
In that case, West Harrison would join Ocean Springs, Gulfport, Biloxi, St. Martin and D’Iberville to form a revamped Region 4-7A.
In Class 6A, Gautier’s move up results in seven “Southern Six” squads to fit into Region 4-6A unless Pearl River Central remains in Region 3-6A then GHS just joins Pascagoula, George County, Hancock, Long Beach and Picayune in that loop.
If not, and PRC is returned south, George County might be the top candidate to join Hattiesburg, West Jones, Terry and two schools from the Jackson area in Region 3-6A.

In Class 5A, and specifically Region 4-5A, Vancleave, East Central, Stone and Laurel remain from that league after Gautier’s departure and would need one more school to finish the field. In this case, Purvis, Sumrall and South Jones would be candidates.
In Region 8-4A, Moss Point, Pass Christian, Poplarville, Bay High and Greene County are all expected to remain in place.
In Region 8-3A, new MHSAA member Presbyterian Christian will in all likelihood join St. Stanislaus and St. Patrick in a revamped region.
In Class 1A, Resurrection will in all likelihood have a few new foes.
The new region alignments are expected to be released during state football championship in Hattiesburg in early December.

“Super 7” in the “Southern 6”

Every Tuesday through the first week in December, we will publish our “Super 7 in the Southern 6” weekly poll involving all 24 prep football teams in our coverage area.

The weekly poll is the only one in the state that is voted on by a panel of veteran sportswriters, a few selected area coaches and other media members.

This week is the Week 11 rankings for 2024.

“Super 7 in the Southern 6”

1. Picayune
2. Gautier
3. Pascagoula
4. Ocean Springs
5. Gulfport
6. Poplarville
7. George County

(Others receiving votes: D’Iberville, Stone, Biloxi Vancleave, Pass Christian)