By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

GAUTIER — If there’s one objective his Gautier football team has accomplished over the past three seasons with three straight trips to the Class 5A South State championship game it’s this for Gator head coach Marc High.
“First of all, hopefully everyone in the state knows how to pronounce ‘G-A-U-T-I-E-R’,” High said with a grin, after practice on Thursday. “I heard it called so many names, I kept thinking you gotta be illiterate to even make that pronunciation that bad.”

In all seriousness though, the Gators are currently in arguably the most successful three season span of football in the program history that first started in 1997.
The first three Gator gridiron squads ever went a still school record 34-3 from 1997-1999 under quarterback Ray Ray Bivens and wide out Antonio Hargrove, but those teams went just 2-3 in the state playoffs and never advanced past the second round.
The current crop of Gators stands 29-9 over the past three campaigns, but have won six playoff games and reached the first three South State championship contests in the history of the program as they prepare to host Brookhaven Friday night at 7 p.m., at Vaughan-Wallace Stadium.
“At the beginning of every year we always sit down as a team and talk about bringing pride to the community and the school,” High continued. “Hopefully we’ve been able to do that over this stretch.”

The Gators host the Panthers in the Class 5A South State championship game with a berth to the upcoming Class 5A state title tilt on the line at Vaughan-Wallace Stadium Friday night. Both teams sit at an impressive 11-1 overall, as the Gators are on a 10-game win streak and Ole’ Brook has won seven straight.
Both losses by each team came to Class 7A foes on the road, as GHS lost to D’Iberville 33-12 in a torrential downpour in week two while BHS fell to Northwest Rankin 35-30 in week five.
This marks just the second meeting ever between the two teams on the football field, with Gautier taking a 20-13 win at home in 2000, in the opening round of the state playoffs 24 years ago.
High is impressed with the play of the Panthers.
“They are big, strong and athletic,” High added. “It’s two 11-1 teams wanting the same thing.”
And that “thing” is a first-ever trip to the overall state championship round for Gautier or a third trip for Ole’ Brook. The Panthers only state championship win came 20 years ago in 2004 under prep All-American quarterback Jimmy Johns.

High hopes being at home will finally put his team over the top on what has been a 27-year journey for the Gautier football team to get to its first ever state championship game.
“I think it’s big for the school and community,” High concluded. “The players and coaches have put in a lot of work to get to this point. Its a big accomplishment for everyone.”
Next up for the winner of this game is a date with either perennial state power West Point or up-stat Cleveland Central. The Wolves host the Green Wave in the Class 5A North State championship game in Cleveland Friday night. West Point is 9-3 overall, while Cleveland Central is a perfect 12-0 so far. The winner will face the winner of the Gautier-Brookhaven contest next week on Friday night at 7:30 p.m., at M.M. Roberts Stadium in Hattiesburg on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi for the Class 5A state championship.