By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

OCEAN SPRINGS — For the second time in three seasons, Ocean Springs is hosting Brandon on Black Friday with a berth in the overall state championship football game in the largest classification in the state.
The Greyhounds just hope the end of this one turns out just a bit different than the last one did.
In the 2022 Class 6A South State championship contest, the visiting Bulldogs got a 29-yard field goal by Will Elliott on the final play of the game that gave the Brandon a breathtaking 34-31 win over previously unbeaten Ocean Springs in the final prep game of Greyhound senior standout signal-caller Bray Hubbard’s career.
The Bulldogs played for back-to-back state championships in 2021 and 2022, before falling to eventual Class 7A state champion Oak Grove last year in the South State playoffs.

All of that sets up this match-up Friday night once again at Greyhound Stadium between the Greyhounds an the Bulldogs in the second ever Class 7A South State title tilt.
“We maxed out on all of our possible home games in the playoffs, second-year OSHS head coach Jake Bramlett said this week. “You always hope to be at home throughout the playoffs and this is one of those years where we were fortunate enough to get that.”
Ocean Springs has overcome a rough 1-4 start to the season with seven straight wins and sits 8-4 overall while the Bulldogs are on their own nine game win streak and stand a solid 11-1. The teams have met six times in the past two decades with Brandon winning the last five, including that three-point thriller two years ago.
The only OSHS win came in the opening round of 2005 state playoffs 19-12 in the first ever meeting between the teams. Brandon has been considered the heavy favorite to win the Class 7A state tile all season long by most observers.

“They’ve played really well,” Brandon head coach Sam Williams said, of the Greyhounds. “If you’re still playing this time of year then your obviously a hot team. I think they found their identity at some point. They have some personnel that they moved around and they do some stuff that could give us some issues. But just like in any game, I think we do too.”
Bramlett was the offensive coordinator in that 2022 game that ended the OSHS season. That game marked the first time the two teams met on the football field since 2016.
“The opponent is going to level up a little bit when you get this far,” Bramlett said. “Your level of play has to level up also. That is what you are trying to be at the end is playing the best teams the state has to offer and you are one of those last four now.”

Ocean Springs has been to the state championship round just once, twenty years ago losing to South Panola in 2004. Brandon is also looking for its first state title ever, and is looking for its fourth overall trip to the championship round.
Next up for the winner of this game faces the survivor of the Tupleo-Madison Central contest. The Golden Wave host the Jaguars in the Class 7A North State championship game Friday night as well. Madison Central sits at 10-2 overall and Tupelo is a perfect 12-0 so far. The winner will face the winner of the Ocean Springs-Brandon match-up next week on Thursday 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 7A state championship.