By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

POPLARVILLE — The next “Southern Six” Senior Spotlight sponsored by Reese’s of the school year is Sydney Blackmon of Poplarvlle.

Each week throughout the school year, we here at SouthMiss6 Sports will highlight a senior student/athlete in the “Southern Six” to honor.

Blackmon, a senior quarterback for head coach Jay Beech, has guided his Hornets into the Class 4A South State championship game on the road at Forest High Friday night.

Forest is an impressive 12-1, while Poplarville stands 11-2 coming into the big battle. It marks the eighth appearance in the Class 4A South State title tilt for PHS in the past nine seasons.

Last week against visiting McComb, just before halftime the Hornets decided it would be the end of the line for the up-start Tigers.

Poplarville overcame a pair of first half deficits and tallied 35 unanswered points in one span to dispose of McComb 41-21.

Blackmon scored on a pair of short touchdowns in the winning effort, as Poplarville scored 35 unanswered points at one point to pull out the when after trailing 14-7 early.

Blackmon has started all 13 games this season for the Hornets, and has thrown for almost 900 yards and nine touchdowns with just four interceptions.

He has also 98 carries for almost 500 yards rushing with six scores giving him 15 total touchdowns on the year as he has accounted for almost 1,400 yards of total offense as well.

The Reese’s company has long been a big supporter of current and former high school student/athletes all over the Southeast.

For over a decade now, Reese’s® Peanut Butter Cups has been the title sponsor of The Senior Bowl played annually in Mobile, Ala.

In addition to its new partnership with the Senior Bowl, the Reese’s® brand is also the official candy partner of the NCAA® and the title sponsor of the National Association of Basketball Coaches’ Reese’s® College All-Star Game, which features the top Division I senior basketball student-athletes from around the country and is played the weekend of the NCAA Men’s Final Four®.

“The Reese’s brand is excited to continue our partnership with the Senior Bowl,” said Drew Iddings, Director, Promotions and Planning, The Hershey Company.  “We are confident that this partnership will continue to solidify the Reese’s brand’s leadership in collegiate athletics as well as honor senior student-athletes who achieved success on and off the field during their athletic careers.”

The 2025 Reese’s Senior Bowl will take place on Saturday, February 1, 2025 at 1:30 PM CT at Hancock Whitney Stadium in Mobile, Alabama. The game and practices will be televised on the NFL Network. 

The Reese’s Senior Bowl is widely regarded as the preeminent college football all-star game and the first stage in the NFL Draft process. The longest continual-running all-star game has taken place in Mobile, Alabama the past 75 years.  More than 900 NFL personnel, including key decision-makers from all 32 teams, and over 1100 media members from around the country were credentialed this year. This past April, the game produced 110 total picks, representing 43 percent of the entire NFL draft.