By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

HATTIESBURG — The “Southern Six” has a pair of football teams playing in the overall state championship round for the first time in five years.
Both Gautier and Poplarville secured berths in their respective classifications, the Gators in Class 5A and the Hornets in Class 4A, with close and thrilling wins in South State championship games Friday night.
Gautier slipped past visiting Brookhaven 37-35 in the Class 5A South State title tilt while Poplarville went on the road and bumped off Forest 24-21 in the Class 4A South State championship contest.

The outcomes mark the first time since 2019, when Pearl River County neighbors Picayune and Poplarville made it, that two teams from the “Southern Six” will battle for a gold ball in the same season. Both the Maroon Tide and Hornets came home empty handed that season.
Also, both the Gators and Hornets are in search of the first state football championship titles in program history for each school as each heads to “The Rock” here in this Hub City to do battle at M.M. Roberts Stadium on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi.

But, to do so, both “Southern Six” squads will have to get by perennial state powers with a combined 24 prior state championships to the collective credit as each has won 12 Gold Balls apiece.

Gautier is first up Friday night, as the Gators face West Point at 7:30 p.m., in the Class 5A state championship game.

West Point is playing in its eight straight Class 5A state championship contest, and the Green Wave are the defending state champ in that classification after thumping Laurel 35-7 last year at M.M. Roberts Stadium.
Poplarville drives up North on I-59 about an hour the next day, as the Hornets face off with Louisville at 3:30 p.m., in the Class 4A North State title tilt.
The Wildcats are the back-to-back and defending Class 4A state champions.

Also, Gautier has a little added item to its first ever trip to the state finals, as the Gators are looking to become the first team from the from the three southernmost counties in the state of Mississippi to win a state football championship in 15 years.
St. Stanislaus was the last team to do so, when the Rock-A-Chaws beat Lafayette County 35-16 in 2009
Gautier is the first team from Jackson County or the three coastal counties to play for the state football championship since 2017, when East Central fell in the Class 4A state championship game to Noxubee County. NCHS also beat SSC in 2014 and 2015 for the Class 4A state crown.