By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

BAY ST. LOUIS — Fifteen years ago, St. Stanislaus captured the only state football championship in program history.
And that win marked the last time a team from the three Mississippi Gulf Coast counties accomplished the ultimate goal on the gridiron.
The Rock-A-Chaws thumped Lafayette County 35-16 in the Class 4A state championship game on a wintry Saturday night at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson to compete an impressive 14-1 season and take home the “Gold Ball” to sit alongside the legendary Doc Blanchard’s 1945 Heisman Trophy that the SSC alumnus donated to the school some years before.

“Covering the 2009 Class 4A state champion St. Stanislaus Rock-A-Chaws was perhaps the greatest season of any sport I have covered in 33 years,” veteran Sea Coast Echo sports writer Joe Gex, said. “The season is one chock full of memories and the memories are ageless.They were a team built for success and one that exceeded all expectations. I was honored to be able to tell their story through covering them each week.”
Thanks to an outstanding effort from senior standout signal-caller Dylan Favre, who accounted for 430 yards of total offense and five touchdowns, the Rocks rolled over the Commodores as both teams came into the title tilt at 13-1 overall. Lafayette County went on to win the next two Class 4A state championships in 2010 and 2011.

“It was the single greatest game played by an individual that I have ever seen, and a performance that sealed his selection as Mr. Football in the state of Mississippi.” Gex added.

The 19-point win in the state championship game was tied for the closest margin in the five state playoff wins for SSC, who also beat Greene County in the South State championship by the same score at home in Brother Phillip Memorial Stadium the week before. The Rocks combined to outscore their five foes in the postseason by 213 points in the historic run.
In the title tilt, Favre threw for 369 yards and three scores and ran for two more touchdowns as well as SSC took home the title in their second season under the direction of head coach Forrest Williams.
“This is the greatest feeling ever in my life,” Favre, the nephew of NFL Hall of Famer Brett Favre, told this reporter after the championship game. “Words can’t describe how I feel. We played together as a complete team.”
Favre, a three-year starter, finished his prep career with 5,439 yards passing and 63 touchdowns as he set as many as 10 state-wide records in his time at SSC. He also broke a national high school record at that point with 81 career touchdowns combined.

Favre even saw time on defense in the title tilt, as he Boomer Scarborough and Chandlar York barely ever stepped off the field that night. Favre ran for one score in the first half, hit his tight end Scarborough on a 65-yard scoring strike and found wide out Krisjohn Wilkerson on a 16-yard on a 16-yard touchdown toss to give SSC a commanding 21-0 halftime lead over LCHS and the Rocks never looked back.
Wilkerson set a then state record that season with 25 touchdown receptions. His 70-yard scoring catch from Favre in the second half sealed the state championship win. He ended the season as Favre’s favorite target with 109 receptions for 2,087 yards.
The Rocks ended the season on a school record 12 game win streak, after losing their only game that year in week three 21-20 on the road to Jackson Prep.

The team celebrated their big win with a 15th anniversary celebration several months back.

“The guys look older now and have children of their own playing ball,” Gex concluded. “But, the stories told never get old. It was a magical season that lived up to the team motto of ‘Shock the World’.”
The win ended a seven year drought for state championships on the Miss. Gulf Coast, after a win in 2002 by D’Iberville.
St. Stanislaus is just one of four teams from the three southernmost counties in the state to ever win a state football championship along with Pascagoula (1987), Moss Point (1983, 1991, 1996, 1997, 2000) and D’Iberville.