By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

The next “Southern Six” Senior Spotlight sponsored by Reese’s of the school year is Juan Santiago of D’Iberville.

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

Santiago tallied a game-high 18 points in a 50-440 win on the road as his Warriors upset one of the then top-ranked teams in the state in a 50-40 win over Pascagoula.

In that game, D’Iberville led throughout most of the game taking a 17-9 lead after the opening quarter thanks to six points in the stanza from Steph Suszczyk.

Panther senior standout Kelan Rich tallied seven first half points, including a 3-pointer, helping Pascagoula stay within striking distance by halftime behind by a count of 23-18. But D’Iberville’s Juan Santiago matched that first half output from Rich in the same fashion, also with a trey to keep the Warriors in the lead.

However, Santiago tallied eight points in the third quarter for DHS as the Warriors steadily stretched their lead out to double digits at 42-31 entering the fourth period and maintained that advantage down the stretch to seal the win.

Santiago also led DHS on Saturday with 10 points, as the Warriors fell to Northwest Rankin 48-26 in game four of the “Panther Classic” at Pascagoula High Saturday afternoon.

The Warriors quickly bounced back from that loss with their first Region 4-7A win of the season in a 61-45 win over Harrison Central at home Tuesday night. Sanitago paved the way to that big win as well with a game-high 18 points against the Red Rebels as the Warriors moved to 12-5 on the season.

He also tallied 12 points in a recent loss to Gulfport in Region 4-7A play. And, earlier this season he earned Most Valuable Player honors in a 53-4o win over Theodore (Ala.) in the Joe Barlow/Mike Perkins Invitational at St. Martin.

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.