By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

POPLARVILLE — For the first time in the history of the school, Poplarville High will open a football season as the defending state champions.

And to that end, veteran Hornets head coach Jay Beech has set his schedule for the upcoming season after Poplarville finally reached the promised land last year.

The defending Class 4A state champions will remain in that same classification but swap regions for the second time in three years shifting back to Region 7-4A.

Poplarville will kick off Beech’s 12th season at the helm of the Hornets at home with its first-ever meeting against West Harrison on Friday, Aug. 29th. The Hurricanes, who are moving up from Class 6A to class 7A next season, will become the first-ever Class 7A team PHS has ever faced on the football field as well.

Next up will be Poplarville’s first road game of the season as the Hornets head east across U.S. Highway 26 to Wiggins and face Stone at A.L. May Stadium on the campus of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College in Perkinston on Sept. 5th. It will mark the third straight season the Tomcats will meet the Hornets, and the 11th meeting in the past 12 seasons.

The following week, on Sept. 12th, the Hornets will travel to the Kiln for their first match-up with Hancock in a decade. It will mark a rare meeting between the two teams on the gridiron as that last meeting in 2015 was the first in 17 years as well.

A three week road trio for PHS will continue the following week as it heads to Carriere to meet up with county rival Pearl River Central on Sept 19th at Hendrix Stadium. It will mark the fourth straight season the two teams will play, and the 68th meeting all time.

Another Pearl River County foes awaits next as Poplarville returns home to face perennial state power Picayune for Homecoming on Sept. 26th in the final non-region game of the year for the Hornets. The teams played as recently as 2022.

The Hornets open Region 7-4A play the next week against McComb on the road on Oct. 3rd in a rematch of a third round Class 4A South State playoff contest from last season.

After a week off, Poplarville finishes up the regular season with a back-to-back homes games against South Pike (Oct. 17th) and Lawrence County (Oct. 24th) before closing out the regular season on the road at perennial state power Columbia in yet another rematch from last year’s Class 4A South State playoffs.

Poplarville finished last season at 13-2 overall in that historic campaign, beating Louisville 29-28 in an exciting Saturday afternoon showdown at M.M. Roberts Stadium in Hattiesburg on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi in the state title tilt.