By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

PASCAGOULA — The next “Southern Six” Senior Spotlight sponsored by Reese’s of the school year is Kelan Rich of Pascagoula.

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

Rich, a three-year starter for the Panthers, was recently named to the roster of his home state squad in the prestigious “Alabama/Mississippi All-Star Basketball Classic”.

The 2025 Mississippi/Alabama All-Star Basketball Games will be played Saturday, March 8, 2025 at the Mitchell Center on the campus of the University of South Alabama in Mobile, Ala. The girls will play at Noon and the boys will follow at 2:30 pm.

Rich was the lone senior standout in the “Southern Six” to be selected for the contest.

Pascagoula picked up perhaps its biggest win of the season Monday afternoon.

The Panthers slipped past powerful Class 7A foe Germantown 74-69 in game five of the prestigious “Rumble in the South” MLK Day event at A.E. Wood Coliseum on the campus of Mississippi College in Clinton.

The win not only pushed Pascagoula to 17-3 overall, but dropped the Mavericks to 19-4 as well.

After losing in the Class 7A state championship game to Meridian last season, Germantown is considered one of the favorites to reach the state championship round again this season in the largest classification in the state. The Mavericks were ranked as the top overall team in the state by several media outlets coming into this week.

And Rich was a big part of that big win as he paced Pascagoula with 17 points.

Trailing slightly at 39-36 at halftime, momentum in the back-and-forth affair shifted back to Pascagoula as the third frame unfolded and Rich celebrated his recent selection to play in the prestigious annual All-Star affair with seven points in the period including a 3-pointer. The Panthers also got triples from Quey’Sean Taylor and Tomareo Johnson, as PHS out-scored the Mavericks 19-7 in the stanza to take its first double digit lead of the contest at 54-45 entering the fourth quarter.

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.