By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

(Editors Note: This is the fifth of a seven part series on how new region alignments will stack up for teams in the “Southern Six” next season)

When the new region realignments were announced for the 2025-2027 school years by the Mississippi High School Activities Association some six months ago, the state football playoffs were in full steam, the state volleyball championships trophies had just been handed out and the prep basketball regular season was just getting cranked up.

Then, as the winter sports gave way to the spring teams, baseball, softball and other athletic endeavors stole the spotlight.

So, as one school year draws to a close, all eyes in the prep sports world in the “Southern Six” begin to focus on the upcoming new session starting in August as well as the new region realignments.

Almost every one of the 24 “Southern Six” sanctioned high schools by the MHSAA were affected in some form or fashion by the bi-annual reclassification process.

Today, we’ll take a look at a league that saw some historical change that may or may not bode well for holdover members of the region.

And that is Region 8-3A.

The region lost just one school, Perry Central, but gained a former private school powerhouse in Presbyterian Christian.

Region 8-3A:

St. Stanislaus

St. Patrick

Presbyterian Christian

Tylertown

West Marion

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The Bobcats and Lady ‘Cats will immediately become forces to be reckoned with in almost every sport that competes for a championship in the revamped league.

PCS joins longtime “Southern Six” squads St. Stanislaus and St. Patrick in the new alignment. In baseball, the Bobcats will be coming in hot after PCS captured its first-ever MAIS Class 6A state baseball title last month with a 9-4 win over Hartfield Academy to wrap up that title tilt. The Bobcats will now try and become the first program in history to win an MAIS state championship in baseball one season and capture a state title on the diamond in the MHSAA the next, competing in Region 8-3A with both the Rock-A-Chaws and Fighting Irish both of which battled into the later rounds of the Class 3A South State playoffs last season.

The Bobcats state championship win ended a seven-year state title reign in MAIS Class 6A by perennial state power Jackson Prep.

In football, PCS, Tylertown, West Marion and SSC all qualified for the state playoffs last year.

On the basketball court, PCS was already heavily involved in action down south having played quite a few “Southern Six” squads over the past few seasons including Hancock, Harrison Central Pass Christian, West Harrison, George County, Biloxi and Bay High among others.

In softball, always powerful St. Patrick is back to rule the roost possibly even with the addition of PCS.