By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

We’ve talked about the opening game for almost all of the teams so far in the newly revamped Region 4-7A this season.

And even though Harrison Central has missed the state playoffs the past two seasons, the Red Rebels face an historic season opener just like several other of the teams they’ll be competing for a postseason spot with this year.

Harrison Central opens the 2025 campaign on the road in Jackson against Lanier High on Friday, Aug., 29th. Not only will it mark the first-ever meeting on the gridiron between the Bulldogs and Red Rebels, but it will also be the first time ever that a Harrison Central squad has played a game in historic Hughes Field.

At one point, Hughes Field was considered one of the “crown jewels” of the stadium scene in the Capital City, and hosted many Big Eight Conference Championship football games and track meets over the years and was also the host site for a few state championship games on the gridiron back in the early to mid 1980’s after a statewide playoff system was implemented in the state.

The trip to Jackson will be a rare one for HCHS in football, as it marks just the third game ever against a member of the Jackson Public School District including a trip in 2017 to face Forrest Hill High at South Jackson Field.

Et tu, Brute?

The season-opening game for Lanier against HCHS will be followed by a trip to Dantzler Street in Moss Point for the Bulldogs and they take on the Tigers in week two.

That contest will be just their third ever meeting between those two teams on the gridiron and first in 46 years since 1979, a game that took place at Hughes Field. It will also mark just Lanier’s second trip ever to Moss Point, and first since 1978.

Looking Ahead

And speaking of historic high school football stadiums in the state of Mississippi, while Milner Stadium in Gulfport won’t play host to the annual Port City Bowl Classic doubleheader to kick off the upcoming 2025 prep football season the venue will still be the site of a big showdown.

SouthMiss6 Sports recently confirmed that there will be no twinbill at Milner to start the year but the home-standing Admirals will still welcome in perennial state power Picayune to start the new campaign.

This will mark the 11th consecutive season that the two teams will meet on the football field, dating back to 2015.

This will be the 67th all-time meeting between Picayune and Gulfport on the gridiron, in a series that began in 1922.