By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

GULFPORT — The renewal of the Gulfport-Picayune rivalry is this week’s “Vertical Raise Game of the Week” for SouthMiss6 Sports.

Each week during the prep football season, SouthMiss6 Sports will feature a “GOTW” sponsored by Vertical Raise, the premier online fundraising platform for athletic teams and associated clubs and supporters of all ages.

The Maroon Tide travels to historic Milner Stadium Friday night to face the Admirals in the season-opener for both teams.

Picayune and Gulfport meet for the 11th consecutive season and for the 12th time since the beginning of the 2011 season, in which the Maroon Tide went on to win the state championship and then capture three more over the next 11 years.

“No better time of the year!” Picayune head coach Cody Stogner said, Wednesday before practice. “We are all excited to get started and see all the hard work that has been put in this offseason. The boys are ready to play someone else.”

Last season, Gulfport sailed into to Lee-Triplett Stadium in Pearl River County and dealt a 41-21 loss to Picayune.

The win for the Admirals was the first over the Maroon Tide since 2018, and snapped a five game Picayune win streak in the annual affair. Picayune had also won seven out of the past eight meetings dating back to 2015.

In fact, that 2015 season 10 years ago is the last time the Admirals got past the Maroon Tide in the friendly confines of Milner Stadium. Picayune has won four straight road games in the series, and six out of seven since 2005.

“Playing Gulfport early, I think it’s a chance to see where we stand and where we need to improve for the rest of the season,” Stogner, who led his alma mater Picayune to back-to-back Class 5A state titles in 2021 and 2022, said.

In last year’s win, which was the second in six years for the Admirals in Picayune, Gulfport registered over 600 yards of total offense thanks in part to the running back combination of Cooper Crosby and Dakoreyon Payton that accounted for 425 yards rushing.

Crosby, who is back as the bellcow in the Admiral offense backfield, rushed for 243 yards and three touchdowns in that win including a 92-yard scoring scamper.

“We had a huge win over them last year then they didn’t lose again until South State,” GHS third-year head coach Blake Pennock said, in a recent interview. “You know probably what practices we’re like in Picayune, Mississippi after that. I would imagine we have their full attention.”

This could be the final time that Gulfport opens a season at Milner Stadium, as a new on-campus venue is in the works at GHS.

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