By STAN CALDWELL/Sports Writer

POPLARVILLE — One of the best-kept secrets on the Gulf Coast may not a secret too much longer, if Jordan Stapleton keeps playing like he did in West Harrison’s 2025 season opener.

After rushing for 2,000 yards last season, Stapleton picked right up where he left off, powering the Hurricanes to a 34-18 victory over defending Class 4A state champion Poplarville Friday night at The Hornet’s Nest.

Stapleton ran just 13 times for 179 yards and three touchdowns, and caught three passes – the entirety of West Harrison’s passing game – for 81 yards and another score.

“He’s special,” said West Harrison head coach Quincy Patrick. “Everything he gets he deserves. He’s earned it. He makes my job and the job of all these coaches a lot easier.”

Patrick left the game plan against the Hornets in the hands of defensive coordinator Charles Allen and offensive coordinator offensive coordinator Austin Holley, and they came through big time.

“You’ve got to mention my assistant coaches,” said Patrick. “They did a fantastic job developing the game plan and getting the kids to execute, and they don’t get enough credit.”

The Hurricanes won the pregame coin toss, and chose to take the ball to open the game. And they made their presence felt right from the start.

On the first play from scrimmage, Stapleton took a toss sweep around right end for 16 yards, and Poplarville was on its heels the rest of the night.

“I have to say I was ready,” said Stapleton, a compact 5-foot-8, 185 pounds. “I knew what I had to do for my senior year., so I came out hard. I wanted to set up the energy, because the team runs through me.

“So I wanted to come out and start the game off right. I had a ig run and set the intensity for the rest of the night.”

On the third play of the drive, senior quarterback Demario Davies connected with Stapleton for a 33-yard completion, then after a minimal gain, Davies and Stapleton hooked up again, this time for 36 yards and a touchdown.

“They whipped our butts,” said Hornets’ head coach Jay Beech. “But we’ve gotten our butts whipped before and we’ve been able to bounce back. We’ve got to learn from it and find a way to get better.”

The Hornets caught a break late in the first quarter after getting a stop. A high snap over the punter’s head resulted in a 31-yard loss, and a first down for Poplarville at the West Harrison 16-yard-line.

Junior tailback Tylan Keys got the Hornets in the end on the fourth play of the drive, with a 3-yard run on the first pay of the second quarter. But the kick for the PAT was no good, and the Hurricanes remained in the lead.

And they wasted little time extending that lead, driving 70 yards on four plays. A personal foul penalty kept the drive alive, and Stapleton burst around left end, got to the edge and outran the pursuit for a 38-yard touchdown run.

“He’s definitely a great player, and he hurt us tonight,” said Beech. “He can make stuff happen, and he did that tonight. We’ll look at the film see what the issue was and go from there.”

Three big plays helped West Harrison add to its lead midway through the second quarter.

Taking over after a punt at their own 20, Davies connected with Stapleton for 19 yards, junior Austin McInnis dashed around left end for 14 yards, and Stapleton took it around the opposite end for a 47-yard scoring run.

“I’m an all-around back,” said Stapleton. “I’ve got good vision, I can catch the ball out of the backfield, I can block, anything I need to do to help the team win, I’m going to do.”

The Hornets appeared to take some momentum into the locker room with a scoring drive right before halftime.

The big play was a pass play from senior quarterback Ian Magee to junior Laigan Harris on third down that went for 26 yards, at which point the ball was knocked forward, adding 17 more yards to the play when Poplarville recovered the loose ball.

Keys scored his second touchdown of the night on a 13 yard run. But once again, the kick failed, and West Harrison took a 21-12 lead into halftime.

Keys had a productive night, rushing for 134 yards and all three scores for the Hornets, but he needed 27 carries to get there, as a swarming Hurricane defense made life tough for Poplarville.

“We just stuck to our keys,” said senior defensive tackle Jazeer Carter. “We knew what we had to do, it was just a matter of reading the keys. (Keys) is a good player, and he’s going to get his yards, but we had good containment on him, and tried to keep him hemmed in.”

The Hornets looked to take advantage of their late momentum, but it was West Harrison that responded early in the second half.

Poplarville got the ball to start the second half, but came up two yards shot on a fourth-down game from the Hornet 38.

And Stapleton made them pay against, bursting over the right side, breaking two tackles and dashing 39 yards for a touchdown to go ahead 28-12.

The Hornets tightened up on defense after that, but their offense wasn’t able to mount a comeback. Poplarville drove as far as the Hurricane 24, but were again stopped on fourth down.

“We lost the game in the first half, “ said Hornet senior defensive tackle Sam LeJeune. “Defense finally showed up in the second half, but it was too late. We made a lot of mistakes that we have to clean up.

The Hornet defense came up big, forcing the game’s only turnover, with senior Nathan Brown recovering a fumble at the West Harrison 15. Keys covered that distance on the next play, but the conversion run was stopped short.

The Hurricanes put the game out of reach with its best sustained drive of the night, eating up almost seven minutes off the clock in a 12-play, 62-yard scoring drive.

McInnis was the featured back on this drive, ripping off runs of 13 and 11 yards, and Stapleton added runs of 10 and 12 yards, and it was senior fullback Sean Fairley who got the score on a 2-yard run on fourth down. McInnis finished with 80 yards on 15 carries.

“That goes back to Austin Holley, my offensive coordinator,” Patrick said. “Win ball games, lose ball games, we’re going back to work Monday morning, Labor Day, and how we respond will determine how good this team can be.”

Stapleton may not be as familiar to casual fans across the state as some backs, but he’s getting plenty of attention where it counts, from college recruiters, and once the word spreads more may come calling.

“I haven’t committed yet, but I have offers from Tulane, New Mexico State, Alcorn, Jackson State, and some juco offers” said Stapleton. “I’m not giving it a lot of thought right now. I just want to help my team win.”

West Harrison has struggled at times to elevate its football profile on the Coast, but a win over a championship-caliber program may put the Hurricanes on the map.

“It was great,” said Stapleton. “This team won a state championship last year, so we wanted to come out and show everybody how good West Harrison can be.

“I think we’ve got the hardest schedule on the Coast, so we want to come out week-in, week-out and do what we’ve got to do. Put this one behind us and get ready for next week.”

West Harrison will again hit the road next week, traveling to Forest, while Poplarville is also on the road next week, at Stone.