By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

With the start of yet another prep football season across South Mississippi last week, it’s time for our second installment of “A Look Ahead” here at SouthMiss6 Sports.

“A Look Ahead” has been a part of the journalistic fabric of prep football across the “Southern Six” for most of the past three decades. Each week of the season on Monday, we’ll take a look at the action set to kick off in that particular week all across this region.

Week one in the “Southern Six” this season was mostly an all “Family Affair”, as eight out of the 16 games in the footprint of our coverage pitted one “Southern Six” squad against another one. While there aren’t quite that many on tap this week, there’s still quite a few interesting battles ahead.

Here are “7 games in the Southern 6” to keep an eye on this week:

1. Biloxi at Pascagoula (Game of the Week) — As Pascagoula travels to Biloxi in this renewal of an old Big Eight Conference rivalry, it’ll mark the 101st meeting ever on the gridiron between the schools. The series is the longest running rivalry for the Panthers in football, and the second longest for the Indians who will play long time arch-rival Gulfport for the 103rd time this season next month. Pascagoula clobbered Moss Point 47-0 on the road last week, while the Indians fell at home to Holmes County Central 33-30. The Panthers hammered the visiting Indians 44-3 last season, in what was the largest winning margin in 64 years in the all-time series since a 47-6 PHS win in 1960.
2. D’Iberville at Gautier — Two teams coming off solid season-opening wins face off in Jackson County as the Gators host the Warriors. Gautier began its era in Class 6A with a 35-0 thumping of home-standing George County 35-0, while DHS turned back visiting Raleigh 14-6. Despite making it to the Class 5A South State championship round the past three seasons, including winning it for the first time ever,Gautier is looking for its first 2-0 start to a season in four years. This is the 20th overall meeting between the two teams, and the Warriors smacked the Gators 33-12 last season in a torrential downpour. That was the only regular season loss for GHS last season in its march to the Class 5A state championship game.Gautier leads the all-time series, which dates back to 1997, just slightly at 10-9.
3. St. Martin at East Central — A pair of teams coming off vastly different starts to the new campaign tangle in an all Jackson County affair as the Yellow Jackets host the Hornets. St. Martin scored its most points last week in a 64-21 beat down of Vancleave since beating West Harrison 63-21 five years ago. The 64 points scored by the Yellow Jackets marked a new school record in the 67-year history of the program. Meanwhile, the Hornets fell to visiting Greene County 34-27 in overtime. This is the 52nd all-time meeting in this cross-county affair, and the Yellow Jackets have won six of the last seven games over the past 13 years including 15-7 at home last year.
4. Hancock at Harrison Central — Two teams coming off losses to open the season face off at Earl Phillips Stadium in Lyman. The homestanding Hawks fell to Stone 31-13 and the Red Rebels dropped a 28-12 decision on the road at Jackson Lanier at historic Hughes Field. This game will be the first between the two old Region 4-6A foes in three years, since expansion to seven classifications. Even though HCHS leads the all-time series, which dates back 65 years to 1960, 21-12, the series has been one of the most competitive in South Mississippi since 2011 with the two teams splitting the last 12 games.
5. Poplarville at Stone — The Tomcats and the Hornets meet for the 55th time on the gridiron this week, and both teams are coming off different results in week one. Stone went on the road and roughed up Hancock 31-13, while the defending Class 4A state champion Hornets were roughed up on their homefield as well 34-18 by West Harrison. Poplarville picked up a close 13-7 win last year over visiting Stone en route to the first state football championship in school history.
6. Petal at Ocean Springs — After opening the season with an historic 35-0 road win over Meridian last week, the Greyhounds return home to face their fifth straight opponent from Region 3-7A dating back to last season. Last week’s win was the first-ever meeting between the Grehounds and the Wildcats in the regular season, after four meetings in the playoffs over the past 18 years. Now, OSHS will face Petal in non-region action. It’s the first regular season meeting between the two teams in 15 years, since the 2010 season, although the teams last met in the opening round of the 2014 Class 6A South State playoffs. Petal was just as good in ints season-opener, pounding neighboring rival Hattiesburg 50-26. This is the 11th all-time meeting between OSHS-Petal in football in a series that dates back to 1973, and the Greyhounds hold a 7-3 advantage.
7. St. Stanislaus at Bay High — Last week, the Rocks and Tigers combined to allow 88 points in losses to Forrest County AHS and PRC, respectively. This week, the two teams will meet in the annual “Battle for the Crab Trap”. This marks the 57th all-time meeting between the two neighboring rivals, the longest-running rivarly ever for SSC. Bay High has only met Pass Christian more times (72). The Rocks rolled past the Tigers 27-0 at home last year.