By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

With the start of yet another prep football season across South Mississippi last week, it’s time for our third 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 there looks to be just as full of “Family Affairs” as as the first two weeks have been when 16 games in the footprint of our coverage pitted one “Southern Six” squad against another one. There are again quite a few interesting battles ahead this week

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

1. Ocean Springs at Pascagoula (Game of the Week) — This Jackson County rivalry is back on after a two year absence. This series evolved into one of the most competitive annual rivalries in South Mississippi over the years as the teams met for 37 straight seasons since first facing off in 1986 before the series was interrupted in 2023. The Panthers have a 21-16 lead all-time, however, the Greyhounds have done their best to even out the once annual affair by bringing in a three game win streak into the renewal and OSHS has won seven of the last nine games dating back to the 2014 campaign. Ocean Springs comes in at 2-0 and PHS is 1-1.
2. Biloxi at Picayune — Yet another pair of “Southern Six” squads in Picayune and Biloxi will renew a rivalry that’s been dormant for 13 years this week. The last time the two teams met was in 2012, and this marks the first meeting between the Indians and Maroon Tide in Pearl River County in 22 years, since 2003. And even though Picayune has won four state championships since the last time Biloxi even won a single state playoff game, the Indians still hold a large lead in the all-time series at 28-9-2 thanks in large part to a 17 game win streak in the series back in the old Big 8 Conference days that ran from 1961 to the 1984 Shrimp Bowl. Picayune is 2-0 and BHS is 1-1.
3. St. Martin at Stone — Two teams off to a pair of pretty good starts to the season face off in yet another all “Southern Six” affair in Perkinston at A.L. May Stadium on the campus of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. The Yellow Jackets are off to a solid 2-0 start for the first time in six years, whil the Tomcats are 1-1 but led Poplarville until the final three minutes of play last week. Stone has a 14-5-1 all-time lead in the series that dates back to 1959, including a 24-15 road win last year.
4. Gautier at West Harrison — Here’s another pair of “Southern Six” teams set to renew acquaintances after a brief respite. The Hurricanes host the Gatots in a match-up of two teams that moved up a level this year and are competing in completely new classifications for each. West Harrison is 2-0 for the first time in three years and Gautier is 1-1 for the fourth straight season. The Gators lead this all-time series overwhelmingly 11-1, including a 48-19 win in 2022, which marked the ninth consecutive win in the series for GHS.
5. Poplarville at Hancock — The defending Class 4A state champ Hornets, who are off to a 1-1 start, will travel south to the Kiln for their first match-up with Hancock in a decade. It will mark a rare meeting between the two teams on the gridiron also, as that last meeting in 2015 was the first in 17 years as well. After a 28-3 win by the visiting Hornets in 2015, the two teams were scheduled to meet again the following year in Poplarville in 2016. However, a torrential downpour that afternoon in Pearl River County caused that game to be cancelled. The Hawks are off to an inauspicious 0-2 start this season.
6. Bay High at Long Beach — These two longtime rivals will face off for the 69th time overall Friday night. Long Beach won just two games last year, one of which was an exciting 36-35 road win over the Tigers at McCulloch Stadium. Both of these teams come in each looking for their first wins under new guidance, as Katlan French is in his first year at BHS as is Cody Finley in the same post at LBHS. The Bearcats lead this all-time series 39-27-2. The win by Long Beach last year snapped a three game losing streak to the Tigers, and the two teams have split the last six games.
7. Gulfport at Laurel — Gulfport is heading to historic R.H. Watkins Stadium this week to face the Golden Tornadoes “Between the Bricks”. This marks the first trip to Laurel for the Admirals in 26 years, since 1999. It also marks the first meeting between the two teams in 25 years, since the 2000 season. Both teams are also still looking for their first wins of the new campaign, with Gulfport coming off of an open date at 0-1 after an opening week loss to Picayune while Laurel is off to a rough 0-2 start with losses to West Jones and Hattiesburg. This is the 64th all-time meeting between these two old time Big 8 Conference foes, and GHS holds a slight 32-29-2 advantage.