By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

PICAYUNE — One of the biggest showdowns in the state of Mississippi pits visiting Ocean Springs against perennial state power Picayune Friday night and that contest 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.

As Ocean Springs travels to Lee-Triplett Stadium to take on Picayune this week, both teams come into the game unbeaten at 3-0. Many folks felt like this would be a match-up of the top two teams in the “Southern Six” when it was announced that this rivalry was renewed, and those folks were right.

This marks the 25th all-time meeting between these two teams on the football field, and the series is extremely close with Picayune up 13-11 after an exciting road win 38-35 over OSHS last season. This marks the seventh meeting this century, and the teams have split the last six games evenly at 3-3 since 2003 in a series that dates back to 1948.

“We are looking forward to the challenge that this game presents,” Picayune head coach Cody Stogner said, after practice Wednesday afternoon. “Ocean Springs is a very talented, well coached football team. It’s gonna take extreme effort for 48 minutes to be in a game with them. This is only week four, but this is gonna feel like a playoff type game and that’s how we’re preparing this week as if it was a playoff game.”

Last week, Ocean Springs clawed out a hard-fought 21-14 win over home-standing Pascagoula Friday night at War Memorial Stadium.  And new Greyhound running back Solomon Baggett, a transfer from Gautier, was a main reason why. Baggett registered a pair of rushing touchdowns in the first half to help OSHS overcome two early deficits and pull out the win.

Meanwhile, Picayune and Biloxi met for the first time in 13 years on the football field last week, and the result was the same as it was in 2012.

The Maroon Tide knocked off the visiting Indians 23-14 at Lee-Triplett Stadium in the renewal of a once old Big 8 Conference series, as Maroon Tide sophomore running back Xavier Dennis ran for 176 yards and two touchdowns to lead the way.

“I really respect what (OSHS head) coach (Jake) Bramlett and his staff do over there and this is the type of game that we can build off of to help make us better and know where we stand moving forward in the season,” Stogner concluded.

As the premier online undraising platform, Vertical Raise utilizes the newest technology through a tested combination of email, text and social media campaigns to maximize the reach of your fundraiser.

Our successes are built upon our best-in-class email deliverability, detailed tracking and the complete personalization of every participant’s page. Combining this proprietary system, with experienced and passionate fundraising coaches has made us the most effective fundraising platform available.

We look forward to partnering with you to elevate your organization to its full potential! Please contact your local fundraising rep Ricky Cunningham at 228-263-4755 for more information.