By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

Biloxi and Hattiesburg, a pair of longtime rivals on the prep football field, meet for the 85th time Friday night at D.I. Patrick Field here in this Hub City.
The series is one that once was an long-running annual affair for both teams, one that had its roots in the old Big 8 Conference and one that dates back 103 years to the first meeting in 1922.
Hattiesburg holds a 46-36-2 all-time advantage in the affair, and the Tigers pulled out a hard-fought 12-7 win at The Biloxi Sports Complex last year.

Although this will be just the 12th meeting since 2000, the Indians and Tigers met every year for seven decades from 1929-1999 with the exception of the 1993 and 1994 campaigns.
And despite that brief interruption in the series in the 1990’s, the teams did meet twice in 1992 just before the break, with the second game coming in the opening round of the Class 5A South State playoffs.
The Tigers won 21-10 at Yankie Stadium that season during the regular season, and then ended the season for the Indians at home 20-14 in the postseason five weeks later.
The only other meeting in the state playoffs in the series came in 2011 in Biloxi in the opening round of the Class 6A South State playoffs that resulted in a 31-6 Biloxi win.
14 years later, that still stands as the last win playoff win for Biloxi.
Meanwhile, Hattiesburg has played for two state championships since 2011, losing to West Point in 2017 41-15 in the Class 5A title tilt and then to Grenada 43-14 last year at M.M. roberts Stadium on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi in the Class 6A state championship.

Both teams sit at 1-2 overall coming into this one, and both are coming off losses last week.
Hattiesburg is led by new head coach Kendell Lacey. Lacey comes from Georgia, where he coached defense the last two seasons at Valdosta High School. He replaces former HHS head coach Tony Vance, who guided the Tigers for 12 seasons.
Lacey was a part of the 2016 Valdosta team that won the Georgia High School Association Class 6A title. His coaching record includes stints at five high schools, including Valdosta, Benjamin Russell, Dothan, Jefferson Davis and Prattville. And two universities at Waldorf and Shorter.
He has served as defensive coordinator, assistant head coach, strength and conditioning coach and defensive backs coach. This is his first head coaching position.

Ouch!
Harrison Central, which resides in Region 4-7A with Biloxi, celebrates Homecoming, hosting Tylertown Friday night at Earl Phillips Stadium in Lyman.
The Chiefs are a Class 3A program. But last week, the Red Rebels suffered an historic loss to an even smaller opponent.
Harrison Central headed to Heidelberg last week and got thumped by the Oilers 50-7. It marked the first time in the history of prep football in the state of Mississippi that a Class 2A school beat a Class 7A program in football.
To be fair, Heidelberg is the defending Class 2A state champs, and the Oilers have won 21 out of their last 24 games including going 14-1 last year on that run to the crown.