By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

The prep football season turns five weeks old this week, believe it or not, and, also, believe it or not, region play kicks off for six “Southern Six” squads as well..

“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, SouthMiss6 Sports takes a look at the action set to kickoff in that particular week all across this region.

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

1. West Harrison at St. Martin (Game of the Week) — Just the fifth all-time meeting between the Yellow Jackets and Hurricanes takes place this week between these new league foes as Region 4-7A play begins. St. Martin has won three of the four prior meetings, including hammering West Harrison 63-14 in the last meeting five years ago. The two teams first met in 2009, and the only win for the Hurricanes in the series came the next season at home 27-0. This is a match-up of unbeaten teams as both come in at 4-0 so far. West Harrison is 4-0 for the first time ever in program history, and St. Martin is 4-0 for the first time since 2019. The Yellow jackets are looking for their first 5-0 start since th 2016 season. West Harrison moved to 4-0 with a resounding 53-20 win over Laurel last week, a senior standout running back Jordan Stapleton ran for 196 yards with three touchdowns and added a 60-yard reception in the win.
2. Picayune at Poplarville — The battle for supremacy in Pearl River County is set for Friday night as the Maroon Tide heads north up I-59 to face the home-standing Hornets. Poplarville is coming off a a big 49-14 win over yet another county rival Pearl River Central on the road in Carriere last week, while at the same time just about six miles south down U.S. Highway 6 Picayune was taking it on the chin 56-42 at the hands of Ocean Springs. This is the 19th meeting between PMHS and PHS on the football field, and perennial state power Picayune holds a commanding 15-3 advantage in the all-time series. This is the first meeting since 2022, a 21-7 Maroon Tide win. Picayune has won five straight in this series, as well as 11 out of the past 12 meetings. Both teams come into this one at 3-1.
3. Biloxi at Ocean Springs — The Greyhounds are in search of their 25th consecutive region win as they welcome in their neighboring rival Indian to open Region 4-7A play this season. This marks the 53rd all-time meeting between these two old rivals on the football field, and the all-time series is just about as close as any in the “Southern Six”. A 34-14 win by OSHS last season pushed the Greyhounds up by two, at 27-25, in the all-time affair. In fact, Ocean Springs has now won eight straight game in the series, and needs one more win to set a record of nine straight victories in the all-time series. In addition to the current streak, the Greyhounds also won eight straight over Biloxi from 2003-2010. Ocean Springs comes in at 4-0 for its Homecoming contest, while Biloxi is off to a 1-3 start.
4. Gulfport at Pascagoula — The 100th all-time meeting between the Panthers and the Admirals on the gridiron takes place Friday at War Memorial Stadium. This marks the renewal of this longtime rivalry after a two year break, and Gulfport thumped Pascagoula 48-24 in 2022. The Admirals have also won four straight in the series, and six out of the past seven. This game marks the final non-region game of the season for both teams as well. Gulfport leads the all-time series handily at 59-37-3, and this marks the second four game win streak all-time for GHS in the series, which also owns a five game win streak as well as a record six game win streak in the past over PHS.
5. Vancleave at Moss Point — Two teams off to a pair of pretty rough starts so far face off at Dantzler Stadium friday in this renewal of an all Jackson County rivalry. The two teams haven’t met since 2022, in a 35-26 Vancleave win. This all-time series dates back just 18 years, to 2007, and is one in all truthfulness most oldtime followers of prep football along the Mississippi Gulf Coast could never even imagine would have ever happened to begin with. Moss Point holds a slight 8-6 advantage in the series, and the teams have split the past four games after the Tigers won three straight from 2016-2018.  Both teams come into this contest at 1-3.
6. Stone at George County — When the Rebels host the Tomcats in Friday night in Gill-Martin Stadium, it’ll mark the first meeting between the old Gulf Coast Conference rivals since a 28-20 win by Stone in 2014, 11 years ago. Ironically enough, George County is Stone’s longest-running series of all-time, as the two teams have faced off 68 times in a series that dates back to 1925. In fact, the two teams met annually on the football field for over four decades, from 1963-2004 when the series halted. It then resumed for six seasons in 2009 through that last game in 2014. George County picked up its first win of the season to move to 1-3 last week as talented running back Branden Gautier ushed 32 times for 185 yards and a touchdown in the Rebels’ 28-21 win over Wayne County. The Tomcats are 1-2 overall and are coming off an open date last week. The Rebels lead the all-time series 41-26-1.
7. D’Iberville at Harrison Central — A pair of teams headed in the complete opposite direction meet at Earl Phillips Stadium in Lyman Friday night in the Region 4-7A opener for both teams. The Warriors are off to their first 4-0 start in four years, while the Red Rebels are off to a paltry 1-3 beginning including a pair of losses to a Class 2A and a Class 3A opponent in the past two weeks. This marks the 68th all-time meeting on the football field between these two Harrison County rivals, as DHS has a 38-28-1 lead in the all-time series. These two teams have met annually, without fail, for the past 68 years since the beginning of the long-running affair back in 1958. The Warriors have won six out of the past seven games, including a 31-0 shutout on the road last year. D’Ibervile is looking for its first 5-0 start in five years.