By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director
Week three of the weekly battles in Region 4-7A kicks off a day early this week, as West Harrison heads to Harrison Central on Thursday night.
After two weeks of action for most teams, but only one week for one in the recently reconfigured region, things have already started to heat up atop the league standings as seven teams vie for just four berths in the upcoming Class 7A South State playoffs which begin next month.

On Thursday night, a pair of county rivals each coming off of losses in the region race meet on Thursday night in Lyman at Earl Phillips Stadium.
The Red Rebels and Hurricanes are region foes again for the first time in five years, and HCHS is 4-0 all-time against WHHS. A loss by the Red Rebels will almost assure that they miss the Class 7A South State playoffs for the second straight season under second-year head coach Nekemia Rich, while a loss by the Hurricanes will severley hamper their hopes of securing their first-ever playoff berth in program history.
West Harrison is 1-1 after a loss to D’Iberville last week, while HCHS is 0-2 after two weeks.
The action then swings to Friday, with two more region contests on tap.

That aforementioned D’Iberville team sits alone atop the region race currently at 2-0 after that big win over fellow unbeaten at the time West Harrison last week.
The Warriors host recent kingpin in the league Ocean Springs Friday night in the renewal of that annual affair in what is yet another key encounter in Region 4-7A.
This marks the 44th all-time meeting on the football field between these two teams, and Ocean Springs has won four straight over DHS after stopping a five game Warriors’ winning streak in the series in 2021.
You couldn’t get much more even than this series over the past decade with OS now up 6-5 over the past 11 meetings.
The Greyhounds do not have at least a share of first place in the league for the first time since late in the 2020 season after having its record 25-game region win streak snapped last week in a 41-28 loss to visiting Gulfport. In fact, the last team besides the Greyhounds to win a region crown was the Warriors in that 2020 season.

And speaking of Gulfport, the Admirals bring that 1-0 league mark back home to historic Milner Stadium Friday night to face St. Martin.
This one shapes up to be something it basically never has been in the 32-year history of this series, an important game in region play. The Admirals are 3-2 overall, but more importantly, 1-0 in Region 4-7A action after knocking off OSHS and the Yellow Jackets are 1-1 in the region race and 5-1 overall after beating Biloxi for the first time in seven years last week.

The Admirals have won 15 straight games in this series that were actually played, including a 42-7 and 42-6 the last two years and 41-7 four years ago. Gulfport owns a commanding 18-1 overall lead in the all-time series. The only St. Martin win on the field came in 2003, although GHS forfeited a game to SMHS in the Covid season of 2020.
St. Martin’s win over Biloxi last week snapped a 22-game region losing streak.