By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

As region play continued for most everyone for the first time this season, it’s time for our eighth installment of “Friday Night Rewind” here at SouthMiss6 Sports.

“Friday Night Rewind” 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 we’ll take a look back at the action that took place all across this region the previous week before we move on to the next week.

Here are 7 things we noticed in the :”Southern Six” Friday night:

1. Bad Dream — The playoff hopes for St. Martin were dealt a severe blow at home Friday night. In fact, the Yellow Jackets may not be able to recover. Visiting D’Iberville thumped St. Martin 46-10 in a key Region 4-6A contest, dropping the Yellow Jackets to 1-3 in league play and 5-3 overall. The Warriors, meanwhile, moved another step closer to earn that berth in the upcoming Class 7A South State playoffs as they move to a solid 7-1 overall and 3-1 in the region race. D’Iberville quarterback Jordan Walley enjoyed a career-high night, accounting for five total touchdowns and almost 400 yards of total offense. He completed nine passes for a career-high 301 yards and four touchdowns in the winning effort. He also ran for 90 yards and another score. Jamil Brown registered 11 tackles and recovered a fumble for the Warriors on defense, while defensive lineman K.J. Washington recorded his 12th sack on the season, and he also blocked a kick and recovered a fumble. The Warriors took advantage of an open date for Ocean Springs to move a half game ahead of the Greyhounds in the Region 4-7A standings, as OSHS sits at 2-1. However, the Greyhounds do hold any tie-breaker possibilities over D’Iberville thanks to a 42-21 win over DHS last week.
2. Blown Away — Both the Warriors and the Greyhounds sit behind league-leading Gulfport in the region race, as the Admirals moved to 3-0 with a commanding 42-14 win over home-standing West Harrison Friday night. Admirals quarterback Parker Nettles threw for 222 yards and three touchdowns to lead the way in the win, while Gulfport running back Cooper Crosby also ran for three touchdowns. Crosby also recorded 100 yards receiving on six catches. Gulfport moved to 5-2 overall, while the Hurricanes are now 6-2 overall and 2-2 in the region. West Harrison, however, is in solid position in the chase for its first-ever state playoff berth in program history sitting in the fourth spot in the league standings.
3. Point Proven — Both Pascagoula and Pearl River Central picked up key Region 4-6A wins Friday night, and in the process set up a big league encounter next week. The Panthers went on the road and thumped Long Beach 47-14, while the Blue Devils stayed home and slipped past Gautier 17-14. The decisions leave PHS, PRC and GHS as well as Hancock all knotted up at 1-1 and tied for second place in the region race behind league-leading Picayune. Panther running back Sean Norvell ran for 179 yards and a touchdown in the winning effort, while quarterback Jarrad Loper threw a scoring pass to D’lass Nunnery. Pascagoula’s defense got the night off to a quick start as cornerback Tylan Wilson and safety Jer’meryian Pickett both returned interceptions for touchdowns early in the first quarter.
4. Done Deal — In Carriere, a 29-yard field goal by PRC’s Bryce Tartar was the only points of the first half, but in the end it proved to be the difference in the three point win for PRC. The game wasn’t decided until the final 20 seconds, when on a first-and-10 play from the Blue Devil 10-yard line Pogue saw the ball come loose right at the goal line and it was ruled a fumble and a touch back as PRC held on for the win. Gautier quarterback Keon McNeil finished with 223 yards passing and PRC QB1 Titus Feaster accounted for 228 yards of total offense and those two touchdowns.
5. Marching On — Perennial state power Picayune has won four state championships and played for another over the past 14 years. But what the Maroon Tide is doing currently in region play may be just as impressive. Picayune captured its 26th consecutive league win Friday night hammering Hancock 59-28 at home in Lee-Triplett Stadium. The win keeps the Maroon Tide perfect at 2-0 in the region race so far this season, and head coach Cody Stogner’s crew moves to 6-1 overall. Maroon Tide running back Xavier Dennis ran roughshod over the Hawk defense to the tune of 15 carries for 325 yards and three touchdowns, while his running partner Jamari Hathorne added 95 yards rushing and two touchdowns as well as Picayue ran for almost 500 yards on the night.
6. Bouncing Back — Further up the road in Pearl River County, Poplarville bounced back in fine fashion Friday night after losing its region opener two weeks ago.The defending Class 4A state champion Hornets destroyed South Pike 62-24 in Region 8-4A action. The win pushes Poplarville back above the .500 mark at 4-3 overall, and evens the league mark at 1-1. Poplarville standout running back Ty Keys ran roughshod over the Jaguar defense all night long, running for 217 yards and three first half touchdowns.
7. Stone Wall — It didn’t take long for Stone High to settle in at the top of the standings in a newly reconfigured Region 4-5A this season, The Tomcats blanked visiting Purvis 26-0 Friday night here at A.L. May Stadium on the campus of Gulf Coast Community College to move to 2-0 after two weeks of league play. Stone also evened its overall record up at 3-3, while the new region member Tornadoes drop to 1-1 in the region race and 4-2 overall.