By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

PICAYUNE — In the midst of his sixth season as the head football coach of his alma mater Picayune, Cody Stogner has put up some mighty impressive numbers so far.
After all, the former standout Maroon Tide lineman is 67-12 overall for a winning percentage of almost 85 percent.
And, in the state playoffs, he is 13-3 with two state championships and four straight appearances in South State title tilts for a postseason percentage of over 80 percent as well.

However, there’s one area where Stogner and his Maroon Tide are perfect under his guidance. And that category comes in the case of rematches in state playoff action with regular season opponents.
Picayune is currently 3-0 in playoff games against fellow region foes when the two teams meet again in November. And the Maroon Tide face a chance to improve on that mark this week.
Friday night, Picayune hosts Hancock as these two Region 4-6A rivals meet in the same venue for the second time in five weeks at Lee-Triplett Stadium, this time though in the Class 6A South State semifinals
.Picayune thumped Hancock in regular season play 59-28, and that puts the Maroon Tide up 14-3 all-time in the series. The Maroon Tide has also won five straight in this series and eight out of the last nine dating back 27 years to the 1998 season.
“You can throw out what happened the first game and whatever else has happened in the past,” Stogner said, before practice Thursday afternoon. “We are both 0-0 this week. I expect to see two really good football teams playing hard and trying to earn themselves another Monday. I think the atmosphere is going to be electric.”

Hancock’s last win over Picayune came at home in 2002. The Hawks haven’t beat the Maroon Tide on the road in 30 years, since a 7-3 decision in 1995.
The winner of this one will face the winner of the Pascagoula-Hattiesburg contest next week in the Class 6A South State finals. Picayune is 9-2, while the Hawks, who are in the second round of the playoffs for the first time eight years, stand 5-6 overall but have won five out of their last seven games after starting the season off at 0- under first-year head coach Mikey King.
Picayune dispatched visiting George County 52-7 last week, while Hancock upset home-standing West Jones 21-14 in Soso.

It marked the second straight season Picayune eliminated the Rebels in the state playoffs. The win last season was a rematch from a regular season encounter, as was home wins over Pascagoula in 2023 and Gautier in 2022.

The win last week for HHS was the first road playoff win in the 66 year history of the Hawk program.
Now, Hancock has yet another chance to notch another mark in the history book of its program.