By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director
GULFPORT — The biggest home prep football game for Gulfport High in 34 years takes place this week.
The Admirals host Brandon in the Class 7A South State championship here at historic Milner Stadium with a trip to the state championship round on the line.
It marks the first time Gulfport has hosted a South State title tilt since the 1991 season, when Moss Point throttled the Admirals 28-14. This is also the first trip to the South State finals in 26 years for GHS, when the Admirals fell on the road to Jackson Provine at Hughes Field to end the 1999 season.

Gulfport is an impressive 10-2 this season, and comes into the week on a nine game win streak after thumping visiting Petal 45-10 last week. That win allowed the Admirals to host their third consecutive home playoff game in the same season for the first time in 37 years and just the second time in program history this week.
Brandon, meanwhile, is playing in its fifth straight South State championship game and its sixth out the past eight seasons after a big 30-27 overtime upset on the road over Oak Grove last week.
It was the second straight 3-point win in the Class 7A South State playoffs for the Bulldogs, who also upset home-standing Ocean Springs 13-10 one week earlier.
Last week, Brandon do-it-all four star recruit Tyson Robinson, a running back/quarterback, ran the ball 20 times for 74 yards and the decisive game-winning touchdown in the extra session. Defensively, linebacker Travion Washington recorded 16 tackles and five tackles for loss in the win over the Warriors.

Gulfport quarterback Parker Nettles, was hot against Petal last week as he went 11-of-16 passing for 206 yards with two touchdowns and added a rushing touchdown. Admirals standout running back Cooper Crosby ran the ball 18 times for 105 yards and two touchdowns in the Admirals 45-10 win over Petal.

This marks just the 12th all-time meeting between the two teams on the football field, but it will be the third straight season they have faced off after Brandon won back-to-back regular season games the past two years including 42-0 last year in Milner Stadium.
The Bulldogs have won six straight in the series, dating back to that 1999 season for Gulfport in which the Admirals 24-3 win in the Class 5A South State semifinals sent them to Hughes Field this following week for that match-up with Provine.

Gulfport is looking for just its second-ever trip to the state championship contest, after falling to West Point in 1982 21-14.