By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

Moss Point won its fifth and final (so far) state football championship 25 years ago this year.
The Tigers dominated the state in the largest classification of play for a decade, winning four state championships in 10 seasons from 1991-2000.
On a cold and drizzly Friday night, Dec 1st, 2000, Moss Point clobbered previously unbeaten Clinton 45-14 for the Class 5A state title at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson in front of a crowd of almost 18,000.

The Tigers finished the season at 13-1, and that is still the single season school record in wins. Clinton came into the game at 14-0 and ranked as the top team in the state for most of the season.

Moss Point Prep All-American quarterback Demarious Bilbo went 18-for-27 for 313 yards and two touchdowns to lead the way to the win as the Tigers never trailed in the game.
The Moss Point defense came up big as well, forcing four turnovers and holding heralded Arrow tailback Clarence McDougal below the 100-yard mark for the first time in seven games.
In fact, the MPHS defense set up the first score of the game when linebacker Jason McBeath picked off a pass on the first Arrow possession of the game and returned it to the Clinton 11-yard line.
Four plays later, running back Keswic Nettles gave the Tigers a lead they would never relinquish less than four minutes into the game on a 3-yard scoring run.
“No doubt that was a big play,” MPHS head coach Jerry Alexander told this sports writer for The Sun Herald that night. “It was big for us to get a touchdown right off the bat like that.”
Bilbo then went to work as he hooked up with tight end Tremaine Moore on scoring strikes of 66-yards and 29-yards to put the Tigers up 24-13 mid-way through the second stanza.

Moss Point took a commanding 31-13 lead into halftime on a 19-yard Brandon Fountain touchdown on a gadget play.
The Tigers quickly laid to rest any hopes the arrows had of a second half comeback, when Bilbo connected with Moore on a 64-yard strike to the Clinton 1-yard line early in the third period. Nettles covered that distance on the next play and the rout was on.
Moore enjoyed his biggest game of his career, hauling in eight catches for 185 yards and the two touchdowns.
“Bilbo and Moore have great chemistry,” Alexander said. “The team represented themselves, their school, their families and the city of Moss Point very well tonight.”
The game would be the last at MPHS for longtime Tiger offensive coordinator and former MPHS standout quarterback Bill Lee.

“It’s not a mystery, they made history,” Lee rhymed, after the game concering the Bilbo to Moore combination.. “They worked hard all year long. I’m glad they believed in what we do. I was fortunate to be a part of it.
After almost two decades on the Tiger staff, Lee left two months later and took over as head coach at Starkville High. In his first season at the helm of the Yellow Jackets, in the same city where he starred as a defensive back at Mississippi State, both he and his former team the Tigers returned to Jackson to end the 2001 season to meet for the Class 5A state title.
Starkville mauled Moss Point 34-0 to end the decade long domination by the Tigers in the state. Moss Point hasn’t made it back to the state championship round since.