By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director
GULFPORT — Saturday in the 77th annual Bernard Blackwell North/South All-Star Football Game, the home squad will feature a dynamic duo at quarterback.
A pair of “Southern Six” senior standout signal-callers will direct the South offensive unit when the contest kicks off at 11:30 a.m., here at historic Milner Stadium, as Gulfport’s Parker Nettles and Hancock’s Kaison Koenenn are expected to see the bulk of snaps behind center.
Last year, The North squad broke the South’s four-year winning streak in the 76th Bernard Blackwell Football Classic with a 16-13 win at Milner Stadium on Saturday. And on Saturday, Nettles and Koenenn will be looking to get the South squad back on track in the final prep football game of each players career.

Nettles made his lone season with the Admirals a memorable one as he is fresh off leading Gulfport to its first-ever state championship two weeks ago in an exciting 21-20 last second decision over Tupelo.
In the Class 7A state title tilt against the Golden Wave, Nettles finished the game with 228 yards passing and one touchdown, only the most important touchdown toss in his career so far.
Nettles tossed a jump ball into a crowd of players into the end zone from 34-yards out, and his wide out and teammate Mylan Stubbs came down with it as the final horn sounded after two Tupelo defenders tipped the ball.
Nettles has amassed 2,750 passing yards this season, while completing 66 percent of his passes with a 114.3 quarterback rating. He tossed for 23 touchdowns with only six interceptions.
For his play, Nettles earned Class 7A Second Team All-State honors.

Meanwhile, after producing one of the top offensive outputs in the state this season, Hancock’s Koenenn earned a huge honor.
.Koenenn was selected as the Class 6A Offensive Player of the Year on the All-State First Team unit in that classification over the weekend. The prestigious annual award is voted on voted on by coaches around the state who are members of the Mississippi Association of Coaches. 
Koenenn accounted for over almost 4,000 yards of total offense and 40 touchdowns through the air and on the ground combined this year.

Those two quarterbacks will help give the game a decided “Southern Six” flair, as many 14 senior standout “Southern Six” products representing 10 different high schools were involved in selecting the South squad in the long-running contest.