By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

With the start of yet another prep football season across South Mississippi last week, it’s time for our third installment of “A Look Ahead” here at SouthMiss6 Sports.

“A Look Ahead” 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 on Monday, we’ll take a look at the action set to kick off in that particular week all across this region.

Week three looks to be just as full of “Family Affairs” as as the first two weeks have been when 16 games in the footprint of our coverage pitted one “Southern Six” squad against another one. There are again quite a few interesting battles ahead this week.

Here are “7 games in the Southern 6” to keep an eye on this week:

1. Stone at St. Martin (Game of the Week) — Two teams off to a pair of pretty good starts to the season face off in an all “Southern Six” affair in west Jackson County. The Yellow Jackets are off to a solid 2-0 start for the second straight season, while the Tomcats are 1-1 for the second consecutive year again as well. Stone has a 14-6-1 all-time lead in the series that dates back to 1959, despite a 21-3 road win for St. Martin last year. The last time the two teams played in St. Martin, the Tomcats took home a 28-15 win two years ago.
2. Pascagoula at Ocean Springs — This all Jackson County rivalry returned last year after a brief two year absence. This series evolved into one of the most competitive annual rivalries in South Mississippi over the years as the teams met for 37 straight seasons since first facing off in 1986 before the series was interrupted in 2023. The Panthers have a 21-17 lead all-time, however, the Greyhounds have done their best to even out the once annual affair by bringing in a four game win streak into this week and OSHS has won eight of the last 10 games dating back to the 2014 campaign. Ocean Springs comes in 0-2 and PHS is unbeaten at 2-0.
3. Picayune at Biloxi — Yet another pair of “Southern Six” squads in Picayune and Biloxi renewed a rivalry tlat year that was dormant for 13 years before that. The Maroon Tide has opened at 0-2 as well, and even though Picayune beat Biloxi 23-14 last year and has won four state championships since the last time Biloxi even won a single state playoff game, the Indians still hold a large lead in the all-time series at 28-10-2 thanks in large part to a 17 game win streak in the series back in the old Big 8 Conference days that ran from 1961 to the 1984 Shrimp Bowl. Biloxi is 1-1.
4. West Harrison at Gautier — Here’s another showdown between a pair of “Southern Six” squads as the Gators host the Hurricanes. Both teams come in at 1-1 overall. The Gators lead this all-time series overwhelmingly 11-2, but are looking for some revenge after WHHS thumped the visitors 47-17 last year.
5. Hancock at Poplarville — The Hornets, who are off to a solid 2-0 start, host the Hawks who stand 1-1. Both teams are coming off of wins, as Hancock slipped past Harrison Central 17-14 and Poplarville pounded Stone 42-0. This marks just the 15th meeting all-time on the gridiron between these two teams, and Hancock is up 10-4 overall in the series.
6. PRC at East Central — A pair of “Southern Six” squads off to vastly different starts to the new season meet in Hurley/Wade as the Hornets host the Blue Devils. PRC thumped ECHS 50-21 in Carrier last year, but prior to that ECHS had won four straight in this series that dates back 4e5 years to 1981. The Blue Devils have doubled up the Hornets in games played overall, at 14-7, between the two teams.
7. Moss Point at St. Stanislaus — Almost inexplicably, this series dates back over 90 years to 1935 and the Rock-A-Chaws hold a 16-12-1 all-time advantage in the series. SSC is 1-1 on the young season after dismantling arch-rival Bay High 42-7 last week, while MPHS is 0-2 for the sixth straight season after falling to Jackson Lanier 20-0 last week. The Tigers won only two games last year, but one of them was over the Rocks 24-14 at home on Dantzler Street.