By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

With the start of yet another prep football season across South Mississippi last week, it’s time for our next 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.

Half of the 24 football teams in the “Southern 6” are off this week.. But there are still some big games on tap this week, and still quite a few interesting battles ahead.

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

1. Ocean Springs at Gulfport (Game of the Week) — In this game last season, Gulfport snapped a school record 25 game region win streak for Ocean Springs and the Admirals used that as a springboard to go on to win the league en route to taking the Class 7A state championship. The Greyhounds are now 16-1 in league play under head coach Jake Bramlett, after a 21-14 win over Biloxi last week in the region opener for both teams. This is the league-opener for the Admirals, who also stopped a five game losing streak to OSHS last year with that big win. Gulfport leads the all-time series 22-12, but the series is dead even at 6-6 over the past 12 games since 2014.
2. West Harrison at D’Iberville — Another big battle to stay atop the Region 4-7A standings as the Warriors host the Hurricanes this week. These two county rivals are coming off of different results last week in their region openers, as DHS dispatched Harrison Central and St. Martin out-scored the Hurricanes.. This is the 10 all-time meeting between the two Harrison County foes, and the Warriors are a perfect 9-0 including a 25-7 win last year.
3. Bay High at Hancock — A big game for these two Hancock County rivals for a different reason, as both come in big need of a win. The Tigers are now 0-13 under the direction of second-year head coach Katlan French, and are off to a 0-4 start for the second straight season. Meanwhile the Hawks are 1-3. Hancok blasted Bay High 48-6 on the road last year, which was the first meeting between these two teams since 2016. This marks the 56th meeting all-time between the two teams on the football field, and Bay leads the all-time series that dates back to 1959 34-21. But the Hawks have won five in a row dating back to 2013.
4. Biloxi at St. Martin — Back to the Region 4-7A race that will affect the league standings early on, as the Indians travel a short distance to take onthe Yellow Jackets. This is the 27th meeting on the gridiron in a series that celebrated its 30th anniversary last season and dates back to 1995. Biloxi leads the all-time affair at 15-11, but St, Martin snapped a six game BHS win streak last year with a 28-24 road win. St. Martin is unbeaten at 5-0, while Biloxi has dropped four straight and sits at 1-4 overall. St. Martin has never, in its 68 year history as a football program, started a season off at 6-0.
5. St. Stanislaus at Stone — A pair of teams off of differing results last week meet in the Tomcats’ new on-campus Stadium Friday night. The Rocks are 1-4, and the Tomcats 2-2 This marks just the eighth all-time meeting in a series that dates back 544 years and started in 1972. Stone leads the series 5-2, after a 42-7 win last year.
6. Greene County at Pass Christian — Region 8-4A play gets underway for both the Pirates and Wildcats at Buddy McDonald Stadium this week. Green County fell to Gautier last week, while PCHS beat East Central. This is just the 14th all-time meeting, as the Wildcats hold a commanding 10-3 lead all-time in the series even after a 28-14 wy by the Pass in Leakesville last season. Greene County won the first eight meetings from 1997-2010.
7. Forrest County AHS at Moss Point — The other Region 8-4A opener this week sees the Tigers hosting the the Aggies. Moss Point is coming off of its first win of the season and sits 1-4. Forrest County is just 2-3, but stopped a three game losing streak with a close 13-12 win over Purvis last week. This is just the fifth meeting all-time between the two teams on the football field, and MPHS is up 3-1 after the Aggies earned their first-ever win in the series last year with a 6-0 win in five overtimes. This marked the first regular season meeting in 17 years, since 2008 between the two teams.