By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

The prep football season turns eight weeks old this week, after we managed to get through almost all of the open dates for the “Southern Six” squads in the past two weeks.

“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, SouthMiss6 Sports takes a look at the action set to kickoff in that particular week all across this region.

Here are seven games in the “Southern Six’ to keep an eye on this week:

1. Pascagoula at PRC at (Game of the Week) — Just the ninth all-time meeting on the football field between the Panthers and Blue Devils goes down Friday night at Hendrix Stadium in Carriere. Pascagoula has a slight 5-3 lead in the all-time series, after dismantling PRC last year 42-0. Pascagoula sits at 1-1 in the region race, and PRC is off to a 0-2 start. A third straight league loss for the Blue Devils would all but eliminate them for playoff contention, and a win by PRC would harm the Panthers as well. A PHS win would be a major step towards securing a postseason berth for the fourth straight season, and also keep it in the running for possible homefield advantage in the opening round as well.
2. Vancleave at Stone — Things haven’t gone very well or either of these teams so far in Region 4-5A, as both the Tomcats and Bulldogs are winless at 0-2. Stone stopped a brief two game losing streak in this series with a 30-21 road win last year. Stone leads the all-time series 17-10 that dates back 51 years to 1975.
3. West Harrison at Ocean Springs — The Greyhounds are coming off of an open date, and the Hurricanes probably wish they were as well. Powerful Gulfport dismantled West Harrison 47-6 last week, and both of these teams come in at 1-2 (OSHS) and 1-3 (WHHS), respectively, in Region 4-7A action. OSHS has a history of success under fourth -year head coach Jake Bramlett in the past three seasons after off weeks, winning five straight in 2023, seven straight in 2024 and three straight last year including a 56-21 thumping of the Hurricanes last year. This is just the fourth meeting all-time between the two teams, and OSHS is up 3-0.
4. Gautier at Hancock — A pair of teams sitting at 1-1 in the Region 4-6A race square off in yet another pivotal league match-up this week at Brett Favre Field in the Kiln. The Gators probably feel like they should be 2-0 in league play, but they aren’t. Hancock is happy to be all even after getting run out of the stadium at home by Picayune last week. This is just the sixth ever meeting on the football field between the Hawks and Gators, and Hancock leads slightly at 3-2 after a close 28-27 road win last year.
5. Biloxi at Gulfport — The longtime arch-rival Indians and Admirals meet for the 104th time this week, in a Region 4-7A contest that matters much more to the home team than it does the defending Class 7A state champ Admirals. Both teams are coming off of wins in league play last week, and the Admirals are 3-0 in the region race while Biloxi sits at 1-2. Gulfport leads the all-time series 64-35-4, and the Admirals have dominated Biloxi as of late winning five straight and 13-of-the-past-14 outings also. Last year, Gulfport smacked Biloxi 35-0 in the final contest ever in the long-running annual affair at historic Milner Stadium.
6. Wayne County at East Central — This one is a battle fcor supremacy atop Region 4-5A, as the teams come in both unbeaten in the league at 2-0. The winner of this one almost certainly will host a first round game in the upcoming Class 5A South State playoffs, as East Central looks for its first postseason berth in four years. This is just the sixth meeting all-time between all-time between the two teams, and after a 27-21 win in Hurley last year the War Eagles lead 4-1.
7. Forrest County AHS at Bay High — While this may surprise many, but this Region 8-4A battle between these two teams is a key encounter as far as the upcoming Class 4A South State playoffs are concerned. The Aggies are 1-1 in the region race, and a win over win-less Bay High would earn FCAHS a berth in those aforementioned state playoffs. However, as strange as it seems, if the 0-7 Tigers can put it all together and somehow pull out their first win of the season, then Bay High would keep its postseason hopes alive and could possibly snatch that state playoff bid away depending on what happens over the next two weeks. The Tigers are on a 19-game losing streak, and haven’t won a game in over two years. The Aggies lead the overall series 7-4, after a 34-0 win in Brooklyn last year.