By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

GULFPORT — After winning its first state championship since a state-wide playoff system was in the state of Mississippi last season, the Gulfport High football team has achieved yet another milestone this year.

This Gulfport team is currently in the midst of one of the most successful streaks in program history.

In the past 76 years, or the “modern era” of prep sports in the state of Mississippi, the current Admirals squad is treading on some rarefied air after winning 19 of its past 20 games after Friday night’s 28-17 win over visiting Ocean Springs in the Region 4-7A de facto championship game.

The current streak is the best for the program since Gulfport High and Gulfport East High merged in 1977. It tops the streak back then that was a 14-1 span that stretched from the beginning of an 11-1 season in 1977 through a 3-0 start to the 1978 campaign.

After that loss in week four in 1978, the Admirals proceeded to win four more games to expand that streak to 18-1.

That successful span is one better than the solid 17-1 stretch from the end of 1971 to the first two weeks of 1973, which was produced by the then Gulfport Commodores.

Back then, Gulfport had two separate public high schools in both GHS and Gulfport East. Those two schools merged after the end of the 1976-77 school year, just in time for the 11-1 1977 season for the then newly minted “Admirals” that produced one of the final “Big 8 Conference” championships for the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

The then Gulfport East High Vikings enjoyed the best season of their 11-year existence in 1976 when they went 10-1, losing only to Pascagoula in a close 23-21 showdown as the Panthers produced a perfect 12-0 worksheet and went on to win the Big 8 title as well.

Meanwhile, the current Gulfport High is in the midst of the most successful stretch over 20 games in program history. The Admirals are continuing to build on the historical campaign last season when they captured that elusive Gold Ball.

Now, Gulfport closes out the regular season against Harrison Central this week as the Admirals go in search of their 13th straight region win. The defending state champions also have their sights set on the program record 23 game region win streak that GHS produced from the end of the 2016 season through the end of the 2019 season. Unlike today, though, there were seven league games on the schedule each season.