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What’s it looking like this year? Personally I think the south is a little stronger than the north overall but I think the best overall team could come from the north in Winona. I think Raleigh and Seminary will determine who comes from the south. Seminary to me personally is getting totally disrespected. They return most of their team from last season and yet many people have them ranked behind PCS. I know everybody is high on Winona right now, and I am too. They were already going to be really good and have added some good transfers over the summer. So they probably will be the favorite early on. But Raleigh is always strong defensively and knows how to pound the ball and control the clock. I think them and seminary both have a team that could beat them. My top 5 right now: Winona Raleigh Seminary Noxubee County PCS

I don’t know why my first post said I have watched him play since flagrant football. It was supposed to say flag football, lol. But yea, I think Gordon will be a big key for them this season. Honestly I think they win their region and make a deep run.

Their school enrollment may be dropping off, but their athletic rosters are not. They lost a lot of seniors from their defense but they return most of their offensive starters from last season, and they likely still have at least 40 or more on their roster. They will be the preseason #1 ranked team in 2A.

With Heidelberg enrollment at the bottom of 2A they may have lost enough talent to help East Marion or whomever knock them off.

That's the word I got too. They are cocky as hell. They are about to get hit some with that schedule though.

That's a lot of Hwy 49. A road that the lanes seem to smaller after dark.

Gordon will be the guy. After him, the returning guys that will take reps in the backfield had a combined 16 carries last season. Lots of inexperience for sure, but luckily they will have a veteran offensive line to build a foundation around as the season goes along.

Petal often times wins this game off coaching and discipline alone… even when they prob shouldn’t on paper.

Which field does it have WJ playing jim hill at?

West jones ends the season at Forrest hill, at terry, host Hattiesburg, at Jim hill.

I like Simmons, Stringer, and Nanih Waiya in the south. If Stringer can find a replacement for Campbell, they should be really solid. I’m assuming the young 10th grader Gordon will be who they plan to take over as their next guy. I have watched him play since flag football, and coached again him every year he played youth football. He was always a good back.

As the season approaches, let’s talk about who we should watch out for in 1A football. Last season, Calhoun City claimed the 1A crown over Simmons 14-8 in a nail biter. Fast forward to this upcoming season, and Calhoun City will be fielding many new faces. Many successful teams from last season were hit hard with graduation such as Taylorsville and Biggersville. The classification looks wide open as far as who could become the new champion. Here are my preseason top 5 teams in 1A going into 2026: 1. Simmons 2. Leflore County 3. Nanih Waiya 4. Stringer 5. Calhoun City Honorable Mentions: Taylorsville Biggersville Bogue Chitto Three Games to Watch 1. Taylorsville @ Stringer (10/2) 2. Simmons @ Leflore County (9/4) 3. Noxapater @ Nanih Waiya (10/8) The top four on this list are teams that return the most statistical production on both sides of the ball. Had to stick Calhoun City at five with them being last year’s champion. Note: This list is merely my opinion, and could be proven wrong head to head.

New rule is that they have to be enrolled by start of school.

I wasn't aware of him then.

Touche"

Heard that the MHSAA ruled the kid transferring from Baldwin ineligible, had copies of text messages proving they were recruiting him. Also heard the parents appealed. Supposedly in the appeal he was again ruled ineligible because of recruiting violations by Tupelo. Will be interesting to see if so and if anything will come of it.

Hattiesburg went to jim hill and forest hill on back to back thursday nights last season.

Not this year

Don't they usually play this game on a Saturday too?

I believe this group may surprise a few people

This is the group to keep your eyes on

They started playing when petal became 5a in what was then the highest classification and after petal became a bigger school than Hattiesburg they just kept the series going. The game does seem a little flat now. The past few yrs HHS non region has been Petal Laurel Oak Grove Biloxi and Meridian. The Petal game has been the least interesting game for me and I wouldn't care if they quit playing and Hattiesburg started playing other 7a teams from Region 3 or Region 4.

Nice job of scheduling making us drive to Jackson on back to back Fridays. Hankins must have seen an all night buffet close by when he did this.

Out side of being in the same district has this been a continuous game ? Even getting around the Hattiesburg area it's never been a game that has a lot of "buzz" associated with it or one that I had circled to try and go to. Petal seems lifeless and stale to me as a football entity right now. Able to get past teams in the playoffs that have no shot then getting sent home when they play a contender. Marcus likes to use these first games to try to get his sorry Petal defenses in order and as long as the other team doesn't score , will let them joust before scoring enough at the end to try and win. He's always sitting on plays tp score with quick though if they need them to keep up. I wouldn't put much stock in that spring game and I suspect Lacey has already mapped out what units he wants his team to go through . It will probably be sloppy in the beginning like most first games but I wouldn't be shocked if Hattiesburg got stronger as the game wore on and pulls away at the end . Maybe off of turnovers.