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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.

Oh that is correct, region 7 and region 8 #1 seeds would both host in a tiebreaker situation for home field in the 3rd round.

U misunderstood me. Both Wesson and East Marion would host in Round 3 as 1 seeds if all things equal: Scott Central @ Wesson Heidelberg @ East Marion

No. East Marion would face Heidelberg or Mize in round 3, but still have home field advantage in that scenario

If equally seeded teams meet and it can not be determined as to ho m e and away then Higher Region Host. That would be Wesson and East Marion in Round 3 correct as 1 seeds.

1 vs 3 2 vs 4 5 vs 7 6 vs 8

Thank you my friend

Ha the tailgating was a lot of fun. Seeing that smoke fog go over the field was awesome! Your wife is in my prayers.

I haven’t heard of anything but I haven’t been up there as much as I was since my wife’s been sick. I had heard they were wanting to try to bring the tailgating back but that’s hearsay that doesn’t go far in Wayne County lol.

Gotcha. I agree that it would be a huge mistake. I doubt Lampley will make that change. Probably one of the most recognizable logos in the state. I know it has Auburn ties but WC also makes it look really good. I will say the new turf doesn’t look as good without the checkered end zones but i guess it’s time for a change. When I’m in town visiting family it still doesn’t seem right having the home side on the old 84 side of the field. Are there any other projects with the stadium you know of?

will state keep an extra arm than what is normal due to having some dual position guys? they have to cut to 34 spots and currently have well over 40

With a little over a month away from the opening week, I have no issue of starting a game thread this early. Thoughts on this one. Petal has got some playmakers returning as does Hattiesburg. But the OL for Hattiesburg is going to have to mature and develop quickly as no starter from the OL returns this season. Last yr game was ugly as HHS welcomed a brand new coaching staff and had new players playing as well as a key injury. Hopefully this years outcome is different.