Football In MS

Big 7A matchup this week in Brandon when Petal comes to town. This one will put 1 team solidly in 1st place heading into the final stretch of Region 3 play and will mark that team as a fav for South State. PETAL (5-2) has surprised many already this year with strong performances over West Jones, Oak Grove and Gulfport. Dropped 2 to Ocean Springs & Columbia early on in weeks 2 & 3. But they look strong and ready to finish out region play with a good seed heading into playoffs. Boyles is fiery and has the Panthers running all cylinders. Fan engagement is at a huge high. Averaging 27 ppg and allowing 20, their average margin of victory is only 1 possession. But they’ve been on the right side of that when it has mattered so far. A win here will all but cement a #1 seed for the Panthers in R3. BRANDON (3-3) has what many would call the biggest home field advantage in 7A South. No team wants to play there and their fans are relentlessly passionate. They create a hard environment for the visiting team and absolutely thrive on tough battles. That said, they will be up for this game in a huge way - knowing that the winner of this matchup will be in the driver’s seat for the region and the South State title. Some would argue that Pogue has not yet proven that his Bulldogs are “the team to beat” this year. An undisputed powerhouse year in and year out with recent South State and State Championship appearances, this game could help Pogue shore up his reputation in 7A. As compared to previous Brandon teams, we’ve yet to see that explosive offensive performance. Averaging only 13 ppg so far while allowing 20 doesn’t promote confidence in a strong offense. Their 3 wins (vs Madison Central, Clinton & NWR) have each been decided by an average of 6 points. A win over Petal would set them up for a huge game when they travel to OG the next week & could throw R3 in a potential tailspin with OG, Petal and Brandon all battling for that top spot. This could be a good one, folks. Who you got?

He’s very streaky. He’s either ON or wayyy off. And tonight he had a very rough night. Not helped by OG’s seemingly weak O-line

Petal with the win. Strong performance. Outstanding coaching. Petal’s win helped by the very lackluster night had by OG’s QB. Warriors had a lot of missed opportunities. But now they are left to hope they can win the rest of the region games by wide margins while hoping Brandon beats Petal. Warriors road to a top playoff seed just got really hard, and Petal proved they’re the real deal.

Veterans Memorial Stadium isn’t much better. When they hosted the MHSAA State Championships in December 2020, the field conditions were horrible (depressed areas of the field, poorly marked yardage, etc). There should be minimum standards for venues to prevent teams from having to play in stadiums that could be hazardous to players.

This is where points scored vs common opponents really matters. A high scoring game could help whoever wins based on the 3-0 Brandon NWR outcome last week. OG vs NWR is a pretty solidly OG matchup with the Warriors being 9-1 all time vs the Cougars. Have to go back to 2004 to find a NWR win. So a NWR win would definitely be a huge upset. NWR last beat Petal in 2020 with a last second field goal to clinch the win. So Petal (even in recent “down” years) has still managed a pretty good track record vs NWR as of late. A NWR win in this matchup would definitely be an unexpected outcome as well.

Definitely think these next 2 Fridays will paint the playoff picture with OG/Petal/Brandon squaring up. These will be the #1-3 seeds for R3

This is where classification matters so much! They belong in 6A and are doing well there. But when they were trying to compete with schools 2x their size (back when they were grouped with Brandon, OG & that region), they couldn’t compete. Good for Terry!!

Hate when any high school player is hurt. And concussions are a much bigger deal than many people realize. The research being done on longterm effects of repeated concussions is shocking! And according to medical professionals, concussion is a much lower bar than most understand. Any person who sustains a knock to the head and has any ringing of the ears, dizziness/confusion lack of coordination (no matter how minor), tiredness or nausea should be treated as if they are concussed. Sorry - will get off my soapbox on that one now. How is the Brandon QB now?

We’re now at the halfway point of the season & headed into full on district play. Who is outperforming expectations? Who is surprising you? Which new coaches are impressive?

What does the OG starter situation look like headed towards the Petal game Friday? The livestream mentioned McDaniel and a shoulder - is that for real?

Would be fun to see Brandon go in as a 3 seed and have to travel to Ocean Springs for 1st round (assuming OS is the R4 #2 behind Gulfport in the #1 spot). that could set up the possibility of a repeat of 2019’s South State matchup the day after Thanksgiving = OG vs Petal. But, still a lot of football to be played. Whichever team wins Friday Petal vs OG will be in the drivers seat headed into their matchups with Brandon. The next 2 weeks. Speaking of … What in the world went on Friday night in the Brandon/NWR matchup? 0-0 going into the 4th quarter with a final of 3-0 Brandon?! Are both offenses terrible or both defenses THAT good? I was so confused by this one. Didn’t pay attention because I figured it would be an easy Brandon dub as usual and watched other games. Man was I wrong! What happened down there?

Agree on all. The team who makes fewer mistakes and capitalizes on their opponent’s mistakes will likely come out on top. We’re about to see who is hot this season. Gotta love district games

Petal will play NWR close and can beat Meridian and Pearl. OG and Brandon will be the games Petal struggles with. But region 3 seems more open this year than in years past. However, I still think the 4 teams going to playoffs will be: 1/2: OG/Brandon 3/4: Petal/NWR

That’s not what the livestream showed. I remember it because I found it odd that it wasn’t really overcrowded based on HHS’s record at that point in the 2024 season and the fact that the 2 schools are situated so close together. Taking nothing away from HHS - they absolutely did have a much larger attendance than in previous years. But it definitely was not packed. Not that it matter now anyway.

Yeah, that district was in the middle of their fall break - which is reportedly 2 weeks long. And according to social media, their band was out of state at some competition. So that definitely explains a decreased volume of students on the home side. Kinda surprised OG would choose to schedule the rivalry matchup vs Petal while the OG side is still on fall break. You’d think they’d do an away game or a Meridian or Pearl matchup. But idk how far in advance all that is finalized. I’d think a OG crowd would be bigger this Friday vs Petal than it was last week but who knows. They’re still out of school all week this week. The last time OG’s visitor side was packed was probably vs Brandon a couple of years ago. But before that was likely Petal in 2019. Petal tends to travel well when they’re performing well. So I’d expect there to be a better number of students make the trip this year than in recent years. The last time Petal beat OG was during the 2019 regular season at OG, before OG came back to take South State from them at Petal the same year. So this may be the first time since then that Petal thinks they have a legit shot at taking the W from OG. Over the last 20 years, OG has had their way with Petal, locking down an impressive 17-6 record (playoff games included) against the Panthers.

Petal’s game plan here would be to win the toss, take the ball immediately and score using a QB run situation. That’s what Houston did most successfully against OG. The running QB inflicted more offensive pressure than anything else in that matchup. If Petal can bring a (loud) big crowd and score early, that’ll be their best bet. They’ll still have to find an answer for OG’s nasty defensive line. But if they can get momentum on their side, Petal may have a chance to make this game a close one.

Just because a school is 7A doesn’t automatically make them better than a 4A. 4A teams aren’t automatically ‘less than’ just because they’re 4A. Not saying Petal is going to South State or anything: just saying they’re better than ppl through they’d be. Not a Petal fan but I can give credit where it’s due

FINAL Oak Grove 28 Houston (TN) 25

FINAL Brandon 3 NWR 0

I said many weeks ago that Petal was going to be better than expected this year and got shouted down. They’re a good team under the right leadership!

Madison Central & Starkville will be standing in their way … but Germantown definitely makes it past 1st round in playoffs

Home field advantage is huge in that game. And it’s at OG this year, so your prediction is probably a good one.

I thought his “until proven otherwise” was about Region 4 being 1-3 in 1st round of playoffs this season

Yeah, will be interesting to see them progress as everyone gets deep into district play. So you got OG over Brandon?

I’ll be interested to see the team who completely “shuts down” Mr. Football. Kid is a major talent. And yeah, I’m sure everyone would love to see him in his natural position (including Hill himself - especially from a stats perspective), but he’s showing how much of a team player and natural athlete he is. Every coach knows you put your best athlete under center. And that’s what Tupelo has had to do. So far, it’s working out well. And I’d hope (and expect) to see them back in the 7A ship game come December. They’re the massive favorite to repeat this year.