6A-Region 3 Preview

6A football is the pinnacle of high school football for rather obvious reasons: more players, larger talent pools, more money, etc. In the weeks leading up to the beginning of the season, we have looked at Region 1 and Region 2 of 6A football in Mississippi and we will continue to look at the other regions of 6A football in MS.


6A-Region 3

1. Meridian- The defending 6A-Region 3 champions are back. And I'll be 100% honest with you. I can't find a single stat for Meridian last year, which makes the case for Meridian this year tough. But I can find a stat that encases this team for the past 8 years: Meridian is 85-17-1 in the past 8 seasons. Bet your bottom dollar that Meridian has reloaded and is just as good, if not better than last year. Record: 12-0;7-0
2. Brandon- This is my surprise pick of this region. Brandon surprised many people last year and coach Brad Peterson has people in Brandon finally believing in their football team again. And here's the deal guys: Brandon went 8-5 last year with a freshman quarterback. With the maturing of a palpably talented quarterback, Brandon has a true threat again on offense. Gardener Minshew has the gifts and opportunities this season to take BHS farther than it has been in quite some time. Record: 9-3;5-2 (Losses: Northwest Rankin and @ Meridian, and either Petal or Oak Grove)
3. Oak Grove- Okay, you knew it was coming. So I'll ask the question. Just how much is having Brett Favre as your offensive coordinator worth? Only time will tell, but we CAN say this. Even before he was an offensive coordinator, his offense LOVED to sling the rock around the field. Their last quarterback is now a walk-on quarterback at Mississippi State (He threw for 1,700+ yards last year.) Oak grove did a good job of making sure that they wouldn't lose all of that production when Steven Swindle left. The new guy, Kirk McCarty, had nearly 500 yards passing last year as a back-up. So, if you knew that Brett Favre played QB in the NFL for nearly 500 years (which you did, unless you live under a rock) and that his team ALREADY liked to throw the ball, common sense might tell you that his team is going to throw the ball nearly all game. Think "Olive Branch" last year, except no running game at QB, which is fine because a passing threat like that automatically opens up a running game. This offense has the potential to take over 6A football in a few years, but several slip-ups are expected and will most likely end any talk of winning this region this year. Record: 10-2;5-2 (Losses: @ Meridian and either @ Petal or Brandon)
4. Petal - Want to know just how deep this region is? Here you go. The 6A runner-up from 2011 is in 4th place and I highly doubt anyone can argue for them to be any higher. Petal had a highly successful season last year, but this year may hold a different ending. The key to last years team was the highly touted quarterback Anthony Alford, a Southern Miss signee/minor league baseball player for the Toronto Blue Jays organization and he is gone. The main reason I think that Petal has lost its contender status for this region? No one from south state would be able to replace Alford's production from last year. No one. It's simply not possible to write about how much Alford meant to that team. Leadership and point production are the two hardest things to replace on a team, and I'm not quite sure Petal can replace either one of those things. Record: 9-3; 5-2 (Losses: Madison Central, @ Meridian and either @ Brandon or Oak Grove)
5. Hattiesburg: 6-5; 4-3 (Losses: @ Murrah, @ Meridian, Brandon, @ Oak Grove, and Petal) 
6. Natchez: 6-5; 3-4(Losses: Meridian, @ Petal, Hattiesburg, @ Brandon, and Oak Grove)
7. Terry:2-9; 1-7 (Wins: Raymond, @ Forest Hill)
8. Forest Hill:2-9;0-7 (Wins: Wingfield and Callaway)