The Conference Era (1950-1980): Hornets owned 24-7 record in season openers

By JOEY HOWARD, Maroon, Green and Gold

Season-opening football games are special, very special.

Many high school football teams across South Mississippi tee it up officially this weekend. Sure, there have been some jamborees and some openers last week. But it gets real on Friday.

The Conference Era – as many of you know is where this blog mostly dives into – was from the 1950 to the 1980 football seasons. It’s when the Mississippi High Schools did not have a state playoff system in place. What was in place were many conferences – Big Eight, DeSoto, Apache, Singing River, Pine Belt, Midsouth, South Little Dixie and so on.

The Poplarville Hornets had 31 season-opening games in those Conference years and posted a 24-7 record. That’s a winning percentage of .774. In fact, the Hornets had a 13-game win streak in season openers from 1951 to 1963.

It’s been 45 years now since I last donned a Poplarville Hornet uniform for a season-opener. My last opener was in 1976, a 34-0 blanking of Lumberton which helped our squad go on and capture the Apache Conference championship.

But that was not my favorite of the three season-openers I played in. My favorite was the 1975 season-opening game on the road against Picayune. It was the debut of Pat Morris as the Hornet head coach and it was the fourth game of the Pearl River Classic, sponsored by the Picayune Item, as the Maroon Tide held a 2-1 advantage. And, Poplarville had just left the DeSoto Conference and joined the Gulf Coast Conference, which was only a one-year membership as we hitched our wagons to the Apache in 1976.

Poplarville High: Chasing that elusive first state football championship

By Joey Howard, Maroon, Green and Gold

It’s coming up on three months since that fateful day in early December.

Poplarville High School came within 36 seconds of capturing its elusive first state football championship. A two-point conversion run off the left end by Louisville was the difference as the Hornets fourth try in a state title game came up just short in a dramatic 15-14 loss at Mississippi Veterans Memorial Stadium in Jackson.

The Class 4A state title that Poplarville so desires would have to wait another year.

Head coach Jay Beech, who completed his 7th season at the Hornet helm, told The Picayune Item shortly after the loss, “There’s nothing to say to those guys that’ll make them feel better.” And in many ways, that is so ringing true.

Those guys Beech referenced were his players, many who had made their third consecutive appearance in the Class 4A Championship game. Folks can liken the Hornets state title drought to the NFL’s Buffalo Bills that lost four straight Super Bowls (1991-94).

I don’t know any of “those guys” or how many are legacy Hornets whose Dad or Granddad donned the Green and Gold. You see names in the newspaper or online such as Khalid Moore, Tyron Holston, Conner Davis, Dante Buckley, Torry Polk, Tyler Knight, Greg Swann and D.J. Richardbey and just know they were hurting immediately following the loss.

Poplarville Hornets All-Conference Performers (1953-1980)

By Joey Howard, Maroon, Green and Gold

Another day in the Stay at Home life we know as COVID-19, another blog.

We’ve mentioned before the Conference Era in Mississippi High School Football was a span of 30 seasons (1950-1980) where only conference championships were competed for on the gridiron. State playoffs existed in Mississippi High School Football through the 1949 season, then was discontinued until 1981.

As a result, outstanding players were recognized as All-Conference performers instead of what folks know today as All-District or All-Region under the state playoff formats.

During this what we call Conference Era, a total of 80 All-Conference honors were given to Hornets standouts through the years. And three coaches were named Coach of the Year – Doug Daniels 1959; Alvin Doyle 1972; and Pat Morris 1976, 1979. Both Lewis Murray and Marvin Triplett, who led the Hornets to the DeSoto titles in 1953 and 1955, were surprisingly not named Coach of the Year.

Poplarville High School participated as an all-sport member in three conferences during that 30-year period – DeSoto Conference (1953-1974), Gulf Coast Conference (1975) and Apache Conference (1976-1980).

Several players were also named Most Outstanding by the league’s coaches as an added honor to the All-Conference teams. Clayton Schill was named Most Outstanding Lineman in the DeSoto in 1954; Edwin Bass picked up Best Passer and Best Punter honors in 1955; Russell Sinquefield earned Most Outstanding Back in 1955; Robert Young was named Most Valuable Lineman in 1959; Jerry Daniels was named Most Valuable Lineman in 1971; Randy Burge picked up the Most Outstanding Back in 1972; and Bill Stringer was tabbed Most Outstanding Defensive Lineman in the Gulf Coast Conference in 1975.

The Longest Plays: Poplarville High Football (1950-1980)

By Joey Howard, Maroon, Green and Gold

Yesterday, this blog wrote about the “Incompletes” many, many student-athletes were handed as their 2020 spring seasons were abruptly ended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

I’m more of a positive news guy, so I dug around in my archives and came up with a Look Back column … A Look Back at some of the Longest Plays in Poplarville Hornet football history. The era covered here will be the Conference Era (1950-1980). It takes a look at Longest Running Plays, Passing Plays, Field Goals, Kickoff Returns, Punt Returns, Fumble Returns and Interception Returns. I have not been able to document Long Punts, so all you punters, hang in there and I’ll try to find some of those.

Of course, with all the offensive explosiveness that the Pat Morris, Lance Beach and now Jay Beech teams have had since the mid-80s to now, these longest play marks may not be the milestone at Poplarville High any longer, but that’s okay. We’re here today just to remember some great athletes from back in the day.

You may remember some of the names from that era … Ray and Roy Sinquefield, Billy Mitchell, Arab Morris, Herbert Morris, Butch Hyde, Edwin Bass, Jimmy Forte, Charles Ray Wheat, James Pinkerton, Ronnie Burge, Ricky Burge, Randy Burge, Wilbur Riley, Lavelle Knight, Hank Reid, Ken Bilbo, Jerry Davis, Bobby Cochran, Mike Amacker, Stephon Fairley and so many more.

My research was done through game stories in The Weekly Democrat, The Poplarville Democrat, The Picayune Item, The Hattiesburg American, The Biloxi Sun-Herald, school annuals and anything I could get my hands on. It’s not an official list by any means and any corrections are welcome. This is a way to let folks know just how good athletes were back in the day when defenses – for the most part – ruled the game.

Sports and Incompletes: Unfair, but life goes on

By Joey Howard, Maroon, Green and Gold

One of the class grades college professors hand out is a term referred to as “Incomplete.” And just how appropriate is that these days.

You see, a posted incomplete grade on your college transcript probably means the student abruptly quit going to class. The professor has really no choice but to assign the “I” to the student’s record.

These days among the craziness we’ve come to call the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been countless number of Incompletes handed out to so many athletes. Those unkind marks came on all levels of the sports world this 2020 spring semester – junior high, high school, junior college, collegiate or professional.

Though sports is way down the list regarding priorities during this health crisis, it’s very troubling to know how many student-athletes – particularly high school seniors – never got the chance to complete their final season. And many will never step on an athletic field to compete ever again.

A senior group of athletes in a team sport – like football – is the heart and soul of that team. Their sweat and blood equity is revered. Most of the time, the leadership, direction and success or failure of a program is a witness to its senior class.