“Ready to beat someone in a different colored jersey,” said quarterback Sydney Blackmon. “Definitely!”

The Poplarville high school football team is coming off a 10-4 season that saw the Hornets end their year in contention for the Southern state championship. Jay Beech, who has been head coach for 11 years, knows that while the year didn’t end with a ring on his players’ fingers, it was still a positive one. He talked about what makes Friday nights so special, no matter what year it is.

“You put all the effort and resources of a community into that Friday night and then you meet up with another community and compete to see who can do it better,” Beech said. “It’s fun.”

Football season is upon us, and all of the players, students, and staff at Poplarville High School know it. What makes this community so special is that the support doesn’t just come from the school building—it comes from all over town.

“It’s unbelievable,” Blackmon said. “A whole city gets behind you when you play football, when you go to war. It’s just unbelievable.”

“It’s definitely a really good feeling,” Ben Will said. “Knowing that the whole community, the whole city is behind you and cheering you on, it just makes you feel better. Knowing that there are people who really care about you and the game you play.”

The Hornets’ first home game isn’t until the second week of the season on September 6th. If Poplarville has that game, all the players know the fans will be there. As for the two weeks before that, with the Jamboree game this Friday and their week one game against Jefferson Davis County, Coach Beech and his players are more than ready to take the field.

“It’s definitely exciting, you know, especially when you’re training twice a day for two weeks,” Will said. “You’re just battling through it without really getting any reward, but we’re all just battling to get to kickoff.”

“I’m over the moon,” Blackmon said. “I’m ready to go. We’ve been working hard all summer. All the preparation you put into this, all the weight you lift, it’s just nice to finally get back out here and play football.”

“Very exciting,” said Coach Beech. “If I wasn’t still excited, I wouldn’t be doing this job. I don’t know of any other job where you can’t sleep at night because you’re so excited about your work.”

The regular season for coach Beech and the Hornets begins on August 30th with a game against the Jefferson Davis County Jaguars.