OurTupelo

HATTIESBURG — Watch seven Mississippi high school state championship games in three days and here’s what you get: a football overdose. You also get so much drama, so much of what famed TV broadcaster Jim McKay used to call “the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.”

We witnessed so much of both here on three perfect days for football at The Rock at Southern Miss. We also got a reminder of why Mississippi high school football has produced so many of the greatest football players in history of the sport. We saw a lot of amazing, young talent here in nearly 21 hours of football. But what we also saw was so much passion, so much spirit and so many tears shed of both joy and despair.

Text by Rick Cleveland, photos by Keith Warren

Several of the most storied Mississippi high school programs added chapters to their stories. West Point won a 13th state championship, the most of any school in the state. Louisville lost in its bid for a 13th title, losing a state championship game for the first time after 12 previous state championship victories.

Class 7A Tupelo staked a strong claim to being the No. 1 team in the state, winning by two touchdowns over Brandon to finish the season with a perfect 15-0 record. So it was that the Golden Wave added a golden football to its trophy case.

Among the small schools, Class 2A Heidelberg won its first-ever championship, cramming in at least 2,500 fans into its cheering section. Saturday would have been a good day to be a house thief in Heidelberg. Nobody was home. Baldwyn, known far and wide as a basketball town, claimed a first-ever 1A championship in football. Class 3A Choctaw County also won its first championship since Ackerman and Weir consolidated in 2013.

In Class 5A, Grenada, coached by former Mississippi State standout Michael Fair, also won its first state championship, easily defeating previously undefeated Hattiesburg 43-14 and spoiling the night for an estimated 10,000 Hub City fans who packed the east side of stadium.

Each game had its own story, its own heroes. Those stories follow in the order they were played.

Class 3A: Choctaw County 34, Noxubee 27

Thursday’s first game showcased two of the closest things to high school superstars you’ll see. The victorious Choctaw Chargers from Ackerman featured five-star wide receiver Caleb Cunningham, who signed with Ole Miss after earlier committing to Alabama. The Noxubee Tigers were led by strong-armed four-star quarterback Kamario Taylor, who committed early to Mississippi State, signed with the Bulldogs and could well be the future of the program.

Both are tall, streamlined athletes, who would not look out of place on an NFL sideline. Taylor stands 6-feet 4 inches tall, seems taller and flicks the ball 50 yards down the field seemingly with little effort at all. Cunningham has a Jerry Rice-like body, huge hands and sprinter’s speed.

So who do you think was the MVP of this exciting, down-to-the-last-possession championship game? Why, 5-foot-9, 170-pound junior Choctaw quarterback KJ Cork who would look eye-to-chest with Taylor if the two were face-to-face.

“I’ve always been doubted because of my height,” Cork said shortly after receiving the award for being the game’s most outstanding player. “But I don’t doubt myself and I am surrounded by a lot of guys who can make plays.”

Cork can make plays, too – and did. He ran for 78 yards on just 12 carries and completed 17 of 25 passes for 172 yards and two touchdowns. He spread the ball around. Cunningham caught four passes for 52 yards and a touchdown, and four other receivers combined for 14 catches.

Taylor, pressured hard all night, completed 10 of 23 throws for 151 yards and touchdown, despite several drops and being harassed by relentless Choctaw pass rush.

Choctaw led 20-13 at halftime and increased that lead to 34-19 early in the fourth quarter before Noxubee’s rally fell short.

“We made some history here tonight,” Cork said. “This is the first time we’ve been to a state championship since we consolidated.”

Ackerman and Weir, two schools with rich football histories, combined in 2013. Weir, a 1A powerhouse, had won six state championships. Ackerman won two. Now, Choctaw County has won its first. There might be many more.

Class 7A: Tupelo 28, Brandon 16

Tupelo entered the Thursday night championship game with a perfect, 14-0 record and a tried and true plan. That plan: Dance with the one that brung you. Tupelo’s “one”  is a stocky, square-jawed, 220-pound junior running back who wears a zero on his jersey and goes by either Jaeden or J.J. Hill. By game’s end, Brandon might as well have called him Mister as in Mr. Hill.

Hill, already committed to Mississippi State, packs bruising power combined with a lightning quick burst of speed. He shredded the Bulldogs for 224 rushing yards on 34 carries. That was three more yards than Brandon’s normally high-powered offense managed against Tupelo’s sturdy defense. Hill also caught a 37-yard touchdown pass.

Asked about Tupelo’s game plan, Golden Wave offensive coordinator Trey Ward smiled and said, “Feed Zero and throw it just enough to keep the defense honest.” 

Hill scored three of Tupelo’s four touchdowns. On the other, clever Tupelo quarterback Noah Gillon, an Appalachian State signee, faked a handoff to Hill, and when the Brandon defense swarmed Hill, Gillon danced into the end zone from 15 yards out.

Despite dominating the line of scrimmage for most of the game, Tupelo led only 21-16 with about a minute to play and faced third down and two yards to go at the Brandon 32. The Golden Wave called a timeout. Asked about it in a postgame interview, Mr. Hill said, “I told them to give me the ball and I’ll end this thing.”

Why wouldn’t they? Hill barreled right up the gut for the game-clinching score. Said Tupelo coach Ty Hardin of Hill, “He’s the best I’ve ever coached, and the best I ever will coach.”

Class 1A: Baldwyn 21, Simmons 20

Doesn’t matter if it’s the NFL or Class 1A high school ball, there’s one constant in football: Turnovers kill.

The Baldwyn Bearcats, down 12-0 at halftime and with only 12 yards of total offense, rallied to defeat previously undefeated Simmons 21-20. And, as you might have guessed, the difference was turnovers or, from Baldwyn’s perspective, take-aways.

“We came into this game plus-32 in take-aways,” Baldwyn coach Michael Gray said in a postgame interview.

“Wait, did you say plus-32?” an astounded sports writer asked.

“Yeah,” Gray said. “That’s why we’re here.”

Let the record show Baldwyn finished a 14-1, state championship season a remarkable plus-35 in turnovers. That’s why the Bearcats are state champs. Both teams recovered two opponents’ fumbles, but Baldwyn also intercepted three passes. Baldwyn created all five of its turnovers in the second half, and that truly was the difference in the game.

Senior linebacker/tight end Aiden Stewart led the defensive charge for Baldwyn with 11 tackles, a sack, another tackle for a loss, one fumble recovery and one pass interception, which he returned 24 yards. From his tight end position, he also caught one pass for 25 yards, which was a good chunk of the Bearcats’ 125 yards of total offense. Little wonder he was chosen the game’s most outstanding player.

Gray was asked what adjustments his team made at halftime to rescue what seemed a sinking ship.

“We were just more physical,” Gray said. “I told them they had just 24 minutes left before some of them will start playing basketball and others will start working at their jobs. I told them it was up to them to determine how they would be remembered, and they came out and did what it took. I could not be more proud.”

So it is that Baldwyn, a Hill Country school widely known for its rich basketball history, adds a different shaped ball to its trophy case.

Class 5A: West Point 28, Gautier 21

Make that 13 state championships – a baker’s dozen – for the West Point Green Wave. West Point spotted Gautier a 7-0 lead and then took control as West Point teams almost always do. 

Some things do change: Long-time assistant Brett Morgan has replaced the highly successful Chris Chambless as head coach of the Green Wave. But most things about West Point football never change. The Green Wave still lines up in a power set and runs right at you. They still block and tackle with textbook precision. Thick West Point offensive linemen still have tree-trunk legs that look as if they live under a squat rack.

“The bar is set high here and we expect to win,” Morgan said. “I am just so thankful to be a part of it. Our guys work. We’ll probably take Monday off and then go back to work on Tuesday, get back in that weight room. It’s just what we do, and we believe in it.”

Senior running back Shamane Clark ran hard for 168 yards and three touchdowns on 26 carries to win Most Outstanding Player honors. But Clark would tell you – and did – that his offensive line often cleared nice paths for him.

“He’s just a West Point football player,” Morgan said of Clark. “He’s waited his turn until his senior year behind some really good backs. I couldn’t be prouder of him. He’s the epitome of what this program is about.”

West Point’s defense, the team’s backbone, faced a huge challenge in Gautier’s shifty quarterback Trey Irving, the Class 5A Player of the Year, who ran for 89 yards and completed 16 of 20 passes for 229 yards and a touchdown.

“He’s a great player,” Morgan said of Irving. “Hats off to him. Hats off to Gautier. But hats off to our defense. They did a great job, just like they’ve done all year.”

A reporter asked Morgan: “Just how much time do your offensive linemen spend under a squat rack?”

“A lot,” he answered. “And they’re going to stay under it from now until next fall. We got tough kids who want to work. We’re tough.”

That part, too, never changes at West Point.

Class 2A: Heidelberg 38, Charleston 6

Chase Craft, a 167-pound 10th grader is listed on the Heidelberg roster as a QB/WR/CB/ATH. If you are not into football acronyms, that means quarterback/wide receiver/cornerback/athlete. He is all that, mostly athlete. Saturday in the State 2A championship game, he played safety and returned kicks, too.

He was the game’s MVP two times over (most versatile player and most valuable player), and was voted the game’s most outstanding player. Here’s why: On a perfect-for-football, cool, blue-sky afternoon, he completed 14 of 21 passes for 257 yards and four touchdowns. He also ran 17 times for 66 yards and a touchdown. That’s 323 yards total and five touchdowns if you’re keeping score, and in football we always do.

“I play everything, any position,” Craft said afterward amid the wild celebration on the Heidelberg sideline. “I do whatever my team needs me to do.”

As Craft spoke in front of the east side of The Rock, thousands of Heidelberg fans, nearly all dressed in white, cheered.

“Look at that,” Craft said, gazing. “We have so much support. We had to do it for these fans. This means everything to us because of them.”

The Jasper County town of Heidelberg had a population of 637 in the 2020 Census, but there were easily four or five times that many fans cheering the Oilers.

They had plenty to cheer. After Charleston led 6-0 early, the Oilers scored the game’s final 38 points, limiting Charleston to just 156 yards of total offense, only seven yards in the second half. This was the fifth championship game of the weekend and the first that was one-sided. And even this one was tied 6-6 at halftime before the Craft-led Oilers out-scored the Tigers 32-0 in the second half. 

Asked what he told his players at halftime Heidelberg coach Darryl Carter said he couldn’t repeat his halftime message. “I just got on their butt real hard at halftime to be honest,” Carter said. “I told them that you don’t get to do this again, (at least) not with this group.”

It was the first state football championship in Heidelberg history. And since Craft has two years remaining, it might not be the last.

Class 4A: Poplarville 29, Louisville 28

Fourteen-year-old ninth grader Zaiden Jernigan ran 194 yards and two touchdowns on just 14 carries – and lost. That tells you just how exciting and how well-played the 4A championship game was. By contrast, Poplarville sophomore Tylan Keys, an old man at 16, ran for 130 yards and touchdown and returned a kickoff 83 yards for a touchdown – and he won.

We’ll get to those two ridiculously talented young fellows shortly, but first the most pertinent news: This was the first time since the MHSAA when to a playoff system that Louisville has lost a championship game. The Wildcats, one of the premier high school programs, have won 12 state championships and were bidding to tie 5A champion West Point, which won its state record 13th straight championship Friday night. Poplarville had never won one before Saturday.

“Nobody else has been able to do what we did today,” an excited Keys told reporters afterward. “We worked all summer for this. It feels great. Look at us now!”

Keys missed eight entire games and much of several other games with a shoulder injury this season. Nevertheless, Poplarville brought an 11-2 record into the championship game.

Said Poplarville coach Jay Beech: “Other guys stepped up for us when Tylan was out, but he gives us something extra, that break-away ability you saw tonight. You need to a guy like him to win a state championship.”

Keys deflected credit to his line. “With an O-line like we have, my job was easy,” he said.

And Keys said he received inspiration from an unusual source, the star running back on the other team. Jernigan sprinted 96 yards for a first quarter touchdown before Keys broke his 87-yard kickoff return a few minutes later.

“He’s something,” Keys said of Jernigan. “I fed off him the whole game. He made me run harder. I was trying to match him.”

One observation: Probably the reason Louisville, which finished 13-2, loses so rarely is because the Wildcats hate to lose so much. At game’s end when a last-ditch Louisville pass fell incomplete and the final second ticked off, Wildcats players were strewn all over the field, most sobbing, some inconsolably. There were several touching scenes with Poplarville players trying to console the Wildcats.

The guess here is that we might see these two teams – and those two running backs – play for another championship in the near future.

Class 6A: Grenada 43, Hattiesburg 14

That Grenada knocked off previously perfect Hattiesburg in its hometown wasn’t shocking, but the final score was. Grenada, which finished 14-1, spotted the Tigers a 6-0 lead and then proceeded to dominate.

This was the Chargers’ second trip to the Pine Belt this year and there’s a story there. Way back in August, in only its second game, Grenada came down to the Hattiesburg suburb of Oak Grove. Final score: Oak Grove 38, Grenada 24.

“I thought that trip to Oak Grove made our team,” Grenada coach Michael Fair said. “We kind of did that on purpose. We knew the state championship was going to be down this way. We knew Oak Grove was going to be really good and they were. The score wasn’t what we wanted but we got better from it and we never looked back.”

A couple weeks after Oak Grove defeated Grenada, Hattiesburg beat Oak Grove 27-21. Just goes to show, what happens in August and September doesn’t always translate to what will happen in the first week of December. Against Hattiesburg, Grenada controlled the line of scrimmage, got the game’s only turnover and clearly won the kicking game. That’s a good recipe for victory.

Grenada’s Mccaleb Taylor carried 29 times for 211 yards and four touchdowns. He ran through some big holes, but he also ran over and around many Hattiesburg defenders. He was helped immensely by offensive linemen who blocked as their head coach once did.

“I know every coach in the state who has good back thinks his is the best in the state, but I really believe Mccaleb is the best back in the state,” Fair said. “This kid sees heavy boxes every Friday night and he just makes plays. I just thought he took over tonight.”

The defeat ended a storybook season for Hattiesburg with at least 10,000 purple- and gold-clad fans jammed into the lower concourse on the east side The Rock.

“We’ve had unbelievable support this year,” Hattiesburg coach Tony Vance said. “Our fans packed it tonight; we just couldn’t uphold our end of the bargain.”

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On Black Friday last week, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers released its final environmental study on a tweaked version of the Yazoo Pumps. For years now, state politicians and south Delta residents have tangled with conservationists from around the country over the merit of the flood control proposal.

The final study’s release triggered a 30-day waiting period, Corps spokesperson Christi Kilroy explained, for the agency to comb over the proposal one more time. The public and other agencies can still give input, although this isn’t a formal comment period. After the 30 days, which stretches until the end of December, the Corps can enter a final decision over which project to move forward with.

Despite the agency nearing the final stages of a years-long process, the Corps still hasn’t released any cost estimate for the project. The last quote the Corps gave was $220 million for a previous version of the pumps in 2008, but the new cost is likely much higher. In 2021, Rep. Bennie Thompson gave a $500 million estimate.

“Following the signing of a (Record of Decision), (the Corps) will begin the Pre-engineering and Design phase, which will clarify the final design and associated construction costs,” Kilroy said via e-mail. “Funding for both will be requested through the normal budgetary process.”

The agency hasn’t responded to follow-up questions about whether it’s normal to wait this long to disclose a price range and whether it’s fair to not do so until after the public has had a chance to comment.

The final study shows the Corps’ support for “Alternative 3,” which would include a more powerful pumping station than the version of the project that the Environmental Protection Agency vetoed in 2008. The EPA, then under President George W. Bush, vetoed the project in part because of its potential to damage 67,000 acres of ecologically valuable wetlands in the south Delta.

In 2019, in an area which regularly gets inundated when the Mississippi River gets too high, the south Delta saw its largest ever backwater flood. Some homes were flooded for as long as six months, and local agricultural losses amounted to over $800 million, according to research cited by the Corps.

For a story Mississippi Today partnered with NBC News on, former EPA assistant administrator for water Ben Grumbles said that the cost and environmental impacts of the Yazoo Pumps “fully justified” the 2008 veto.

Under “Alternative 3,” the Corps would be able to pump out water from inside the area’s levee system — when the Mississippi River is too high, flooding that happens in between the levees pools up in the south Delta — from March 25 through Oct. 15. The Corps selected the pumping period to balance keeping farmland dry during crop season with keeping enough water in the area to maintain its wetlands.

The new proposed pumping system would have a capacity of 25,000 cubic feet per second, or cfs, which is about 78% more powerful than what the Corps previously proposed. The Corps said that 25,000 cfs is necessary to protect homes above 93-foot elevation. It’d also be more powerful than the world’s largest pumping station in Louisiana, which has a capacity of 19,000 cfs.

The study projects that, with “Alternative 3,” 1,573 structures, including 780 homes, would likely no longer flood in a 2019 repeat scenario. Another 335 buildings, including 152 homes, would still flood in that scenario, but they would be eligible for voluntary buyouts. The latest study removes mandatory buyouts that the Corps proposed in its draft study over the summer.

Environmental advocates from the National Wildlife Federation, Sierra Club, National Audubon Society and Healthy Gulf continue to oppose the pumps. They point to the Corps’ projection that Alternative 3 would “change the flood inundation interval” of 89,000 acres of wetlands. While the Corps says the project wouldn’t convert those wetlands to non-wetlands, the agency admits the project could “decrease” the area’s “wetland functions.”

“Our organizations steadfastly oppose the proposed 25,000 cubic-foot-per-second (cfs) pumping plant,” the groups wrote, reiterating their support for non-structural alternatives such as landowners putting their land in easement programs, or buy-outs available through federal funding. “(We) once again call on the Corps to permanently abandon consideration of this and any variation of the Yazoo Pumps.”

They also criticized the lack of a cost-benefit analysis in the Corps’ study, pointing out that the pump station in Louisiana cost roughly $1 billion to build over a decade ago.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wrote to the Corps that it previously opposed earlier versions of the project that activated the pumps at 87-foot elevation.

“It is our opinion that previous planning efforts by the USACE emphasized agricultural drainage to the detriment of fish and wildlife resources,” USFWS wrote.

This version, though, better protects the area’s wildlife by instead pumping at 90 feet, the agency said. The new version also includes mitigation to offset wetland impacts, which it says were “deficient” in previous pumps proposals.

During the Corps’ comment period over the summer, south Delta farmers advocated for “Alternative 2” in the study, which would allow pumping to start on March 16 rather than March 25. They pointed out that even though the pumping would start in March, it would take weeks to dry out farm land in the area, pushing back when they can plant crops such as corn.

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Republican state Sen. Jenifer Branning of Neshoba County defeated incumbent state Supreme Court Justice Jim Kitchens for a seat on the state’s highest court, giving the state GOP a decisive win as they seek to tighten their grip on political and judicial power in Mississippi. 

The Associated Press on Friday called the race for Branning as counties finished transmitting official results from the Nov. 26 runoff election to the Secretary of State’s office. With 99% of the vote reported, Branning received 50.6% of the vote while Kitchens received 49.4%. 

Branning is a private practice attorney who was first elected to the Legislature in 2015. She has led the Senate Elections and Transportation committees. During her time at the Capitol, she has been one of the more conservative members of the Senate, voting against changing the state flag to remove the Confederate battle emblem, voting against expanding Medicaid to the working poor and supporting mandatory and increased minimum sentences for crime.

While campaigning, she pledged to ensure that “conservative values” are always represented in the judiciary, but she stopped short of endorsing policy positions, which Mississippi judicial candidates are prohibited from doing.

Judicial races in Mississippi are technically nonpartisan, but party politics still plays a significant role in the elections. Political parties and trade associations often contribute money to candidates and cut ads for them. 

The state Republican Party worked hard to oust Kitchens, one of the dwindling number of centrist jurists on the high court, and consolidate its infrastructure behind Branning. The GOP endorsed Branning’s campaign. 

Kitchens’ narrow loss to Branning is notable because the longtime jurist was the next in line for chief justice should current Chief Justice Michael Randolph step down. 

Kitchens was first elected to the court in 2008 and is a former district attorney and private-practice lawyer. On the campaign trail, he pointed to his experience as an attorney and judge, particularly his years prosecuting criminals and his rulings on criminal cases. 

A Crystal Springs resident, he is one of two centrist members of the high Court and was widely viewed as the preferred candidate of Democrats, though the Democratic Party did not endorse his candidacy. 

When Kitchens leaves office, that will make Justice Leslie King, elected from the Central District, the second highest-ranking judge and Justice Josiah Coleman, elected from the Northern District, the third most senior judge on the court. 

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A group of civil rights organizations wrote a letter to Secretary of State Michael Watson’s office Tuesday asking for an explanation for why the agency declared that Wednesday would be the final day that elections workers could process mail-in absentee ballots. 

Representatives from Disability Rights Mississippi, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the state conference of the NAACP said that Watson’s office, which oversees state elections, unilaterally counted Friday, November 29, as a business day, even though the state government considered that day a holiday. 

The questions from the three organizations come at a time when incumbent Justice Jim Kitchens and Republican state Sen. Jenifer Branning remain locked in a tight race for a seat on the Mississippi Supreme Court as absentee ballots are being counted. 

The reason for the questions surrounding what the agency considers a business day is that current state law allows local election workers to process mail-in absentee ballots for five business days after Election Day, as long as the absentee ballots were postmarked by the date of the election. 

Though the United States Postal Service conducted business on Friday November 29, Gov. Tate Reeves declared November 28 and November 29 state holidays because of Thanksgiving. 

“The decision to count Friday, November 29, 2024, as a ‘business day’ disregards Mississippi law, which will lead to voter confusion and undermine the ability of Mississippi voters to participate in the electoral process,” the letter said. 

The decision to count November 29 as a business day, means that December 4 is the deadline for local officials to process the mail-in ballots — not December 5 as originally planned.

Watson’s office declined to comment. 

The secretary of state’s office also published a 2024 elections calendar this year that stated December 5 – not December 4 – would be the deadline for local election workers to process absentee ballots, though the calendar is for planning purposes only. 

Neither candidate in the Supreme Court runoff has conceded the race yet, and county officials have until Friday December 6 to certify the results and transmit them to Watson’s office. 

A federal appeals court ruled last month that Mississippi’s process of accepting mail-in ballots after Election Day violated federal law, though the ruling did not apply to this year’s election.

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Anyone who has read this column regularly through the years knows my love of history, Mississippi sports history in particular. That passion only increases when it involves my hometown, Hattiesburg.

This Saturday night, the undefeated Hattiesburg High Tigers will play Grenada for the State Class 6A Championship. Should Hattiesburg win, it would mark the school’s first state football championship in precisely 100 years. That’s right: On Dec. 5, 1924, undefeated Hattiesburg defeated Louisville 20-14 at Laurel for the state championship.

Hattiesburg High has won several state championships in other sports, but the 1924 championship remains the school’s only state football crown. And boy oh boy, is there some history there.

Let’s start with this: Hattiesburg businessmen chartered a 12-car train from Southern Railway for the 30-mile trip to Laurel. What’s more, they had the cars decorated in school colors, purple and gold. According to reports in the next day’s Hattiesburg American, more than 3,000 Hattiesburgers — nearly 1,000 on the train — made the trip, especially impressive since the entire town’s population was just over 13,000 in the 1920 census.

More than 5,000 fans in all attended the championship game, at the time the second largest crowd to attend a sporting event in Mississippi history, second only to an Ole Miss-Mississippi State football game at the State Fairgrounds in Jackson.

Since there were no stadium lights back then, the state championship game was played in the afternoon. When the victorious Tigers and their huge following arrived back in the Hub City at 6:47 p.m. they were greeted by all the town’s industrial whistles and police and ambulance sirens. Hattiesburg telephone operators reported nearly 2,000 calls from alarmed residents wondering what in the world had happened to cause such a ruckus. A parade led by the mayor through downtown Hattiesburg drew a larger crowd than the parade that celebrated the end of World War I, the Hattiesburg American reported.

“The Tigers of Hattiesburg were in possession of the city,” the American reported the next day. “The sweet taste of victory sent the crowd of more than 3,000 into a riot of cheering … This kept up until late in the evening.”

So much history: Two of the Tigers heroes that night were brothers Gerald “Gee” and Harvey “Hubby” Walker, who would go on to become football and baseball stars at Ole Miss and then on to play Major League Baseball. Gee Walker was an American League All-Star who batted .353 in 1936 and remains the only player in Major League history to hit for the cycle (home run, triple, double and single) on Opening Day, which he did, in that order, in 1937 with the Detroit Tigers.

For the Hattiesburg state champs of 2024, Gee Walker caught the passes that his brother Hubby threw. Hansel Batten, a sturdy, handsome youngster, was the Hattiesburg running star who scored two touchdowns, including the game-winner. Batten would go on to star at Ole Miss, where he was teammates again with the Walker brothers. Batten played both running back and linebacker and captained the Ole Miss football team. After that, his story takes an abrupt turn.

Batten would become the sports editor and sometimes news reporter of the Hattiesburg American, often writing about the sport he once played so well. Tragically, in 1932, Batten was the victim of an apparent murder. Tom and Venie Jones, a husband and wife, were charged with the crime. The husband was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, but later granted a new trial and acquitted. The wife was acquitted after a series of trials. The story of Batten’s mysterious death and the trials that followed is covered in a fascinating podcast series “Reckless on the Rails” by Ellisville journalist/historian William T. Browning that can be accessed here. I highly recommend.

A much happier story is that the modern day Hattiesburg High Tigers, coached by Tony Vance and quarterbacked by his son Deuce Vance, will play for a second state championship 100 years after the historic first. Former Mississippi State standout Michael Fair coaches Grenada, which enters the championship game with a 14-1 record. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Saturday night. 

It should be a terrific game. One thing is certain, should Hattiesburg (13-0) win, the Hub City will have a hard time topping the historic celebration that occurred 100 years ago this week.

Columnist Rick Cleveland is a 1970 graduate of Hattiesburg High and a former sports editor of the Hattiesburg American. His father, Robert “Ace” Cleveland, was sports editor of the Hattiesburg American when Rick was born. Ace Cleveland, a four-sport letterman at Hattiesburg High, earned his nickname when the Hattiesburg American referred to him as Hattiesburg High’s “ace placekicker.” It stuck.

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The U.S. Navy is transforming a costly flub into a potent weapon with the first shipborne hypersonic weapon, which is being retrofitted aboard the first of its three stealthy destroyers.

The USS Zumwalt is at a Mississippi shipyard where workers have installed missile tubes that replace twin turrets from a gun system that was never activated because it was too expensive. Once the system is complete, the Zumwalt will provide a platform for conducting fast, precision strikes from greater distances, adding to the usefulness of the warship.

“It was a costly blunder. But the Navy could take victory from the jaws of defeat here, and get some utility out of them by making them into a hypersonic platform,” said Bryan Clark, a defense analyst at the Hudson Institute.

The U.S. has had several types of hypersonic weapons in development for the past two decades, but recent tests by both Russia and China have added pressure to the U.S. military to hasten their production.

Hypersonic weapons travel beyond Mach 5, five times the speed of sound, with added maneuverability making them harder to shoot down.

Last year, The Washington Post reported that among the documents leaked by former Massachusetts Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira was a defense department briefing that confirmed China had recently tested an intermediate-range hypersonic weapon called the DF-27. While the Pentagon had previously acknowledged the weapon’s development, it had not recognized its testing.

One of the U.S. programs in development and planned for the Zumwalt is the “Conventional Prompt Strike.” It would launch like a ballistic missile and then release a hypersonic glide vehicle that would travel at speeds seven to eight times faster than the speed of sound before hitting the target. The weapon system is being developed jointly by the Navy and Army. Each of the Zumwalt-class destroyers would be equipped with four missile tubes, each with three of the missiles for a total of 12 hypersonic weapons per ship.

In choosing the Zumwalt, the Navy is attempting to add to the usefulness of a $7.5 billion warship that is considered by critics to be an expensive mistake despite serving as a test platform for multiple innovations.

The Zumwalt was envisioned as providing land-attack capability with an Advanced Gun System with rocket-assisted projectiles to open the way for Marines to charge ashore. But the system featuring 155 mm guns hidden in stealthy turrets was canceled because each of the rocket-assisted projectiles cost between $800,000 and $1 million.

Despite the stain on its reputation, the three Zumwalt-class destroyers remain the Navy’s most advanced surface warship in terms of new technologies. Those innovations include electric propulsion, an angular shape to minimize radar signature, an unconventional wave-piercing hull, automated fire and damage control and a composite deckhouse that hides radar and other sensors.

The Zumwalt arrived at the Huntington Ingalls Industries shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi, in August 2023 and was removed from the water for the complex work of integrating the new weapon system. It is due to be undocked this week in preparation for the next round of tests and its return to the fleet, shipyard spokeswoman Kimberly Aguillard said.

A U.S. hypersonic weapon was successfully tested over the summer and development of the missiles is continuing. The Navy wants to begin testing the system aboard the Zumwalt in 2027 or 2028, according to the Navy.

The U.S. weapon system will come at a steep price. It would cost nearly $18 billion to buy 300 of the weapons and maintain them over 20 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Critics say there is too little bang for the buck.

“This particular missile costs more than a dozen tanks. All it gets you is a precise non-nuclear explosion, some place far far away. Is it really worth the money? The answer is most of the time the missile costs much more than any target you can destroy with it,” said Loren Thompson, a longtime military analyst in Washington, D.C.

But they provide the capability for Navy vessels to strike an enemy from a distance of thousands of kilometers — outside the range of most enemy weapons — and there is no effective defense against them, said retired Navy Rear Adm. Ray Spicer, CEO of the U.S. Naval Institute, an independent forum focusing on national security issues, and former commander of an aircraft carrier strike force.

Conventional missiles that cost less aren’t much of a bargain if they are unable to reach their targets, Spicer said, adding the U.S. military really has no choice but to pursue them.

“The adversary has them. We never want to be outdone,” he said.

The U.S. is accelerating development because hypersonics have been identified as vital to U.S. national security with “survivable and lethal capabilities,” said James Weber, principal director for hypersonics in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Critical Technologies.

“Fielding new capabilities that are based on hypersonic technologies is a priority for the defense department to sustain and strengthen our integrated deterrence, and to build enduring advantages,” he said.

The post First hypersonic weapon on a US warship being installed in Pascagoula appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Seven high school championship football games will be played Thursday through Saturday at The Rock in Hattiesburg. There are intriguing matchups, involving some of the top recruits in the state. Also, the Clevelands discuss last week’s Egg Bowl, the college football playoffs, the job vacancy at Southern Miss and violence in the NFL.

Stream all episodes here.

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A century later, Hattiesburg High plays for a second state title

by Rick Cleveland
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The post Podcast: State Championship Week And More… appeared first on Mississippi Today.

A new report warns Mississippi could see the steepest drop off in health insurance coverage if Congress doesn’t vote to extend temporary health coverage subsidies at the end of next year. 

Over 100,000 Mississippians would lose health insurance – a 43% increase in the state’s already-high uninsured rate – the policy think tank The Urban Institute predicted last month. 

“If the enhanced premium tax credits expire, there will be dramatic declines in Marketplace coverage and increases in uninsurance, but the effects will not be felt equally across states or by race, income, and age,” said Jessica Banthin, senior fellow at the Urban Institute in a statement. “Our analysis shows that their expiration could mean some communities may experience greater coverage losses, making healthcare unaffordable and inaccessible.”

The increased subsidies allow Americans to buy health insurance plans on the Affordable Care Act Marketplace at lower costs with enhanced premium tax credits. The benefits were first authorized by Congress in 2021 to help more Americans attain health care coverage during the COVID-19 pandemic.

They also allowed more Americans than before to access the premium tax credits by raising the income ceiling for eligibility and allowed low-income households to access insurance without paying premiums. 

The benefits, which have led to a record high of 21.3 million people insured through the Marketplace nationwide, will expire in December 2025 without a renewal from Congress.

“If (the premium tax credits) go away next year, I’m afraid it will reset us to where we were five years ago, with the Marketplace policies basically becoming catastrophic plans again,” State Health Office Dr. Daniel Edney told Mississippi Today. 

Catastrophic plans are designed to cover major medical emergencies but not routine medical care. 

Premium payments are expected to increase by over 75% on average if the tax credits expire. 

For a 40-year-old living alone in Jackson and making $30,000 annually, the cost of monthly premiums for a silver health insurance plan would rise $93 a month, from $49 to $143, according to KFF. 

The Marketplace is a federally or state-operated health insurance exchange where people can shop for and enroll in coverage and access financial assistance based on their income.

The enhanced tax credits have contributed to a significant increase in health care coverage in Mississippi since 2021. 

In 2020, 12.9% of Mississippians were uninsured, compared to 10.5% in 2023.

“It’s been a gamechanger,” said Edney. 

Health care coverage through the Marketplace in Mississippi has nearly doubled since the benefits were passed, representing the second highest percent increase in the nation behind Texas. 

Mississippi remains one of 10 states in the nation not to expand Medicaid coverage, making it more reliant on the Marketplace for affordable health care coverage. Marketplace enrollment rates since 2020 have grown fastest in states with high uninsured rates that have also not expanded Medicaid. 

The Urban Institute’s data tool predicts that if the enhanced tax credits are not renewed, 143,000 Mississippians would lose coverage under subsidized Marketplace plans. 

Some would have the option to enroll in employer-sponsored coverage or be able to afford health insurance without the additional benefits. But most are forecasted to lose coverage entirely.

Mississippi currently uses the federal exchange, but the Legislature passed a law authorizing the creation of a state-based Marketplace earlier this year, which could incentivize health insurance companies to offer policies at lower costs. But federal officials will not approve Mississippi implementing its own exchange because Gov. Tate Reeves has not yet provided a letter of approval.

The post Mississippi could suffer the most if health insurance subsidies lapse appeared first on Mississippi Today.