By Austin Bishop and Bobby Gray/Mississippi Prep Sports Source
Only one No. 1-ranked team in the Mississippi Prep Sports Source went down last week, but the Mustangs of West Jones went down hard as Wayne County avenged a regular-season loss with a 38-21 playoff victory.
The win surged Wayne County to the No. 2 spots in this week's MPSS Class 5A rankings, while West Point moved up one spot to No. 1. Rounding out the top five are Moss Point, West Jones, Picayune and New Hope.
This week's South and North state title games have Wayne County facing Moss Point and West Point taking on New Hope.
Madison Central is No. 1 in Class 6A, with South Panola second. Oak Grove used its second win against Meridian this season to climb to No. 3, while Ocean Springs is fourth and Meridian fifth. Madison Central (13-0) visits 12-1 South Panola on Friday night in a mammoth showdown for the North State title, while 10-2 Oak Grove hosts 11-2 Ocean Springs in the south.
No. 1 in Class 4A is Itawamba AHS, followed St. Stanislaus, Lafayette County, Noxubee County and Shannon. Itawamba AHS hosts Lafayette County on Friday, while Greene County visits Dylan Favre and St. Stanislaus.
Tylertown remains No. 1 in 3A, while Morton climbs to No. 2 with a 29-7 win against Franklin County. Forest is third, followed by Booneville and Perry Central. Morton makes the trip to face 13-0 Tylertown, while undefeated Booneville hosts Aberdeen for the North title.
Who the top-ranked team in Class 2A is will be decided for at least a week when No. 1 Ackerman plays host to No. 2 West Bolivar. Both teams go into the game with 14-0 records. In the South No. 3 Bassfield visits No. 4 Taylorsville. Puckett is ranked fifth.
Durant remains the No. 1 team in Class 1A,while Sebastopol and Mount Olive climb to second and third respectively. Nanih Waiya is fourth and Weir is fifth.
Durant visits 9-3 Vardaman this week, while Mount Olive hosts Sebastopol.
Lamar moved to No. 5 with a 42-28 win against Simpson Academy. Jackson Academy remains No. 1, followed by Jackson Prep, Washington School and Brookhaven.
Fourth-ranked Brookhaven (14-0) faces 12-1 Lamar for the MAIS AA State Championship Friday at 5 p.m. at Millsaps College in Jackson. The Class A State Championship features No. 8 DeSoto (Ark.) and No. 11 Trinity Episcopal (11-3) at 1:30 p.m. at Millsaps.
