Poplarville football dates to 1911, but in that span, the Hornets had never won a state championship.
Poplarville has been close in the last decade in bringing a state trophy back home but had come up short each time.
That is, until this year.
Jay Beech has quietly built a perennial power in Poplarville in his 11 years as coach, leading the Hornets to the playoffs each season.
He’s 119-34 since becoming coach in 2014, guiding the Hornets to seven region championships and five state championship appearances.
In two of those four state title appearances since 2016, Louisville was able to pull out the win over the Hornets.
That wasn’t the case earlier this month when Poplarville rallied from a fourth- quarter deficit to overtake the Wildcats 29-28 and finally claim the Class 4A state crown.
“It feels great to finally win the state championship,” said Beech. “It adds a level of respect to the program that our former and current players deserve.”
Beech said his program has been blessed with outstanding teams during his tenure, but the 2024 team is special.
“This year’s team wasn’t our most talented team from top to bottom,” said Beech. “However, they were able to execute at a high level time after time in high-pressure situations.”
The championship game was an example of that grit.
The Hornets trailed 22-14 entering the final quarter, but sophomore running back Ty Keys scored on a 27-yard run and added the 2-point conversion to tie the game.
Beech then took a gamble with an onside kick that the Hornets recovered. Poplarville capitalized with running back Nick Miller scoring from a yard out and the Hornets took the lead 29-22 with just over five minutes to play.
Louisville went down and scored, then decided to go for the 2-point conversion and the win to give the Wildcats their third straight state title. The pass was completed, but the receiver caught the ball out of bounds.
Just like the 29-28 championship game triumph, the Hornets found a way to win throughout their 13-2 campaign.
“We had 11 one-possession games this year and we won 10 of them,” said Beech.
The Hornets also overcame a lot this season, in particular injuries.
“Even though I am super proud of all of our past team’s accomplishments because just getting to play in a state championship game is an honor and we have been blessed to do it five times, we have never had to deal with this many starters getting hurt throughout the season,” said Beech. “But fortunately, only one of those guys was unable to return for the playoffs.”
The mentality of next man up due to injuries was an indication of how unique this team would become. Beech and his coaching staff certainly weren’t sure what to expect from the Hornets when the season began.
“With this team, we didn’t know if we were going to have a special season or not,” said Beech. “We knew each week was going to be a war and we decided we were just going to play and not worry about the score.”
It turned out to be a pretty good regular season, but the Hornets were beaten soundly in their finale against Greene County that decided the Region 8-4A title. That forced Poplarville to go the tough route if it wanted to reach the state championship game again.
The Hornets had one-point playoff wins over Mendenhall and Columbia to keep those state title hopes alive and then had an impressive third-round victory over McComb to reach the South State championship game at Forest, where Poplarville pulled out a 24-21 win.
“After we defeated McComb and made it to South State, we were already a special team in my mind,” said Beech.
Beech said it is very gratifying personally to finally get that state title win.
“Myself and our coaching staff know that a lot of great coaches never win one of these, so we feel really fortunate,” said Beech. “And know we are really excited to get back to work to win another one.”
