One of Zac Selmon’s first priorities upon taking over as Mississippi State athletic director was ensuring the school and its sports teams had an easily recognizable and identifiable brand.

Adam Kirk will be the next Corinth Warriors boys basketball head coach, after the Corinth School District approved his hiring on Tuesday night.

Adam Kirk has had defense instilled in his blood for a long time, and his Ripley boys basketball team exemplified that this season.

Case Ingram has arrived at his destination right on time.

ECRU • With expectations surrounding coach Chad Anthony and the North Pontotoc baseball team this season, the skipper cashed in and won the first state title in program history.

Tupelo Christian has parted ways with head football and baseball coach Shaune Holiday, as well as athletics director Aubrey Boren, after recruiting violations came to light.

OXFORD • Kicking a football is a lot cooler than Jack Tannehill once reckoned.

AMORY - After grabbing a series lead on Friday, Booneville coach Kevin Williams knew he had the guy to finish his Class 3A North final series off.

Isaac Smith has picked up another accolade.

BLUE SPRINGS – In retrospect, Rett Johnson’s childhood dream was a modest one.

OXFORD • Ingomar’s sixth state championship could not have been clinched more dramatically or been more special for coach Jonathan Ashley.

TUPELO – Dayveun Anderson is just built different.

RIPLEY • It's not normal to hand the ball to a freshman in a second-round Class 4A baseball playoff series for Game 1, but Ripley head coach Joel Gafford believes

RIPLEY – Chad Brown's gamble paid off.

CORINTH • It’s been pretty easy being Greene.

Chris Basil still has his passion for the game, but it’s time to take a rest.

For years, Clark Richey would wake up to find his father, Sam, sketching in a notebook: inbounds plays, defensive presses, offensive schemes. Sam Richey wasn’t just obsessed with the game

PEARL – Amory’s 10-week baseball odyssey ended in storybook fashion on Saturday.

Gene Phelps | Special to the Gazette

Back in December, Pontotoc baseball coach Josh Dowdy’s wife Ashley was diagnosed with breast cancer. Baseball suddenly became a lot less important. And yet, it became as important as ever.

IUKA • Two of the best basketball players in northeast Mississippi play for the two best teams. And those two players just happen to be best friends.

Offensive linemen don’t always get credit for being athletic. William Echoles is here to destroy that stereotype.

CORINTH • Kevin Williams had a nice stay at Booneville, but when home came calling, he rushed to answer.

Brian Rea is back where it all started.

Fulton, Miss. – Itawamba Community College sophomore Will Verdung of Corinth was named Baseball Player of the Year by the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference (MACCC) on Tuesday.

A.K. Willingham is blurring the line between real and virtual.

There were a lot of unknowns surrounding Oxford’s linebackers entering this season. What has become known over the past three months is that it’s one of the best linebacker groups

SALTILLO • In 1998, Eric Reynolds played a huge role in leading Saltillo to the state championship series as a player.

Norris Ashley, the legendary Ingomar basketball coach, died Friday. He was 75.

PONTOTOC • Rolley Tipler had a quiet confidence in his team entering Friday night’s contest with No. 1 Starkville.

BOONEVILLE • Booneville has been in good hands at quarterback over the last four seasons with John Daniel Deaton, but “the quarterback of the defense,” J.D. Nanney, is making sure

PEARL – Drake Douglas found redemption, and Saltillo found its elusive fifth baseball title.

BIGGERSVILLE • Stan Platt never thought he’d be the head coach of Biggersville football. In fact, after being out of coaching for 15 years, Platt came to Biggersville hoping to

CORINTH • Corinth’s Cayden Betts proved Friday night why he is picking up the attention of Division I schools.

TUPELO • Hunter Elliott’s talent has been evident for years, and that talent is taking him to the SEC.

Lying in a hospital bed on Sunday, with doctors working feverishly to ascertain what had gone so wrong with her body, DeeDee Shephard was trying to convince her coach to

PHILADELPHIA – As soon as the final out was recorded, the tears started flowing for A.K. Willingham.

JACKSON • Big Billy Johnson had a big time at the Big House on Wednesday.

SALTILLO – Ethan Turner earned his promotion, and now he’s making good on it.

Former Kossuth head baseball coach Daniel Threadgill passed away on Tuesday after nearly a two-year battle with colon cancer. He was 41.

PEARL – Saltillo reverted to form Thursday night.

SALTILLO – A.K. Willingham gave everything she had to Saltillo’s softball team this year.

Somewhere out there is the coward who filed a complaint against Tupelo distance runner Andrew Brown.

RIPLEY – Cooper Davis will tell you that Ripley baseball has an established identity.

BALDWYN – During a practice about three weeks ago, Meg Moore broke her sister Reese’s nose. It was accidental, a product of two basketball players going at it hard.

BRANDON – In his 10 years as girls soccer coach at Corinth, Cameron Glenn had two playoff wins.

PONTOTOC – Tupelo’s coaches don’t worry about Hayes Halbert, because they know what he can do.

Jackson McCoy’s confidence is off the charts, and so are his stats.

STARKVILLE • Booneville needed just one shot to reach the pinnacle of Class 3A softball in the state of Mississippi.

RIPLEY – Ty Long wasted little time to signify how important his presence is for the Ripley offense.

PEARL – The numbers are hard to fathom, but Ty Long really is that good.

Fulton, Miss. – Itawamba Community College’s Will Verdung of Corinth was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the 13th round, 399 overall pick, in the 2023 Major League Baseball Draft

As large a shadow as Issac Smith can cast, you don’t have to look too hard to see how important Zion Ashby has become.

FULTON – Isaac Smith has grown up surrounded by football excellence, and he’s learned that excellence should not be limited to the field of play.

Houlka’s Da’Shun Berry added an outside shot to his game this year, and it made the prolific scorer an even bigger threat.

PONTOTOC- The Armstrong to Armstrong connection is nearing its conclusion at Pontotoc High School, but the Warriors hope to keep it going as long as possible this postseason.

NETTLETON – With a short-handed bench and down one starter, Amory had to rely on leading scorer Charleston Wallace even more in its division rivalry game against Nettleton on Friday

PISGAH - Rudy Baldwyn was dominant on the mound with a one-hitter to lead East Union to a 4-1 win on Friday and a sweep of the Class 2A North

PEARL – Behind the play of Jackson McCoy, Booneville's Blue Devils held off Magee 4-2 in Game 2 of the MHSAA Class 3A state championship series at Trustmark Park.

TUPELO – Tupelo’s new quarterback is no stranger.

SALTILLO – With a bigger load to shoulder, A.K. Willingham is better than ever.

FULTON • If a big play needed to be made, Isaac Smith was there to make it.

Itawamba AHS made a clean sweep of the Daily Journal Athlete of the Week awards.

Shannon Smith has known from an early age that he wanted to make a living in the game of baseball, and he is fortunate enough to be able to do

PEARL – Tyler Sledge held the gate until Amory’s bats went on the attack.

Harrison Fancher finds himself leading the basketball program for which he played a mere five years ago.

NEW ALBANY • Ty Long is quickly becoming a lethal weapon as the No. 2 starter for Ripley.

BLUE SPRINGS – Youth was no obstacle for East Union’s softball team.

TUPELO – The desperation kicked in just in time for Tupelo.

OXFORD – Kylan Blackmon is putting himself on the radar.

JACKSON • New Site made it back to the title game and this time they didn’t miss.

GIRLS

Five area players have been voted Mr. Baseball in their respective classification.

CORINTH – Hayden Roberts made good on his word.

BIGGERSVILLE • Biggersville head coach Cliff Little always starts his basketball seasons with high expectations for his boys, but this year there were high hopes for his girls as well

BOONEVILLE • John Daniel Deaton is ready to make the most of his second season at the helm of Booneville’s offense.

East Webster softball coach Lee Berryhill announced his retirement on Wednesday morning after 26 years of coaching, 25 of which came in Webster County.

Lafayette’s girls are off to a 10-0 start, but staying unbeaten hasn’t been easy.

McKinley Holland has seen his Tupelo 49ers team take the next step in every season since taking over as head coach five years ago.