Hornet Heartbreak: Poplarville falls to Louisville in 4A Title Game

Saturday, history repeated itself in the 4A State Title Game with the Poplarville Hornets coming up just short of a championship for the second time in three years.

The greater the success sometimes the greater the heartbreak and that was certainly the case for Poplarville on Saturday.

An incredible record of 38-5 over the past three seasons combined, but two of those five losses coming in the 4A state title game. It’s gonna take the Hornets a while to take the sting out of this one.

Poplarville looking to make amends for its 2016 state title game loss to Lafayette, taking on Louisville with 25 seniors remaining from that original championship game run.  Also the first ever championship weekend being played at USM’s MM Roberts Stadium.

Louisville runs out the clock on Poplarville’s state championship dreams with a crushing dose of déjà vu in the 25-20 heartbreaking defeat. Poplarville Head Coach Jay Beech said, “This hurts right now. I can look back on it maybe at the end of the week and very blessed to get to coach these guys and very thankful for it, but right now this hurts. It was real special, and we can look back when the sting of this goes away and be grateful and thankful for our opportunity.”

On the other sideline, Louisville walks away with its ninth state championship in program history while Poplarville still searches for its first.

That’s going to take a while for the Hornets to accept, the team that didn’t trail until the fourth quarter, but at the end of the day two South State championships in a span of three years holds a special place in history for the class of 2019.