St. Stanislaus has a new head football coach, but he is a familiar face to the Rock-a-chaw program.
Former SSC assistant coach Tim Lala becomes the seventh head football coach at SSC since the 2000 season. He comes to Bay St. Louis from Pascagoula High, where he served as the strength coach, special teams coordinator, and defensive backs coach for the Panthers for the past several seasons.
“My family and I couldn’t be more excited about rejoining the Saint Stanislaus community, It is where I cut my teeth as an educator and football coach,” Lala told 228 Sports. “I look forward to the opportunity to continue to help mold men of character alongside the great people of the Bay.”
Lala, who last coached at SSC in the 2014 season, is replacing Nate Encrapera, who led the team for five seasons. During Encrapera’s tenure at SSC, he went 28-25 including leading the Rocks to the second round of the Class 3A South State playoffs last season where they were eliminated by eventual state champion Raleigh in a hard-fought 30-21 loss thanks in large part to the play of Raleigh’s Class 3A “Mr. Football” Suntarine Perkins.
The Rocks’ 7-5 mark last season was the best of Encrapera’s tenure. St. Stanislaus qualified for the postseason all five years under his direction.
Lala has been away from the SSC program since early 2015. The 2014 team, when Lala was the defensive coordinator under Bill Condies, went 11-4 and lost to Noxubee County in the Class 4A state championship game. That South State championship team was guided by former LSU quarterback Myles Brennan.
Rebels set 2023 schedule
George County head coach James Ray has completed his schedule for next season, which will see the Rebels return to Class 6A from Class 5A under the new seven classification system.
The Rebels will begin the season by facing former region mate East Central at home in Gill-Martin on Friday, Aug. 25th. Ray’s troops will then hit the road for three straight games, facing arch-rival Greene County in Leakesville on Sept. 1st,, at Biloxi on Sept. 8th and at Vancleave on Sept. 15th.
George County returns home to Lucedale the following two weeks to close out September, hosting Wayne County on Sept. 22nd and Hattiesburg on Sept. 29th.
The arrival of October on the calendar marks the beginning of Region 8-6A action and a third straight home game for GCHS as Long Beach comes calling to open league play on Oct. 6th. A trip to the Kiln to face Hancock follows on Oct. 13th before the Rebels come back home to face West Harrison (Oct. 20th) and Picayune (Oct. 27th) in back-to-back weeks.
The regular season wraps up in Pascagoula on Nov. 2nd for George County.
Former Rebel finds a home
For the second time in as many months, a former GCHS standout is joining the University of Southern Mississippi through the transfer portal.
Defensive back Dylan Lawrence recently committed to the Golden Eagles and head coach Will Hall after leaving Mississippi State. Lawrence signed with MSU in 2019 and still has two years of eligibility left.
Once in Hattiesburg, Lawrence will be reuniting with former Rebel teammate MJ Daniels, who announced he was transferring to USM from Ole Miss in December.
