With the Mississippi and Louisiana public schools wrapping up the regular season, the focus shifts to one of my favorite times of the year: November sports.

Basketball may be my favorite sport to cover, since the action is pretty much non-stop, but in addition to high school basketball season starting, it’s also time for the South State playoffs in football.

Cathedral High School wrapped up its season with a 60-30 win against University Christian, securing an MHSAA Region 4-1A title for the second straight year.

The Green Wave will host West Oktibbeha in the first round of the Class 1A playoffs next Friday, and assuming they win, will face the winner of the Nanih Waiya-Bogue Chitto game.

In addition to Cathedral, I will also be watching two teams in the South State playoffs, Dexter High School and Stringer High School.

Dexter faces Noxapater in the opening round of the playoffs, while Stringer is set to host Pelahatchie High School Friday night. Should both Dexter and Stringer win this week, they would face each other Nov. 18.

This bodes well for Cathedral, since both of these teams gave the Green Wave more trouble than anyone else this season. Cathedral came from behind to win in thrilling fashion 36-33 Sept. 16 against Stringer. Dexter was Cathedral’s only loss of the season when the Green Wave fell 36-34 Oct. 20.

If Cathedral wins the next two weeks, the Green Wave will only have to face one of those teams, assuming either one wins out.

Trinity Episcopal and Centreville Academy will face off for the second time this season after both teams won their opening game in the MAIS Class AA playoffs Friday night.

Trinity won the regular-season matchup 33-28 on a last-second play, but the Saints failed to secure a district title, while the Tigers won their district. So once again, Trinity will have to pull off a road win against the Tigers.

Whichever team wins, it will likely face Simpson Academy in the South State title game Nov. 18. And at least one coach has told me that Simpson Academy has a roster “built like a Triple-A team,” with no shortage of numbers. It will likely prove to be a tall task for either Centreville or Trinity.

One team to watch this year is Single-A’s Wilkinson County Christian, which has only one loss this season to Centreville, a Double-A school. The Rams have won big in most of their games this season and seem poised to compete for a state title in Single A. Not bad for a team that was just 2-8 the year before.

Franklin County and Wilkinson County both won their opening playoff games last Friday, but the schedule is about to get much tougher. The Bulldogs will face the powerhouse Forest High School, ranked No. 5 in MHSAA Class 3A by The Clarion-Ledger, while the Wildcats will play at Seminary High School, which scored 74 points against McLaurin in its postseason opener Friday.

The Louisiana playoff brackets will come out today, and Block and Ferriday will both be playing in their opening-round games Friday. Ferriday is a young, inexperienced team, so the Trojans making the playoffs is a testament to first-year head coach Richard Oliver, who seems to be fitting in nicely. Block will likely compete for a state title in Class 1A after an up-and-down start to the season.

So cue the Jim Mora clips, because the playoffs are here. We wish all of our local teams the best of luck.