By Stan Caldwell
stanmansportsfan.com
OAK GROVE – In a battle royal against a Louisiana blue blood, Oak Grove played some of the best team defense it has played in quite some time.
Problem was, the visitors from Archbishop Rummel were just a little bit better at it, handing the Warriors a 7-3 defeat in front of a boisterous crowd of about 5,000 at Warrior Field.
Oak Grove, ranked eighth in the Mississippi Gridiron Top 10, fell to 3-1 overall, while the Raiders remained undefeated at 3-0.
“Our defense played awesome tonight,” said Oak Grove coach Drew Causey. “I’m so proud of them. If we get that kind of effort every week, we’re going to be a hard football team to beat.”
One week after giving up more than 500 yards of offense against Hattiesburg, the Warriors held Rummel to just nine first downs and 243 yards of offense.
But the Raiders were even stingier, holding Oak Grove to a net of just 131 yards, mostly on the strength of seven sacks for 66 yards in losses. And they were almost all drive-killers.
“We just didn’t execute,” said Causey. “They have a great football team, and I’m not taking anything away from them. But we didn’t play very well up front, and that’s a credit to them, because they’ve got about six Division 1 guys on that defense.
“We had a chance to score some touchdowns and didn’t take advantage of it. And when you play a great football team, you’ve got to score when you get those opportunities.”
All the scoring came on back-to-back possessions in the second quarter. Rummel scored with 9:22 to play in the first half on a 22-yard pass from Kyle Wickersham to Logan Diggs, followed by Patrick Vanderbrook’s successful conversion.
The Warriors then took the ensuing kickoff and drove as far as the Raider 7 before settling for a 32-yard Michael Owens field goal with 3:47 to play in the period.
But both teams had already shown what they were capable of on defense.
On the second play of the game, Malik Woodery got in front of Warrior quarterback Damion Stewart’s first pass of the night for an interception that put the Raiders in business at the Oak Grove 45.
Wickersham connected with Koy Moore for 27 yards on a fourth down conversion to the Warrior 11, but Oak Grove held and Vanderbrook’s 27-yard field goal attempt was off the mark.
Oak Grove took that momentum and drove as far as the Raider 32. But Nick Milsap was stopped for a loss of two yards and Stewart was sacked for a 14-yard loss, forcing a punt.
Rummel was able to flip the field on a 38-yard pass from Wickersham to Moore, but once again Vanderbrook missed the field goal, this one from 29 yards out.
However, another sack of Stewart, this for 11 yards, dropped the Warriors back to their 6-yard line, and a short punt gave Rummel the ball at the Warrior 26. On third down, Wickersham found Diggs alone on a busted coverage on the right side for the only touchdown of the game.
“We ran a little rail play, with the running back out of the backfield,” said Rummel coach Nick Monica. “We knew they were going to play a ton of man coverage, and we knew we were going to have to win some one-on-ones.
“I thought we would win more than just the one, but fortunately, it was enough.”
Indeed, that was the only time all night the Raiders converted on third down in 11 tries, and the Warriors also held on three fourth-down plays as well.
“We gave it all we had tonight,” said Oak Grove linebacker Javarian Jenkins. “I think we’re ready for region.”
Oak Grove marched into Rummel territory on the ensuing possession and converted a fourth down to the 7-yard line on a 23-yard pass from Stewart to Liam Breithaupt.
However, the Raiders snuffed out a bubble screen to Brandon Hayes for a loss of 2, then Stewart was sacked for a 7-yard loss, forcing the Warriors to settle for the field goal.
Fans of slobber-knocking football were in their element in the second half as both teams landed defensive haymakers.
“The coaches told us to keep fighting,” said Jenkins. “They said, ‘we’ve got two more quarters,’ and we played for each other and our team.”
The Raiders had a promising drive to open the second half, but Oak Grove held on a fourth-and-1 from the Warriors 29.
The Warriors then converted a long third down with a 35-yard pass to Hayes, but on the next play, Stewart was called for intentional grounding, resulting in a loss of 21 yards after the mark-off from the spot of the foul.
And on it went for the rest of the night.
“Not only did we want to shake the quarterback up a little bit, but we wanted to stop their receivers before they got started,” said Monica.
“So, we played a lot of press coverage, and I thought our guys did a good job of mixing up man and zone, just getting in their face and being physical with them at the line of scrimmage.”
Twice in the second half, though, Hayes got behind the defense, but the ball was overthrown both times.
Oak Grove got one final chance with 1:22 to play, taking over at their own 22-yard-line with no time outs. But, once again, it was Woodery who made the play, with his second pick of the night at the Raider 37.
The Warriors will head into their Region 3-6A schedule next week, traveling to Lucedale to battle George County, then they will return home on Oct. 4 for a showdown against archrival Petal.
GAME SUMMARY
Friday at Oak Grove
Archbishop Rummel (La.) 7, Oak Grove 3
Rummel 0 7 0 0 – 7
Oak Grove 0 3 0 0 – 3
Second Quarter
R – Kyle Wickersham 22 pass to Logan Diggs (Patrick Vanderbrook kick), 9:22 (3 plays/26 yards/0:54 possession).
OG – Michael Owens 32 field goal, 3:47 (9/59/5:35).
TEAM STATISTICS
R OG
First downs 9 12
Total net yards 243 131
Rushes-yards 37-93 35-28
Passing yards 150 103
Comp-Att-Int 6-19-0 9-23-2
Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-0
Penalties-yards 4-20 6-38
Punts-total (avg.) 4-148 (37.0) 8-218 (27.3)
Sacks-yards 7-66 1-2
3rd down conv. 1-11 5-16
4th down conv. 1-4 2-2
Time of possession 22:05 25:55
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
Rummel – Logan Diggs 15-55, Jaelen Sturgis 15-45, Kyle Wickersham 4-6, Team 3-(-13); Oak Grove – Nick Milsap 15-49, Eric Robinson 3-12, Eugene Newell Jr. 1-2, Team 1-(-16), Damion Stewart 15-(-35).
Passing
Rummel – Kyle Wickersham 6-19-0-150; Oak Grove – Damion Stewart 9-23-2-119.
Receiving
Rummel – Koy Moore 3-92, Logan Diggs 2-45, Ivory Wright IV 1-13; Oak Grove – Brandon Hayes 4-47, Liam Breithaupt 1-23, Eric Robinson 2-21, Tavion Smith 1-12, Jordan Coleman 1-6.
