By Stan Caldwell
stanmansportsfan.com
HATTIESBURG – It wasn’t always pretty, and occasionally it was sloppy, but in the end, Oak Grove took care of business.
The Warriors overcame a ton of penalties and two turnovers with a dominant second half, and rolled past Laurel 52-14 Thursday night at Warrior Field.
Oak Grove, the No. 1 team in the state in several rankings, heads into its bye week undefeated at 5-0. The Golden Tornadoes dropped to 1-4 for the season.
“We made some mistakes, but I thought we played really well in the second half,” said Oak Grove coach Drew Causey. “Laurel’s a good team with good athletes and they came to play, especially in the first half.”
Indeed, Laurel gave the Warriors all they wanted in the first half, especially a wild and woolly second quarter.
Initially, though, it looked like easy pickings for Oak Grove, taking the opening kickoff of the game briskly down the field in an eight-play, 63-yard scoring drive that was effortless as it sounds.
The Warriors never played a third down on their opening drive, getting a key first-down throw of 20 yards from senior quarterback A.J. Maddox to senior Damari Jefferson that set OG up at the Laurel 18-yard-line.
A 7-yard blast up the middle from junior Kylin Champagne and an 8-yard run by senior Tajii Burkett set up the score on a 3-yard pass from Maddox to senior P.J. Woodland.
“I was just ready to do whatever my team needed, and that was to run the ball,” said Champagne, who netted 109 yards on 16 carries and two touchdowns. “The line was opening up holes and I just ran hard.”
However, the Tornadoes demonstrated an ability to move the football on their second play from scrimmage, a 24-yard scamper by sophomore Tommaj Harris.
And while that initial drive sputtered after a pair of first downs, Laurel got the ball back after a punt and marched 87 yards on 16 plays, getting the tying score on Harris’ 1-yard run on fourth down with 9:40 to play in the first half.
“I thought we played really well in the first half; we just didn’t finish,” said Laurel coach Ryan Earnest. “That’s who we are. We schedule these kinds of games to get us ready for our region. Oak Grove’s got a great team, and we just made too many mistakes to overcome.”
The Laurel scoring drive was aided by three encroachment calls and a pass interference call, a penalty problem that has plagued the Warriors at times this season. Oak Grove was called for 13 penalties for 97 yards against Laurel.
The fun started on the ensuing series, when senior Anthony Rogers snagged an interception literally an inch off the ground at the Oak Grove 31.
The Tornadoes nearly scored on the first play of the drive on a 30-yard pass from senior quarterback Kobe Pierce to junior Jaiden Crosby, with Crosby getting knocked out of bounds at the 1-yard line.
But two false start penalties and a 2-yard loss by Harris pushed Laurel back to the Warrior 9, and on third down senior Dion Barber picked off a tipped pass in the end zone to thwart that drive.
So, Oak Grove was out of the woods, right? Wrong.
On second down, Rogers stripped the ball out of Champagne’s hands, scooped up the fumble and dashed 28 yards down the sideline for a touchdown and a 14-7 lead.
“Besides the first drive, we played pretty badly in the first half,” said Causey. “We had a lot of pre-snap, stupid penalties. We didn’t do a good job of operating the offense effectively.”
However, that’s when senior Nehemiah Taylor started making his presence known. Taylor took the ensuing kickoff 34 yards, then 13 more yards were tacked on for a horse-collar tackle, giving Oak Grove the ball at the Laurel 13.
The Warriors made quick work of that yardage for a tying touchdown. Burkett ran for 8 yards off right tackle, then was stopped for no gain. But Maddox and Taylor hooked up on third down for a 5-yard scoring pass.
“Whatever the job needs to be done, if ‘I can be there to do it, I’m always going to be there for the team,” said Taylor.
“Laurel is very athletic and they have guys who can run. We just had to figure out that this wasn’t just some team we had to play. They could ball. But we came out the second half ready to play.”
Although no one realized it at the time, the game turned in Oak Grove’s favor late in the second quarter, just when it looked like Laurel would have a chance to possibly bracket scores around halftime.
A disastrous third-down play from their own 20 – an intentional grounding call on Maddox – forced a punt from near the back of the end zone and Laurel would have had the ball near midfield.
Instead, the Warrior special teams forced a fumble on the return, giving Oak Grove new life at their own 43, resulting in a 40-yard field goal by senior Luke Stewart as time expired in the half for a 17-14 halftime lead.
“We challenged the offense , and the o-line, and they really came out and played with some intensity,” said Causey. “I’m really proud of the way our guys played the second half.”
The Warriors got the message, because they were a different team in the second half.
Still, the Tornadoes appeared to have a nice drive going with the opening possession of the third quarter.
A 15-yard pass from Pierce to Crosby, another encroachment call on Oak Grove and an 8-yard run by senior Brayden Jordan got Laurel near midfield when Taylor made the play that finally got Oak Grove back on track.
Jordan had a 6-yard run into Oak Grove territory, but the ball squirted out of a pile of players as he was stopped and the whistle did not blow, so Taylor picked up the fumble and dashed 47 yards before being run out of bounds at the Laurel 7.
The Laurel bench argued vehemently that Jordan was down, but the call stood, and Champagne easily covered that distance in one burst off left tackle, barreling almost untouched into the end zone for a 24-14 lead.
“I feel like he was down, but you play to the whistle and they didn’t blow it dead,” said Taylor. “So I just picked it up and ran with it.”
It was more of the same after another Laurel punt.
Starting at their own 36, Champagne took the first snap of the drive up the middle, cut to his right and found open field in front of him. The play netted 49 yards to the Laurel 15, and Burkett blasted untouched for the score on the next play.
“They were playing a lot of zero coverage, and they were loading up the box,” said Causey. “We made the commitment to start our run game and get it going. We were hoping that would loosen some things up.
“We had a nice play on the little boot route to Nehemiah for a touchdown, Champagne ran the ball hard, and I was really proud of the way our line played in the second half.”
Laurel got the better of an exchange of punts, getting the ball at the Oak Grove 35 after the Tornadoes pinned the Warriors at their own 3-yard-line on a 58-yard kick and roll from senior Zaylon McGill.
But the Warriors made a fourth-down stop at the 28, then broke the Tornadoes back on the ensuing possession.
Burkett dashed 22 yards to the Laurel 42, then Maddox found Taylor open down the right sideline. Taylor dodged the would-be tacklers, then roared down the field for a touchdown. For the game, Taylor finished with six catches for 72 yards.
“I love my defense,” said Taylor. “Every position we have the guy that’s needed for that job. We come out every Friday ready to work, go during the week getting it down pat. I love ‘em. I’d put us up against anybody in the state.”
Indeed, Laurel was held to just three first downs and 87 yards of offense in the second half, and 214 yards for the game. Harris led the Tornadoes with 56 yards on 13 carries.
“You can’t make mistakes like we did against a team like that,” said Earnest. “That’s starts with me. Just a lot of stuff that we have to work on. Hat’s off to Oak Grove. They’ve got a great program, and they make you pay when you make mistakes.”
Champagne was the featured back after Oak Grove got the ball back after a three-and-out, carrying the ball on six of the seven plays in a 52-yard scoring drive, getting the touchdown from a yard out.
“The first half, we weren’t playing to our full potential,” said Champagne. “We made a few mistakes, but we knew we were going to come out the second half and execute better. We just had to get everything right.”
The Warrior second team got in on the action, scoring on a 25-yard touchdown run by sophomore Martez Blackwell, who had 61 yards on five carries in the drive.
Oak Grove gets a week off before opening play in Region 3-7A on October 6 at Meridian. Laurel continues its murderer’s row of non-region games next week hosting McComb before opening play in Region 4-5A at Stone.
“I’m excited about this team,” said Champagne. “I’m ready to start getting into our (region) games. We just have to keep playing hard. This team has a lot of potential we haven’t tapped into yet.”
GAME SUMMARY
Thursday at Oak Grove
Oak Grove 52, Laurel 14
Laurel 0 14 0 0 – 14
OG 7 10 21 15 – 52
First Quarter
OG – A.J. Maddox 3 pass to P.J. Woodland (Luke Stewart kick), 8:35 (8 plays/631 yards/3:25 possession).
Second Quarter
L – Tommaj Harris 1 run (John Gonzales kick), 9:40 (16/87/6:10).
L – Anthony Rogers 28 fumble recovery (Gonzales kick), 5:40.
OG – Maddox 5 pass to Nehemiah Taylor (Stewart kick), 4:09 (3/13/1:39).
OG – Stewart 40 field goal, 0:00 (8/35/2:14).
Third Quarter
OG – Kylin Champagne 7 run (Stewart kick), 11:15 (1/7/0:06).
OG – Tajii Burkett 15 run (Stewart kick), 8:20 (2/64/0:28).
OG – Maddox 42 pass to Taylor (Stewart kick), 2:51 (3/72/1:26).
Fourth Quarter
OG – Champagne 1 run (Stewart kick), 9:46 (7/52/3:35).
OG – Martez Blackwell 25 run (Stewart kick), 1:32 (9/63/6:25).
TEAM STATISTICS
L OG
First downs 14 20
Total net yards 214 380
Rushes-yards 31-121 32-229
Passing yards 93 151
Comp-Att-Int 10-23-1 11-23-1
Fumbles-lost 2-2 2-1
Penalties-yards 13-108 13-97
Punts-total (avg.) 6-223 (37.2) 3-141 (47.0)
Sacks 0-0 0-0
Third down 1-8 3-8
Fourth down 1-1 1-1
Time of possession 21:27 26:33
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
Laurel – Tommaj Harris 13-56, Brayden Jordan 10-34, Kobe Pierce 6-29, Desmond Hosey 2-2; Oak Grove – Kylin Champagne 16-109, Martez Blackwell 5-61, Tajii Burkett 7-53, Chavel Williams 3-22, Team 1-(-6), Kolton Scott 1-(-10).
Passing
Laurel – Kobe Pierce 10-22-1-93, Tommaj Harris 0-1-0-0; Oak Grove – A.J. Maddox 11-23-1-151.
Receiving
Laurel – Jaylen Crosby 6-72, Keenon Johnkin 3-16, Zechariah Jenkins 1-5; Oak Grove – Nehemiah Taylor 3-78, Damari Jefferson 2-28, Tajii Burkett 4-26, Chase Pinkston 1-14, P.J. Woodland 1-3.
Photos courtesy of Jesse Johnson
