Back on track: Defending champ Oak Grove takes down Ocean Springs 28-21 in MHSAA 6A football playoffs

No. 7 Oak Grove (10-2) advanced to the South State finals for the fourth consecutive season and will travel to Brandon next Friday.

OCEAN SPRINGS – There is a reason why South State in Class 6A always runs through Oak Grove – several reasons, in fact.

Those reasons were on full display Friday night as the Warriors took home one of their biggest victories in quite some time, defeating Ocean Springs 28-21 Friday night at Hugh Pepper Field in the quarterfinal round of the 6A playoffs.

No. 7 Oak Grove (10-2) advanced to the South State finals for the fourth consecutive season and will travel to Brandon next Friday. The second-ranked Greyhounds suffered their first loss of the season after 11 straight victories.

• MHSAA FOOTBALL PLAYOFF BRACKETS

“We were supposed to win this game,” Oak Grove coach Drew Causey told his team in the jubilant post-game huddle. “This wasn’t an upset, no matter what some reporters said.”

No, it wasn’t. The Warriors got the job done in atypical fashion, using a ground-gobbling running attack and a stiff defensive effort that stymied the usually high-flying Greyhounds after Ocean Springs scored touchdowns on its first three possessions.

“We went in the half, and coaches told us to lock up,” said sophomore cornerback P.J. Woodland. “They didn’t anything long on us tonight. We hit them at the line of scrimmage and I don’t think they were used to that.”

Oak Grove smothered the Greyhounds in the second half, holding them to just two first downs and a net of 21 yards after intermission.

It started out, though, as if the last team with the ball would be the team that won as both offenses started out on fire.

Ocean Springs took the ball to start the game and motored 64 yards on 10 plays, scoring on a 9-yard run by junior quarterback Bray Hubbard.

Oak Grove came right back with a scoring drive on its first possession, driving 80 yards on eight plays. Senior quarterback Kabe Barnett got the Warriors out of the hole with a 35-yard pass to senior Tyrell Pollard, which ended up standing as Oak Grove’s longest pass play of the night.

“Our guys played with all the heart and effort they could play with tonight,” said Causey. “It was a team effort.”

After that, senior Dontavious Howard had runs of 8, 15 and 13 yards, then senior Cameron Sheppard rumbled 11 yards to a first-and-goal at the 1-yard-line, where Howard plunged in for the touchdown.

It was the start of a big night for Howard, who has been used sparingly as a running back this season, but he answered the call for 110 yards on 19 carries.

“I didn’t expect to run the ball as much as I did, but I just did what I had to do,” said Howard, whose primary position is at safety. “(The offensive line) really played well; I thought it was their best game of the year.”

 But Ocean Springs came right back with an eight-play, 69-yard drive, with senior David Humphries scoring on a 2-yard run.

It took the Warriors just 48 seconds to tie the game, as junior J.Q. Gray took a speed sweep around left end, behind a wall of blocking, and dashed 79 yards for a touchdown.

“Everybody executed their job to perfection, and they made the play easy,” said Gray. “We executed the game plan the coaches laid out for us, like every Friday.”

The Greyhounds weren’t finished, however, as Hubbard raced around right end, broke an arm tackle at the point of attack and streaked down the sideline for a 60-yard touchdown.

“We had a good block at the point of attack,” said Hubbard, who finished with 137 yards on 19 carries, but he was held to just 20 yards on 10 carries in the second half.

“I saw the guy kick out, then I broke an arm tackle and took it to the house. They were just filling the gaps. They were cutting our guys, tripping them up and making good plays.”

Ocean Springs had a golden opportunity to take command when the Warriors lost a fumble on the first play after the kickoff, but that was when the Oak Grove began to assert itself on defense.

Up to that point, the Greyhounds had converted all four of their third downs and had eight first downs. They did not convert another third down the rest of the game.

“They did a better job winning the one-on-ones, and we didn’t have a good plan coming it,” said Ocean Springs coach Blake Pennock. 

“They did a good job with everything they did. They’re a great team; they win championships for a reason. That’s what we’re trying to do here, so this is a step in the right direction, but they were better than we were tonight.”

Oak Grove lost another fumble trying to beat the clock at the end of the first half and lost the handle again on the opening possession of the second half.

But after that, it was all Warriors.

Getting the ball back after a three-and-out, Oak Grove drove 84 yards on seven plays to tie the game 21-21, scoring on a 45-yard dash by Barnett.

After another three-and-out, Gray put the Warriors ahead with a 45-yard run of his own that was almost a carbon copy of Barnett’s scoring dash.

“I can’t even explain it,” Gray said. “It was just instinct. It makes it so much easier, when you have other backs who can come in with fresh legs, so we don’t get tired.”

Gray finished with 147 yards on just eight carries and added five catches for 26 yards. In all, Oak Grove ran for 355 yards, averaging more than 9 yards a carry.

“I don’t know how many yards we rushed for, but it had to be a lot,” Causey said. “That was our plan all along. We put it on our offensive line, and they came through. 

“In our normal stuff with empty (backfield), they spread everybody out, so we know it would be hard to throw. Our guys executed the game plan to perfection.”

The game came down to a pair of fourth-down plays in the fourth quarter.

Starting at the Warrior 49 after a short punt, Ocean Springs put together two first downs – the second coming when Hubbard converted a fourth-and-2 from the Oak Grove 27 – and faced another fourth-and-2 from the 12-yard-line.

This time, Humphries got the call, and he was stuffed for a 1-yard loss.

With 5:07 to play, Oak Grove picked up one first down on a 5-yard run by Gray, then converted a third-and-2 from the Greyhound 34 with a 4-yard run by backup quarterback A.J. Maddox.

With Ocean Springs out of time outs and 43 seconds left on the clock, Oak Grove faced a fourth-and-1 from the 47. 

Unwilling to give the ball back to the Greyhounds with a punt, the Warriors lined up to go for it, and Ocean Springs make the critical mistake, jumping offside for an Oak Grove first down.

“All week, we talked about how they’ve got a really good d-line, that they’ve been unstoppable all year” said senior tackle Klabron Pollard. “We feel in our hearts that we’ve got the best line in the state, and nobody can mess with us.”

Oak Grove will have a chance to avenge one of its two losses when the Warriors take on Brandon next week, a 24-17 setback earlier this season in Region 3-6A play. The Bulldogs got past Warren Central in their playoff game Friday night.

“We feel like we owe them one,” said Howard. “The Revenge Tour. That’s what we’re calling it: the Revenge Tour”