There are plenty of football games where time of possession is a meaningless statistic.
That was not the case for Oak Grove in its Class 6A playoff opener against Biloxi. The Warriors unleashed a ground-chewing, clock-eating running attack and ran past the Indians 28-7 Friday night at Warrior Field.
Oak Grove (10-2) won its seventh straight game and advanced to a second-round showdown next week at undefeated Ocean Springs. Biloxi completed its season at 7-4.
“I think we just decided to take what they were giving us,” said Oak Grove coach Drew Causey. “The running game as working, and it just kind of worked out that way for us. And the offensive line played tremendous.
“That was huge for us. That group has been coming along all season, and I felt like they controlled the game tonight.”
How dominant were the Warriors? Oak Grove had the ball for 31 minutes, 27 seconds to just 16:33 for the Indians. The Warriors churned out 219 yards on the ground, led by sophomore tailback Kylin Champagne, who ran 25 times for 116 yards and a touchdown.
“I was just expected to do whatever my team needed me to do,” said Champagne, who packs a punch at 5-11, 200 pounds. “I knew I was probably going to get a lot of carries, because it’s the playoffs, and if you want to win in the playoffs, you’ve got to run the ball.”
Oak Grove was equally dominant on defense, effectively shutting out Biloxi. The Warriors held the Indians to just 109 yards of offense, including just 48 on the ground.
“Our defense couldn’t get off the field,” said Biloxi coach Katlan French. “Our offense got a few first downs, but we couldn’t maintain any drives. That’s just credit to their defense.
“We couldn’t get our run game established, and therefore they were able to key on the pass. They doubled us up a bit in the secondary, didn’t give us much room downfield.”
Biloxi’s only score came early, after Oak Grove took the opening kickoff and drove almost effortlessly to the Indian 29-yard-line. Champagne had consecutive runs of 10, 11 and 12 yards to get the Warriors deep into Biloxi territory.
But on a second-and-7 play, junior Tajii Burkett was upended, and the ball came out as he went to the ground. Junior Dayshawn McGee scooped up the loose ball and dashed 73 yards for a touchdown.
Oak Grove thought the play should have been blown dead, but the score stood for an early 7-0 lead for Biloxi.
It mattered not a bit. The Warriors simply resumed their ground assault, driving 56 yards on eight plays for the tying score.
“We didn’t expect them to run it that much,” said French. “On film, they’d throw a lot of hitches, bubble screens, throw stuff down the field, run and jump, that sort of stuff. And we almost came up with one on the first play of the game.
“I don’t know if that got them out of what they’d been doing, but they had some success running the ball, and we couldn’t stop them from the 3 or 4-yard gains And they were really good on third down.”
Once again, Champagne ignited the drive with an 11-yard pickup on the first play and the Warriors overcame a holding penalty that nullified a 32-yard touchdown run by Champagne.
Junior quarter A.J. Maddox converted a third-and-10 with a 21-yard scramble to the Indian 11, and on the next play, Burkett burst off left tackle for the score. Indeed, third down was the money down for Oak Grove, as the Warriors converted 7 of 11.
Throughout the first half, the Warriors found plenty of running room on the left side and went that way time after time for big chunks of yardage.
“We were getting a bunch of yards off of it, so we just kept running it that way,” said Causey. “It wasn’t anything really special. It was just what we were seeing on the night and we just kept going with it.”
Biloxi got one first down on its first offensive possession of the game, but senior Christopher Norwood was stopped for a 4-yard loss, the junior quarterback Zachary Marlin was sacked for a 5-yard loss on third down, forcing a punt.
Taking over at their own 31-yard-line, Oak Grove went right back to work running the ball and using up the clock. This time the drive took 12 plays and 5:46, with Maddox passing to senior Jaylon Aborom for an 11-yard touchdown pass.
“We work on that play a lot in practice,” said Aborom, who went up over the defender for the catch. “It was just like pitch-and-catch.”
Aborom has proven to be a man of many talents for Oak Grove, as he has become the Warriors’ best lockdown safety on defense, in addition to his play as a wideout.
“It all starts with our head coach,” said Aborom. “We’ve got a great quarterback and line, and the defense has begun to put it all together. It’s not just a one-person thing; it all fits together.”
Aborom appeared to have a pick-6 on the opening possession of the second half, taking a tipped pass 62 yards to the end zone, but the Warriors were flagged for a pass interference call that wiped out the touchdown.
Again, it didn’t matter. After an incomplete pass, junior linebacker Alandez Blaylock came clean on a blitz to bury Marlin for a 12-yard loss to thwart the Biloxi drive.
And if the audience thought Oak Grove had exhibited a ball-control offense in the first half, they hadn’t seen anything like the drive the Warriors put together after the Indians punted.
Starting at their own 14, the Warriors marched the length of the field, taking 19 plays and 9:14 off the clock on a crushing touchdown drive.
Champagne converted two third downs on runs of 4 yards each, then Maddox hit Aborom on a fourth-down pass of 10 yards to the Biloxi 21, Burkett had a 10-yard run on third down to the Indian 9 and Champagne did the rest with runs of 6 and 3 yards for the score.
“The linemen played a great game tonight,” said Champagne. “The coaches called a great game, and everybody did their job. I knew I had to hit the holes hard, because it’s playoff time, and I knew I had to run the ball hard. We all went 100 percent every play.”
It went from bad to worse for Biloxi. The Indians mishandled the ensuing kickoff and were stopped on the return at the 13-yard-line.
On the next play, junior defensive tackle Jalen Owens got his big hands on a pass, brought it in and rumbled 12 yards for a pick-6 and a 28-7 lead.
“I knew they were coming with that pass,” said Owens. “I read the quarterback, I got up and saw the ball in my face and went for the score. I knew I was gone; nobody was going to catch me.”
The Indians finally got some offense going in a desperate situation, converting three third downs and driving as far as the Oak Grove 26.
But on fourth-and-9, the Indians were flagged first for a false start, then a personal foul, resulting in a fourth-and-29, and Marlin’s pass was swatted away at the line of scrimmage by junior Caleb Moore.
“I’m not going to count that touchdown against them; they pitched a shutout tonight,” said Causey. “Should have been a goose-egg on the board, because they called it a fumble and the guy was down. But that happens.”
Fittingly, Oak Grove then ran out the last 5:06 off the clock to secure a playoff rematch with Ocean Springs.
A year ago, in similar circumstances, the Warriors upset the then-undefeated Greyhounds, also at Ocean Springs, 28-21.
“I think our guys are peaking at the right time,” said Causey. “We’re a young football team that has kept getting better each week, and I feel like if we can continue to do that, we’ve always got a shot.”
