Oak Grove’s victory over Meridian was by no means the prettiest, but at the end of the day, the Warriors stuck to their winning ways.
“We won, and that was good, but it was an atrocious game,” Oak Grove coach Drew Causey said. “I think our biggest problem for all year, except for maybe two ball games, is our guys kind of refuse to understand and figure out how to get prepared to play. And I guess I’ve done a bad job at coaching and that we’ve done a bad job of getting them to understand that.”
This week, Oak Grove (5-2, 2-1) takes on Terry (4-3, 1-2), which is a much-improved team compared to recent seasons. Causey credits that to Terry’s coach Kris Thigpen.
“I think they are buying into what Coach Thigpen is doing,” Causey said. “It’s not just the team. It’s the community and the school. He’s making it more than just about football. If you start doing that stuff and the kids buy in, and on top of the fact that they have talented players, then that makes for a good thing. They’re slowly starting to get back to what Terry used to be.
“It doesn’t get much easier because we have to go to Terry, and that’s a hard place to play. If we’re not ready to play, then we’re going to come back with a loss.”
The Bulldogs got off to a 3-0 start before dropping three straight games. Last week, Terry snapped its losing streak in a 22-10 win over Pearl.
Terry has averaged 24 points on offense per game, with the key piece in the Bulldogs’ offense being sophomore quarterback Jordan Magee. Magee is a dual threat as he has thrown for 668 yards, six touchdowns, and five interceptions and has run for 684 yards and nine touchdowns.
Magee’s top wide receiver is OJ Marshall, who has hauled in 19 catches for 307 yards and three touchdowns. At running back is Sharonsky Jonson, who has run for 560 yards and seven touchdowns on 84 carries.
“(Magee is) a thick guy,” Causey said. “He’s a big quarterback. He can run you over. He can make you miss, and he can throw touchdown passes. (Marshall) is a really talented wide receiver and a really good player.
“He can stretch the field vertically. We’re going to have to do a good job of covering him. We’re going to have to limit the big plays and make them drive the whole length of the field.”
This season, Terry has held teams to 21 points per game and has racked up 20 sacks on the season.
“Every week is a good test for our offensive line,” Causey said. “That’s one area where we’ve got to play a lot more consistent. We’ve got to play with a lot more energy, and we’ve got to lay with a lot more desire to dominate the guy in front of us. We have yet to play with that kind of attitude or anything else like that.”
Leading the defense is linebacker Ammarrien Bailey, who leads the team with 83 tackles and 14 tackles for loss. However, Causey is most impressed by defensive lineman Tye Coleman as he has recorded 12 tackles for loss and five sacks.
“To me, their defense starts with (Coleman),” Causey said. “He’s a very talented defensive tackle. He’s going to get after you and plays with a motor. He doesn’t take plays off. He plays hard every snap. They are going to play a lot of man coverage. We have to be able to get off the man coverage and make plays, then go from there.”
Oak Grove goes on the road to face Terry with kickoff set for 7 p.m. Friday.
