As expected, Oak Grove and John Curtis put on a show on Thursday night as two talented football programs went toe to toe with one another.
But with just under two minutes to play, and after making a big stop on defense, Oak Grove hoped to pull out a game-winning drive.
The Warriors drove to John Curtis' 31-yard line with 21 seconds left, but as Oak Grove ran a play, a siren was being used during gameplay from the side of the Patriots' crowd. The play was ruled dead and killed a potential 10-yard gain for Oak Grove, as no artificial noisemakers are allowed to be used during gameplay. Time was not added back to the clock, and on the Warriors' final play, quarterback AJ Maddox was stripped, and even though the ball was recovered, Oak Grove did not have enough time to run one more play.
Although Oak Grove's 28-23 loss to Louisiana powerhouse John Curtis may have had a questionable ending, ultimately, the game's outcome was not dictated by the final moments, which is exactly how the Warriors' coach Drew Causey felt after the game.
"Bands are one thing, but (that's) illegal for a reason, but that didn't determine the outcome," Causey said. "They executed better than we executed tonight.
"We didn't execute well enough. We turned the ball over a couple of times, and versus a really good football team, you can't do that. That's a great football team. They have won 27 state championships for a reason."
The game as a whole was a back-and-forth battle for each side.
Oak Grove (3-1) opened the game by scoring on an 11-play, 82-yard drive that ended with Maddox, who completed his first nine passes, finding Chaz Oatis for a 24-yard touchdown. The Patriots responded with an 8-play, 80-yard drive that ended with running back Marlon Prout scoring on a 10-yard run to tie the game at 7-7 just before the end of the first quarter.
The Warriors continued to find success on the next drive as kicker Luke Stewart hit a 25-yard field goal to put Oak Grove back on top at 10-7. However, just before the half, John Curtis (3-1) took advantage of short field position and got on the board again with eight seconds left in the half after quarterback Dagan Bruno found Michael Turner for a 2-yard touchdown to take a 14-10 lead.
The Patriots carried the momentum over into the third quarter and scored with 5 minutes, 41 seconds left in the quarter after Jordan Smith scored on a 1-yard keeper to extend the lead 21-10.
Oak Grove attempted to answer right back after driving 70-yard to John Curtis' 1-yard line, but Maddox fumbled on third and goal. The Warriors then faced the challenge of the Patriots' run-heavy offense milking the clock. In total, John Curtis ran 43 plays and put up 284 yards of offense compared to Oak Grove's 394 yards on 59 plays. The Patriots totaled 205 rushing yards off 37 plays.
"That's what they do on offense the whole game," said Causey on John Curtis' ball control offense. "Coming in, when you play a team like this, you know you have to score in every possession. We get down to the 1-yard line, and we turn the ball over. It was all sorts of little things that we didn't do right.
"You have three days to prepare for a team that has been running this offense for 53 years."
After forcing a three and out, Oak Grove got back on the board at the start of the fourth quarter after Maddox found Taji Burkett for a 31-yard touchdown and narrowed the score to 21-17. Oak Grove then failed to recover an onside kick. The Patriots took advantage of the short field position as Bruno hit Mitchell for a 20-yard touchdown with six minutes left in the game and went up 28-17.
"It felt like we weren't slowing them down in the second half, and they were controlling the clock, so I felt comfortable doing that," Causey said. "All of the coaches were on board. If it takes one hop, then it bounces overhead, and we recover it, and then it's a different ball game."
Maddox orchestrated a quick three-minute scoring drive down two scores and the clock against the Warriors. At the Patriots' 17-yard line, Maddox was flushed from the pocket, scrambled and found Nehemiah Taylor for a touchdown to cut the deficit to 28-23. Maddox finished the game 28-for-37 and threw for 282 yards and three touchdowns.
Oak Grove's defense managed to make a stand and force a three and out on John Curtis' next drive, which set up the game's ending.
"That's really the first time with no timeouts with that little bit of time left that they had actually been in that situation," Causey said. "They are going to learn from it. We are going to execute better the next time we are in that situation.
"Our kids played hard, and I'm proud of them. We are going to be better for playing this game than we would have if we had taken off."
Oak Grove opens region play next week against Warren Central.
