Oak Grove quarterback AJ Maddox stood at the Warriors’ 50-yard line in disbelief and grabbed his helmet in frustration. Just a moment earlier, Maddox dropped back to pass, but the ball slipped out of his hand and straight into Warren Central linebacker Ronnie Blossom’s hands, who returned it for a 50-yard touchdown to give the Vikings a 10-point lead with four minutes left in the game.
Although the Warriors rallied and forced overtime, Oak Grove’s five turnovers proved to be too costly as Warren Central held on for a 42-41 win to open Region 3-6A play.
The Warriors outgained the Vikings in yardage, with Oak Grove totaling 508 yards of offense on 80 plays compared to Warren Central’s 249 yards on 48 plays, but four of the five turnovers led to points for Warren Central.
“Five turnovers led to all of those points that they scored,” Oak Grove coach Drew Causey said. “We have to be better than that. The story was five turnovers.
“It’s the first game in three or four years that we have had turnovers likes that.”
The Warriors jumped to a 10-0 lead by the end of the first quarter. The first turnover occurred during the Warriors’ first drive of the second quarter. Inside Oak Grove’s 20-yard line, wide receiver Jaylen Aborom, who scored the first touchdown for the Warriors, had the ball knocked out of his hands. One play later, Warren Central’s Trey Hall scored on a 12-yard run to narrow the deficit to 10-7 in the second quarter.
On the next drive, Aborom fumbled again on the Warriors’ 43-yard line, which set up a 35-yard field goal for the Vikings. Oak Grove managed to stay ahead with Devonta Holder scoring on a 1-yard run in the wildcat formation. Just before the half, Maddox was sacked and fumbled at midfield, but Warren Central (4-0, 1-0) ran out of time before capitalizing to keep the score 17-10.
The Oak Grove’s first drive in the third quarter shifted the momentum after the Warriors failed to convert on fourth and two on Warren Central’s 24-yard line. Three plays later, Hall scored again on a 20-yard run to tie the game.
In the fourth quarter, just after forcing the Viking offense to go three and out, Oak Grove’s next costly fumble occurred. Running back JQ Gray took a hard hit, which set up a scoop and score for Warren Central and gave the Vikings a 24-17 lead.
Again Oak Grove (3-2, 0-1) responded and tied the game after Maddox hit Damari Jefferson on a 10-yard touchdown to cap off an 8-play, 56-yard drive. But Warren Central stayed ahead after quarterback Jack Wright hit Maddox Lynch for a 61-yard completion and set up a 28-yard field goal. On the next drive, Maddox’s pick-six occurred to extend the Viking lead to 34-24. Lynch finished the game with three catches for 125 yards and a touchdown.
“We have to play better,” Causey said. “We gave up a few wide-open plays. We have to figure out how to keep our eyes on our guy. Once we do that, we’ll have a chance to have a pretty good defense.”
Oak Grove answered with a field goal and then successfully recovered an onside kick that led to an 11-yard touchdown to Aborom to tie the game with less than a minute in regulation.
The Warriors received the ball first and scored in overtime, with Maddox hitting Aborom again. Aborom, who missed the first four games of the season, finished with 15 catches, 190 yards and three touchdowns. Maddox finished his night 30-for-43 with 361 yards, four touchdowns and an interception.
But Warren Central answered with Wright hitting Lynch for both a touchdown and the game-winning 2-point conversion.
“(Aborom) had a great game, and we are glad to have him back, but we have to protect the football, and we didn’t do that tonight,” Causey said. “You can’t do that against a good football team. It leads you to get beat in overtime.”
Next week, Oak Grove will make the short ride to face rival Petal.
