As the saying goes, staying on top is more difficult than it is getting there.
And Oak Grove’s Drew Causey understands that saying all too well.
As a preseason favorite, Causey led the Warriors to a 13-1 overall record and led the Warriors to taking home the Class 7A state championship title, earning him the honor as the 2023 Pine Belt Sports Coach of the Year.
However, some Oak Grove fans may have forgotten the days when Causey struggled in the early years. After going 10-3 in his first year as head coach, he followed with a 5-7 season and then a 6-5 year.
“You don’t really know to be successful until you fail,” Causey said. “I’ve always felt like that if the kid knows you love them, you can coach them really hard. So we try to spend a lot of time with our kids and make sure they know we care about them, not just in football.”
The most recent championship victory is a testament to the culture of success Causey has built. In the last six years, Causey has led the Warriors to two state championship wins, four state title game appearances, and five South State championship appearances.
However, all that winning brings its own challenges. As a preseason favorite with a roster that features six players signing this December to go on to play Division I college football, there was a feeling of extra pressure. To add to it, last year, the Warriors came up short, by their standards, that is, after failing to play for some type of championship and losing in the second round.
“You win 10 games, and you still feel like it wasn’t a successful season,” Causey said. “Heck, if you asked somebody right now if you would take 10 wins every year, I think every coach in America would say yes.
“We’ve definitely set the bar and the expectation of what our program expects to do.”
Causey gives credit to the success of the season to his players’ drive since keeping his team focused on the offseason wasn’t a major issue.
“There was definitely a bad taste in our mouth,” Causey said. “They came back hungry.
“You go back to January when the kids are getting offered, and then everybody starts talking about Oak Grove and how we should win a state championship. The kids hear it all the time…Luckily, with the group we had, they all still worked. A lot of times, you get complacent because you are talented and not work very hard.”
True to the preseason headline, Oak Grove jumped out to a 6-0 start that included a win against traditional Alabama powerhouse Hoover, which was the first time a school from Mississippi had accomplished such a feat. Another notable win came against MAIS powerhouse Madison-Ridgeland Academy, leading to the Warriors being ranked as the consensus No. 1 team in the state.
“To go over to (Hoover) and win that game gave our kids a lot of confidence, maybe probably too much,” Causey said. “All that matters is what you are ranked at the end of the year.”
The Warriors soon followed by playing what Causey described as an awful performance against Meridian, which then led to Oak Grove being defeated at home by region rival Brandon.
“We kept telling the kids over and over that you have to show up ready to play, and it finally caught up with us,” Causey said. “We were playing games to where it was, how hard we have to play to win. And that’s how hard we’re going to play. We were kind of leaving stuff in the tank.
“After the Brandon game, we felt embarrassed. Brandon has a great football team, but it was because we didn’t up to our capability to our talent level. From that point on, you could see a different mindset from the kids.”
Causey helped orchestrate a dominant five-game stretch leading up to the south state game as the Warriors outscored teams 214-63.
This set up a revenge game for Oak Grove against Brandon, with a trip to the state championship on the line. The game lived up to the exciting expectations surrounding it. Despite Brandon taking a 45-42 lead late in the game, Causey’s team never panicked. Ironically, drawing from the experience from the Hoover game, the Warriors found themselves in a similar situation that gave Causey’s team the confidence to deliver late in the game.
“I don’t think anybody on our sideline panicked. We were in the exact same situation against Hoover,” Causey said. “They blocked a punt, then got the ball at the seven-yard line and scored a touchdown, then we scored two or three plays later.
“There were a lot of things said of people doubting us and people talking junk about us. Some things happened before the game on Friday that made that win a lot sweeter than any other win on the season.”
Like South State, the experience of the Hoover game again proved to be critical to draw as the Warriors made the trip to Oxford for the state championship game. This time was more by design by Causey’s doing and is what he had hoped for when he scheduled to play Hoover.
“We went to Hoover for a reason,” Causey said. “It’s a three-and-a-half-hour bus ride, playing in a huge stadium, and it was going to be on grass. It was also going to rain (as it did in the Hoover game). We kept telling them that they have been here before, and we’ve done it.”
Sure enough, Oak Grove defeated Starkville 33-28, giving Causey a now familiar feeling as he hoisted his second state championship trophy.
“It’s definitely set in,” Causey said. “Once that calendar rolls over to ‘24, then we start getting into the weight room and getting back at it. It was a lot of fun. I’m just happy for the kids.”
Previous Winners:
2022: Tony Vance, Hattiesburg
2021: Ed Smith, Sacred Heart
2020: Zach Jones, Lumberton
Drew Causey, Oak Grove
2019: Zach Jones, Lumberton
2018: Drew Causey, Oak Grove
2017: Tony Vance, Hattiesburg
2016: Joey Hawkins, PCS
2015: Zach Jones, Lumberton
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