GLUCKSTADT — Germantown couldn’t have asked for a better start, much less a half.
Quarterback King White accounted for five first half touchdowns as the Mavericks raced past sixth-ranked Oak Grove 37-12 in a key Class 7A non-region matchup at “The Ranch” on Friday night.
“It was one of those nights where everything just went our way,” said Germantown head coach Russell Mitchell. “I didn’t know how this game was going to go and certainly didn’t know everything was going to go our way for a whole half, but it did. Couldn’t be more proud of the guys.”
The Mavericks went right down the field on the opening drive of the game to take a 7-0 as White powered into the end zone from a yard out with 8:12 left in the first quarter.
After Oak Grove went three-and-out White found Lawson Branson on a 47-yard touchdown pass to extend the Maverick lead 14-0 with 6:05 left in the opening frame.
The Mavericks got a safety to stretch the lead to 16-0 as a snap went over the Oak Grove’s punter’s head and rolled out of the back of the end zone.
White then capped off a nine play, 47-yard drive with another 1-yard touchdown run with 35 seconds left to give Germantown a 23-0 lead.
After Oak Grove turned the ball over downs, White once again capped off a 11-play 68-yard drive with his third 1-yard touchdown run of the night to stretch the lead to 30-0.
The Mavericks then recovered an onside kick and with 13 seconds left before halftime White found Michael Johnson on a 30-yard touchdown pass to give Germantown a 37-0 lead at halftime and enforce the running clock.
“King is our guy and he has to be who he is and that’s a dual-threat quarterback. He can hurt you with his arms and legs. I believe in him, I’m hard on him, but I’m super proud of him,” Mitchell said. “We want to be consistent, and our schedule isn’t easy. I We feel like we let one slip away last week and we expected to win and we didn’t. Our kids accepted the challenge to be more physical in practice, and we got after it for three days.”
White finished the night 8-of-12 passing for 139 yards with two touchdowns and added 24 yards rushing on 12 carries and three touchdowns to lead Germantown (1-1).
“It was a great game we dominated in all three phases of the game. It was special, we worked hard all week, and the offensive line blocked well tonight, and defense played great and we scored on every drive,” White said. “Great to get in the win column.”
Kellen Hall finished with 58 yards passing with a 3-yard touchdown pass to Drelin Warner with 8:42 left in the third quarter. Chris Poole added a 14-yard touchdown run for the Warriors (0-2) to cut the Germantown lead to 37-12.
“I’m extremely embarrassed for the way we played and the way we coached. They had their guys way more ready to play than we had ours,” said Oak Grove coach Drew Causey. “They executed and we didn’t. We’re going to get back to work on Sunday and get going. We got to figure out who we are and we got figure out how to play with effort.”
