HATTIESBURG – Oak Grove had more yards, first downs and led 14-0, but three costly mistakes gave the Brandon Bulldogs the advantage Friday night at Warrior Field.
A defensive pass interference penalty, a fumble and bad kickoff coverage allowed Brandon to beat the Warriors 31-21 in a crucial Region 3-6A contest. Brandon improves to 5-0 in the region while Oak Grove drops to 4-1.
“A back and forth, really tight ballgame,” Oak Grove coach Drew Causey said. “We made a couple of mistakes at the end, and they did a good job of capitalizing on it.”
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Behind Nick Milsap’s 107 yards on 23 carries, Oak Grove rushed for 168 yards and passed for 154 to total 322 yards. The Warriors’ defense held Brandon to just 282 yards of total offense, but starting drives with a short field gave the Bulldogs the advantage.
“They loaded the box on us tonight and did a good job,” Causey said. “That’s about it. We were trying to do some different things, running game wise, and it was working. We did a lot of good stuff, but they have a good football team.”
With Oak Grove leading 14-0 in the third quarter, Brandon was desperate for a score. Facing a third-and-11 from its own 45-yard line, the Bulldogs’ quarterback Will Rogers lofted a pass downfield. As the Oak Grove defensive back and Brandon receiver battled for position, the back judge threw a flag and called defensive pass interference.
It left the Oak Grove coaches furious at the referee, but the Bulldogs were in striking distance. Rogers found senior Jonathan Mingo over the middle for a 38-yard score two plays later to cut Oak Grove’s lead to 14-6.
Later in the second half, after Brandon tied the game at 14, the ensuing kickoff found a hole on the Warriors’ side of the field and the Bulldogs fell on it. Two plays later, Brandon running back Dallas Smith scored from the 7-yard line to give the Bulldogs a 21-14 advantage early in the fourth.
Oak Grove didn’t roll over, though. Midway through the fourth quarter Oak Grove’s John Rhys Plumlee pinned Brandon at the 2-yard line with a 41-yard punt, and that flipped the field position in the Warriors’ favor. With 3:43 left to play, Plumlee helped engineer a drive that allowed Oak Grove to tie the game 21-21.
On a third-and-12 play, Plumlee raced down the left sideline for a gain of 13 yards to move the chains, then he found junior Tavion Smith for a 21-yard touchdown pass to even the game.
The third and final mistake came on the following kickoff, though. Brandon’s returner found some room on the right side and raced up the sideline to Oak Grove’s 34-yard line with 1:58 to play. Then, the Bulldogs used five straight run plays to move the ball to the 12 before attempting a 29-yard field.
Two Oak Grove timeouts later, and Brandon’s Mason Walker drilled the kick to give the visitors a 24-21 lead with 12 seconds left on the clock.
“I’m proud of our guys,” Causey said. “That’s a good football team.”
Brandon scored once more when Oak Grove tried laterals on the kickoff. Brandon’s Jay Stanley grabbed a lateral and stepped into the end zone to bring the game to its final, 31-21.
Oak Grove will play Pearl (7-2, 5-0) next week at home in another crucial game.
“There’s still a lot of football left,” Causey said. “We’re going to get right back to work on Sunday and get going.”
