From the outside looking in, it doesn’t seem like the Oak Grove Warriors have too many problems to iron out. They took down Lamar County rival Purvis 49-7 with relative ease, but coach Drew Causey said he and his coaches reevaluated everything the team did from the time the players arrived at 2:05 p.m. Friday to the end of the game.
From blocking and penalties on offense to alignment issues on defense, “There is a lot that we can get better at doing,” Causey said.
Oak Grove entered last Friday with a lot of experienced players back for another season, but it had to replace its running back from 2017. Causey said it would be running back by committee to at least start the season, and juniors Jordan D’errico and Nick Milsap got the majority of the carries in the first half.
D’errico carried the ball 11 times for 78 yards and Milsap added 65 yards on five attempts. The Warriors used five other sophomores in the second half when the game was in hand.
Another area where new players would have to step up is at receiver, because senior Kevin Barnett is still out due to injury. Junior Brandon Hayes returned, but that was about it. Along with Hayes and handful of sophomores, junior Liam Breithaupt saw a ton of action. He caught four passes for 68 yards and score.
“He had a 30-yard touchdown called back because of a holding penalty that wasn’t a holding penalty after we watched film,” Causey said. “He could have had a really big game for his first game. He did a great job returning punts for us, and just knowing when to catch one and when not to catch one. We were really proud of him.”
The Warriors will hit the road this week for a road game at Wayne County. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
The War Eagles won a low-scoring ballgame at West Jones Friday, 10-6, and they’ll look a little different, especially at quarterback, than they did last year when Oak Grove dismantled them. Junior quarterback Zhakerreun Wesley didn’t play in the Week 2 contest a season ago because he was injured the week prior, but he’s back this season.
“Offensively, they have a quarterback who’s really talented and a really good athlete,” Causey said. “He’s kind of another running back for them. We’re really impressed with him, so we have our work cut out for us this week.”
Defensively, Wayne County held West Jones to just six points last week. It also has a new coach at the helm this season, but Causey doesn’t see a difference from previous Wayne County teams.
“Just from watching them on film, to me, it’s a typical Wayne County team,” Causey said. “They have a bunch of athletes. They have two really good defensive linemen who we have to make sure we know where they are when we’re on offense. Just know what we’re going to do and how we’re going to handle those guys.”
