It’s almost déjà vu for the Oak Grove Warriors. The only difference is where the first two games were played.
Like in 2017, the Warriors have started their season a quick 2-0 with dominant wins over Purvis and Wayne County, and it’s been the same story to start the 2018 campaign. If the two seasons continue to mirror each other, Oak Grove is in store for a big win over Laurel Friday night Between the Bricks.
“I think we’re a year old and a year more mature. I think that’s probably the biggest thing I can think of right now,” Oak Grove Drew Causey said.
In both wins, Oak Grove scored 20 points in the opening quarter, which has led to an easy win. Senior quarterback John Rhys Plumlee and junior receiver Brandon Hayes has put up big numbers so far, and it’s allowed younger players to get experience late in those two games.
Plumlee recorded 276 yards and four touchdowns on 13-of-19 passing, along with 104 rushing yards and a score, in last week’s win over the War Eagles, and Hayes put up 187 receiving yards on eight receptions. Plumlee is up to 427 passing yards so far this season and six touchdowns with a 74 percent passing, and Hayes has 236 yards on 12 grabs.
Junior Nick Milsap leads the team with 148 rushing yards on 15 carries through two games – averaging 9.8 yards per attempt – and senior Jordan D’errico adds 5.7 yards per carry, too.
“Offensively, our guys know what we want to do right out the gate,” Causey said. “We’ve had two good plans back-to-back weeks on what we were wanting to the first and second drives. The guys just went out and executed.”
The Warriors will need a good start this week as well. The Laurel Golden Tornadoes can score some points and they have the capabilities of stopping their opponent. Last week, Laurel did allow 41 points to Hattiesburg while only scoring 20, but it did crush Callaway 55-13 the week prior.
Causey was in attendance Saturday at Hattiesburg High to watch Laurel, and even though the score didn’t look good for Laurel, he walked away impressed.
“I thought they were a very good football team,” Causey said. “They’ve got a ton of athletes from top to bottom at every position. The quarterback is a great player, and the running backs are really good and they’re physical guys. They have a really good offensive line and their receivers are talented out there.”
The Tornadoes have two quality running backs with a dual-threat quarterback in the backfield. Senior Michael Terrell has 216 total rushing yards and three scores on 25 carries, senior Zias Perryman has carried the ball 20 times for 159 yards and three touchdowns to lead the running back group. Senior quarterback Sinclair Ulmer had a down game last week, but he did rush the ball for 60 yards on eight carries.
Causey knows his defense is in for a challenge Friday night.
“For us, we have to know our assignments and try to be as physical as we can be. We have to tackle well, so we definitely have a tough ballgame,” he said.
