HATTIESBURG – Junior Oak Grove quarterback John Rhys Plumlee expects his team to dominate every game, and so far this season they have delivered.
Oak Grove turned in another all-around performance Friday night, as it took down Wayne County 42-3 to move its record to 2-0 on the young season.
“We were definitely expecting this,” Plumlee said. “We are expecting to dominate every team we play, no doubt, on the road to a state championship.”
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Plumlee accounted for all six touchdowns, passing for four and rushing for two. He finished the night by going 11-of-13 for 215 yards and the four touchdowns, and he also rushed for 73 yards and two scores on 10 carries. So far this season, he’s only had four incompletions – two in each of his first two games.
“Really? I had no idea,” Plumlee said with a laugh. “I guess it’s just working for me right now.”
Even though Plumlee seemed to have control of the game, Oak Grove coach Drew Causey didn’t miss a teachable moment after his first touchdown pass of the night. Plumlee didn’t put junior receiver Kevin Barnett in motion, but it didn’t matter.
“It worked out fine,” Oak Grove coach Drew Causey said. “Yeah, it’s just little things that we’re trying to do everyday, and that’s a little thing.”
Barnett was wide open over the middle, then he raced up field to score a 35-yard touchdown to give Oak Grove an early 7-0 lead.
“KB is a good enough athlete that he got to his landmark on the field, and he still got wide open,” Plumlee said. “He made it easy for me. When I make mistakes, they’re good enough and make it up for me.”
After coming out in their jumbo package last week against Purvis, the Warriors did it again, but in a slight variation of it with the three defensive players – Hayes Maples, Jack Harris and Jaden Crumedy – positioned out to the left.
Even with the odd formation, it wasn’t one of those players that set up the Plumlee to Barnett touchdown. That was senior running back Orlando Simon, who was returning from an injury that caused him to miss the jamboree and the first game. He had gains of 9, 20 and 11 before the score.
On the next drive, two carries by Simon opened up a couple of Plumlee throws to junior Rasaiah Ruffin and Barnett, then Plumlee found Barnett again wide open over the middle for a 25-yard score to push the lead to 14-0 midway through the opening quarter.
“There’s nobody around him,” Plumlee said. “You can’t not throw it to him. He’s an easy target to hit. He’ll go catch it for you.”
Plumlee added his third passing score two drives later on a third-and-goal situation. After the Warriors were backed up to the 14-yard line, Plumlee tossed it to Barnett on a wide receiver screen pass on the right side, then Barnett broke a few would-be tacklers on his way to the end zone.
That gave Oak Grove a commanding 21-0 lead halfway through the second.
Wayne County’s best drive of the night came near the end of the half, but it could only manage a field goal try from the 37-yard line. Senior Health Mosley nailed the kick, and that cut the Warriors’ lead to 21-3.
But, Oak Grove’s Plumlee added another score with less than a minute left in the half, as he took one to the house from 45 yards to push the lead to 28-3.
Another rushing score for Plumlee opened up the second half, scoring from the 6-yard line, then on the next drive, Plumlee found senior Deltarus Thompson on the left side for a 54-yard touchdown pass-and-catch to bring the game to a 42-3 score.
The Wayne County offense was held to 47 total yards (14 rushing and 32 passing), and the Warriors’ defense only allowed six first downs, and only one in the second half. Jarius Reimonenq had a pick for Oak Grove, too.
“(Defensive coordinator) coach (Jeff) Waits and all of those guys are doing a great job,” Causey said. “They’re just flying around and playing hard. We played pretty dang good tonight. I was really impressed with our effort.”
Oak Grove 42,
Wayne County 3
Score by Quarter
Wayne County 0 3 0 0—3
Oak Grove 14 14 14 0—42
SCORING SUMMARY
First Quarter
OG—Barnett 35 pass from Plumlee, (kick good), 10:10.
OG—Barnett 25 pass from Plumlee, (kick good), 5:52.
Second Quarter
OG—Barnett 4 pass from Plumlee, (kick good), 7:37.
WC—Mosley 37 field goal, 2:39.
OG—Plumlee 45 run, (kick good), 0:43.
Third Quarter
OG—Plumlee 6 run, (kick good), 5:50.
OG—Thompson 54 pass from Plumlee, (kick good), 0:41.
TEAM STATISTICS
WC OG
First Downs 6 18
Rushes-Yards 23-14 41-223
Att-Comp-Int. 16-5-1 14-11-1
Passing Yards 32 215
Total Plays-Yards 39-47 55-438
Fumbles-Lost 3-0 1-0
Punts-Avg. 7-43.9 2-28.5
Penalties 10-52 13-120
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
Wayne County: #40 3-12; Jackson 11-10; Washington 3-8; Norsworthy 2-4; Page 1-(-6); Walters 1-(-14).
Oak Grove: Simon 12-90; Plumlee 10-73; Taylor 8-45; Smith 8-17; Harris 1-1; Maples 1-(-3).
Passing
Wayne County: Jackson 5-of-16, 32 yds., INT.
Oak Grove: Plumlee 11-of-13, 215 yds. 3 TDs; Forbes 0-of-1, INT.
Receiving
Wayne County: Page 3-29; Washington 1-3; Ballard 1-0.
Oak Grove: Barnett 5-78; Thompson 1-54; Jones 2-43; Simon 1-21; Ruffin 1-19.
