HATTIESBURG – Even though Oak Grove won 45-7 last week, and it seemed like everybody in a Warriors’ uniform played perfectly, coach Drew Causey still sees areas his team needs to improve upon.
He mentioned finishing blocks up front, making the correct reads in the running game and there were a few times a player on defense missed his gap. But, he’s happy his team made those mistakes.
“On the play they popped for a touchdown, one of our ends should have been in the D gap and he wasn’t,” Causey said. “There were a lot of things that we were able to correct. It’s always a good thing coming off a win and you still have a lot of things you can get better.”
Still though, it was a big win for Oak Grove, making a statement that it’s back and ready to compete against the best, and when teams have big, emotional wins like that, the mentality for the next game could be in question. Causey doesn’t believe that’s the case for his team.
“We kind of discussed it Friday night after the game, we discussed it a little bit (Monday),” he said. “We have a great group of seniors who have really taken that on, and they had that discussion yesterday. It’s something I’m not really concerned about. We better not be, because we have a good football team coming.”
Wayne County shredded West Jones 43-7 to open the regular season, and besides West Jones opening the contest with a kick return for a touchdown, the War Eagles defense pitched a shutout.
Like Oak Grove, it appears Wayne County is back as well after posting a 7-6 record in 2016.
“Typical Wayne County defense,” Causey said. “They’re big up front, they’re fast and they look like they’re very strong. We’re going to have our work cut out for us this week, and our offensive line is going to have to play really well. We’ll just have to execute and do what we’re supposed to do. We can’t have a whole lot of missed assignments.”
The Warriors’ offense will get another weapon back this week, as senior running back Orlando Simon will return after being held out of Week 1 due to an injury. Combined with the six other backs, plus quarterback John Rhys Plumlee’s mobility, Causey has a hard time tempering his temptation with offensive play calling.
Thankfully, he has great assistant coaches to help control that enticement.
“As an offensive coach, it could be a problem because you want to do too much,” Causey said. “For us, I have some really good assistants. I’ll start thinking of something and they’ll say we have enough in and we don’t need to do something else. My head keeps spinning at times. ‘We could do this, we could do that.’ They kind of do a great job of keeping me grounded at times, and not try to do too much.”
Sophomore quarterback Zhakerreun Wesley led the War Eagles to the big win, making plays with his feet and his arm. When he left the pocket, not only did the defense have to worry about him taking off up field, but he also showed he could still make the throw on the run to a receiver up field.
“Offensively, their quarterback is a really good athlete and he runs their offense really well,” Causey said. “They’re backs are really good, and they just have a ton of athletes.”
Wayne County travels to Oak Grove Friday at 7 p.m.
