Can Ocean Springs beat rival Oak Grove for 1st time in playoffs since 2004? Here’s the plan.
Editor’s note: Ocean Springs defeated Oak Grove in a playoff football game in 2004. The original headline misstated this fact, and has since been edited for clarity.
The weight if history will bear down on Greyhound Stadium Friday night as Ocean Springs attempts to break through the barrier that has stood in front of many of the Coast’s top football programs for over a decade.
The Greyhounds have not lost in 2021 and are being rewarded with a meeting with reigning state champions Oak Grove.
The Warriors travel to the Coast to face OSHS for just the seventh time ever. Each meeting has come in the postseason and OGHS has won the last five by double digits.
Ocean Springs is looking to become the first 6A team from the Coast to break into the semifinals since the Greyhounds did it themselves in 2009. Even then, it was the Warriors who would end their season.
Despite all of this, Ocean Springs head coach Blake Pennock says his team isn’t the one feeling the pressure.
“If there’s any pressure, the pressure is on Oak Grove,” Pennock said. “They’re the ones who are the state title champion and the ones who have been to the state title game the last three years.”
The Greyhounds dispatched Pearl in the first round and, according to Pennock, the celebration lasted for all but 10 minutes before the focus turned to the Warriors.
Ocean Springs rides an electric offense with weapons scattered around star quarterback Bray Hubbard. The Greyhounds have been disruptive and disciplined on defense behind the play of Jacob Williams, Trace Carter and others.
“We ran the ball with success for basically the whole season,” Pennock said. “I feel like we can get some match-ups out wide that we like but we know they’re going to put their best guys to cover some of ours. We got to have a plan for that.
“Defensively we have to do a great job of getting after the passer. That’s going to be a huge deal for us in the game and to limit their explosive plays.”
The Greyhounds defense gave up multiple 50-plus yard touchdowns against Pearl last week, something Pennock called uncharacteristic and will be worked on this week.
Carter and Keshawn Thomas have done a good job rushing the passer this season with the two recording six and 5.5 sacks, respectively.
What happens during the regular season doesn’t carry much weight in the playoffs, though.
“(Oak Grove) has a tremendous amount of experience and success, especially in the last few seasons,” Pennock said. “It’s a really good program. We got to control all the things we can control and be able to play good football. Creating explosive plays and limiting theirs will be the key to the game.”
The story from last Friday night boiled down to the Greyhounds making more big plays than Pearl did. The Pirates scored on runs of 79 yards and 69 yards. Ocean Springs hit on even more, including a 58-yard touchdown run by Hubbard and a 49 yard touchdown pass to Evan McNally.
This is just the second time in the last 10 years the Greyhounds have been in a position to play for an appearance in the south state title game.
“We’re excited to be in this position right now and we want to try and do the best we can to win the game and keep going,” Pennock said.
Other games to watch
Picayune will host Brookhaven in the second round of the 5A state playoffs on Friday. The Maroon Tide handled Hattiesburg 35-13 in the first round. Picayune is matched up with a Panther team that had no trouble with East Central, winning 42-14.
Poplarville hosts Mendenhall on Friday in the quarterfinals of the 4A state tournament. The Hornets are looking for their first state championship after playing and losing in each of the last three titles games.
This story was originally published November 17, 2021 at 5:50 AM.
