Published: October 11, 2008 04:06 am            

Wildcats roar past Oak Grove in top-5 showdown

MERIDIAN — With the exception of a kneel-down on the final play of the first half, Meridian's offensive possessions Friday night went a little something like this:

Touchdown.

Touchdown.

Touchdown.

Touchdown.

Fumble.

Touchdown.

Touchdown.

So seriously, what's up with the fumble?

It was a game week when both coaching staffs preached execution. And Meridian capped it off by executing just about as well as any high school football team can — roaring to a 42-28 win over Region 3-5A rival Oak Grove in front of an estimated 7,500 fans here at Ray Stadium.

"I thought we had a good game plan, and our kids offensively did a great job of executing that plan," Meridian High coach Larry Weems said. "And our kids played their hearts out on defense. I just can't say enough about our effort and our toughness."

The win was the fourth in a row for MHS, which improved to 6-1 overall and 3-0 in region action. The Wildcats came in ranked No. 5 in the Jackson Clarion-Ledger's Super 10 poll and No. 3 in the Class 5A polls by the Ledger and the Associated Press.

Oak Grove, meanwhile, dropped to 6-1 and 2-1. The Warriors were No. 4 in the Super 10 and No. 2 in the Class 5A polls.

Friday's matchup was billed as an offensive explosion. But while the Meridian defense stopped Oak Grove on downs once and forced the Warriors to punt three times — there was no slowing down the Wildcats' offense.

Consider these numbers:

• Meridian racked up a mind-boggling 29 first downs on the night, 16 of them through the air;

• A week after piling up 538 yards against Hattiesburg, the Wildcats rolled up 493 Friday against Oak Grove;

• Senior quarterback Tyler Russell was magnificent, completing 18-of-23 passes for 276 yards and two touchdowns. He was 13-of-15 for 188 yards in the first half alone.

Oak Grove actually scored first, as quarterback James McMahon capped a nine-play march with a 2-yard TD run — the first of three rushing touchdowns for him on the night. Dylan Sobiesk, who was brilliant kicking the ball all night for the Warriors, made it 7-0.

Meridian countered with an 11-play, 83-yard scoring drive, with Quardarel Martin going in from 10 yards out. Jett Miller's kick tied it, 7-7.

Russell called his own number for MHS' next score, sneaking it in on third-and-goal from the 1 to cap an 11-play, 89-yard march.

Oak Grove pulled even on a 3-yard run by McMahon midway through the second — but the Wildcats went into the locker room up 21-14 when Russell fielded a low snap, gathered control of the football and zipped a 4-yard TD strike to J.J. Harbin with 1:22 on the second-quarter clock.

Meridian actually lost two fumbles on the night, the first on the second-half kickoff when the ball got away from Khairi Usher and ended up in the arms of Oak Grove's Ivan Gray. Eight plays later, McMahon scored on a 1-yard sneak and it was 21-21.

A 27-touchdown pass from Russell to Marcus McQuarley put Meridian on top 28-21 at the 4:59 mark of the third quarter; and a 5-yard scoring run by Martin with 10:46 left in the game made it 35-21.

The second lost fumble was sandwiched in between, as a snap from center went over the head of Russell — who was in the shotgun — with Oak Grove's Jordan Blankenship recovering at the Wildcats' 28. But the Meridian defense turned OG away three plays later, as Lauren Jackson batted a pass into the air and Michael Pack picked it off to shift the momentum back to the home side.

Already up two scores, Meridian took over at its own 9-yard line with 8 minutes remaining and went 91 yards in 11 plays — every single one of them on the ground — for yet another touchdown. Martin did the honors from 3 yards out, and Miller's kick made it 42-21 with just 2:30 remaining.

"You talk about a time when you needed to run the football ... I am so proud of our guys for that drive," Weems said. "We blocked up front and Q (Martin) ran downhill ... we hit 'em right in the mouth and that's what we had to do."

Oak Grove added a final score with 20 seconds left as Steve McNair, Jr. – who had been held out of the end zone all night — hauled in a 9-yard TD strike from McMahon.

McMahon finished 13-of-27 for 154 yards, with McNair — the son of the now-retired former NFL Most Valuable Player — had five catches for 34 yards.

Robert Johnson, like McNair one of the state's top juniors, caught three passes for 40 yards while Tobias Irby caught five for 64. Star running back Jay Hughes ran 20 times for 136 yards for the Warriors.

Martin ran 21 times for 127 yards and three TDs for Meridian, which had 205 yards on the ground. McQuarley led the receivers with seven catches for 131 yards; Chris Smith caught four for 67 yards; and Harbin caught four for 42 yards.

Weems warned his team afterward it had to go right back to work — another big region tilt at Brandon awaits next week — but he savored Friday's "W" as he left Armstrong Field.

"All you can do is win the next one you play," Weems said. "We've still gotta go out there and finish the job ... still gotta play the next one. But we beat a real good football team tonight."

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.