How back-to-back losses put Oak Grove football on path to winning LHSAA state championship
NEW ORLEANS – Oak Grove needed something to change.
It was Oct. 7 and the Tigers had just lost their second consecutive game, this time to Haynesville on the road by just a touchdown. The week before they had been crushed by Mangham at home.
Two months later, Oak Grove is the LHSAA Division IV non-select football state champions. The Tigers, the No. 8 seed, defeated No. 2 Homer for the state title Thursday at the Superdome, 17-0.
"We sat outside that locker room in Haynesville and said that we were going to come back (and) when we played them again we were going to be a different team," said coach Ryan Gregory of the 51-20 loss in October.
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With just a 3-3 record, things were looking grim. But it was that low moment when everything changed.
Now, Oak Grove is a state champion.
"It's hard not to get emotional talking about this group," Gregory said. "They've heard a lot of chatter, from everybody really, some of it deserved. But the way they've turned it around, I don't know if there's been a more impressive run in our history and that's saying something."
After the Haynesville loss, Oak Grove didn't lose again. The Tigers scored no less than 49 points in its final four regular season games and cruised through the playoffs with one exception, a tight 20-14 win over No. 1 Kentwood in the quarterfinals.
What changed Oak Grove's season boiled down to two things: Swarming the ball with an aggressive defense and dominating the line of scrimmage on offense.
Both traits shined through against Homer. Oak Grove forced two turnovers, both from Oklahoma State commit Kam Franklin. He intercepted Homer quarterback Andrevious Buggs' pass late in the second quarter and then recovered a key fumble in the fourth quarter.
"Coach (Lawson) Green and our defensive staff harping on (being aggressive) in practice," Gregory said. "Whatever they had to do, whether it be up-downs, to the whistles or whatever it took to get these guys playing fast and you saw that today. You saw a lot of plays from the backside get run down because of our guys (were) swarming."
Like they had in prior weeks, the offensive line dominated, particularly on the ground. Oak Grove had 244 rushing yards on Saturday — 130 from running back Decorian Freeman and 114 from quarterback Jackson Bradley.
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"We kind of got pass-happy at the beginning of the year," Bradley said. "We (then) really leaned on the run and just letting everything... go off of the run. The offensive line really played well in the second half of the year. That was really the big key."
Oak Grove played Haynesville again in the semifinals, avenging its loss with a dominant 48-7 win. But the Tigers didn't just accomplish their goal of revenge. They accomplished more than that.
They became state champions.
"They really took (the Haynesville loss) to heart and a lot of times, kids, that's tough. They don't want to hear the truth," Gregory said. "But none of ours batted an eye. They went out there and knew what was at stake.
"And that to me was the turning point in our season."
Koki Riley covers LSU sports for The Daily Advertiser and the USA TODAY Sports South Region. Email him at kriley@theadvertiser.com and follow him on Twitter at @KokiRiley.
This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Oak Grove football LHSAA championship path began with 2 losses
