Oak Grove goes for two, wins the big one in Class 6A

Published 10:21 pm Friday, December 4, 2020

JACKSON — Oak Grove brought a dramatic and definitive end to years of championship game frustration Friday night.

Quarterback Kabe Barnett ran 10 yards for a touchdown with seven seconds left, and then threw to Trayvon Moore for the go-ahead two-point conversion that gave Oak Grove a 29-28 victory over Oxford in the MHSAA Class 6A football championship game.

It was Oak Grove’s seventh trip to the state championship game, but only its second victory. The Warriors also won the Class 6A title in 2013. They had lost the previous two championship games, including to Oxford last season.

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Oxford (12-1) had a 25-game winning streak snapped that was the longest in the MHSAA.

Oxford quarterback Michael Harvey completed 16 of 23 passes for 257 yards and three touchdowns, the last a 13-yarder to Alec Vaughn with 3:52 remaining that put the Chargers ahead 28-21.

Oak Grove got the ball back and drove down the field in the last 3 1/2 minutes however. On fourth-and-1 from the 11, Barnett dropped back, scanned the field, and then started running. He juked a defender at the line of scrimmage, broke right, and ran into the end zone just inside the right front pylon to pull the Warriors within a point.

Oak Grove head coach Drew Causey then decided to go for two points and the win rather than a game-tying PAT that would have sent it to overtime. After two timeouts — one by each team — Barnett rolled right and threw back to his left to Moore, who was dragging across the back of the end zone.

Moore caught the ball with a defender on him for the two-pointer and the 29-28 lead.
Oxford got the ball with one last play at its 35-yard line, but a series of laterals following a short pass didn’t go anywhere.

Barnett finished the game 21-of-30 passing for 200 yards, and ran for 38 yards and two touchdowns. Jaylen Aborom had a 16-yard interception return touchdown for Oak Grove that tied the game at 21 midway through the fourth quarter.

D.K. Johnson caught six passes for 110 yards and a touchdown for Oxford, and Omar Howell ran for 72 yards and a touchdown.