After being eliminated from playoff contention a week ago with a 12-6 loss at Clinton, Grenada High School football coach Ashley Kuhn was concerned how his team would play with nothing to play for besides a winning season.
Last Friday, he got his answer in the Class 6A, Region 2 contest at home against Oxford for Senior Night at Charger Stadium. The Chargers came out with a lack of enthusiasm as Oxford built a 27-0 halftime lead and went on to a 30-7 victory over Grenada.
With the win, Oxford improves to 5-4 on the season and 3-3 inside the region. Grenada falls to 5-5 overall and 1-5 inside the region.
“When you get in a situation that you have nothing to play for – it’s hard to get players motivated to play,” Kuhn said. “In the past, we have been able to respond – this group is just different. You have to come ready to play against teams like Oxford. All last week in practice, we were lifeless and it showed in this game.”
Oxford took advantage of winning the field position battle to set up its touchdown drives in the first half. The drives were 56, 45, 53 and 35 yards.
“We could never get the field position flipped over and that absolutely killed us,” Kuhn said. “Early in the game, we had some momentum stopping them after a drive inside our 30-yard line, but could never get anything going on offense in the first half.”
Oxford scored the first points of the night on its second drive. Quarterback Mack Howard connected with Roman Gregory on a 36-yard scoring pass. The two-point conversion pass failed leaving Oxford with a 6-0 lead with 5:12 left in the first quarter of play.
After a short GHS punt, Oxford needed just six plays to drive 45 yards for the touchdown. Receiver Xavier Lewis scored on a 13-yard reverse. The extra point from William Wilkinson made it 13-0 with six minutes left in the half.
The Oxford defense held Grenada on its next possession, forcing another punt. Using a 55-yard pass play from Howard to Dane Harmon, Gregory scored two plays later and Wilkinson kicked the extra point to give Oxford a 20-0 advantage with 3:19 left in the half.
Oxford added its final touchdown of the night as Howard connected with Jack Harper on a 13-yard touchdown pass with 30 seconds remaining in the half. Wilkinson’s PAT made it 27-0 at halftime.
Second Half
Kuhn thought his players gave a much better effort in the second half against Oxford.
“I thought we played with a little bit better effort in the second half,” he said. “We had a chance to get some momentum after we scored – getting a fumble, but we gave it back to them. I can count on one hand how many times this season that we didn’t give good effort. Germantown was another game.”
The Chargers opened the second half using a 39-yard run from Jaylon Skinner to get the football to the Oxford 41. They were unable to move the football after that, losing it on downs at midfield.
Oxford used the defensive stand to set up its final points of the night. They moved to the Grenada 11-yard line before the drive stalled. After a penalty, Wilkinson kicked a 40-yard field goal to make it 30-0 with 6:42 left in the third quarter.
The Chargers got their lone points of the night on the first play following the Oxford field goal. Skinner sprinted 81 yards for the touchdown with 5:45 left in the third quarter. Brayden Neathery kicked the extra point.
Both teams went to their respective benches for the final period of the contest, playing younger players.
By the Numbers
The Grenada defensive unit allowed 229 yards of total offense – 56 of that on the ground. Jalon Townes once again led the way with nine tackles. Jahmani Washington and Tre Parker both had 6 ½ tackles.
Offensively, GHS had 320 total yards offense. Skinner had 121 yards rushing to lead the way. Through the air, he was 10-of-18 for 43 yards.
Taylor had 18 carries for 71 yards. Freshman quarterback Brayden Trusty was 9-of-17 for 87 yards.
Grenada closes the 2022 season Thursday with a trip to Starkville. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m.
