Veteran sportswriter and high school football expert Robert Wilson is doing the Priority One Bank/Mississippi Scoreboard predictions column each week during the high school football season on teams from Hinds, Madison, and Rankin County. Wilson had a 23-4 record (85.2 percent) last week and has an 83-20 record (80.6 percent) this season.
Oak Grove (2-1) at Madison-Ridgeland Academy (4-1)
Friday, 7 p.m. (oakgrovewarriors.live and mrapatriots.live and 105.9 FM)
These teams are two of the most successful football programs in the MHSAA (Oak Grove) and the MAIS (MRA).
Oak Grove has won more games this past decade than any other team in the highest classification, now 7A, in the MHSAA. The Warriors have won 56 of their last 64 games, 87.5 percent, and have won the state title twice in the past four years, last season in Class 7A and 2020 in Class 6A and was runner-up in 2018 and 2019.
MRA has won 52 of its last 64 games (81.3 percent) and 60 of its last 66 games (90.9 percent) against MAIS teams. The Patriots won three straight MAIS Class 6A state championships from 2019-2021 and appeared in five consecutive state title games from 2018-2022.
MRA has less than a quarter of the students in grades 9-12 as Oak Grove (about 400 students to about 1,800 students).
This is the second time MRA has hosted a team from the highest classification in MSHAA in football. Class 6A St. Martin defeated MRA 51-28 in 2016. MRA hasn’t lost a home game to an MHSAA team since, winning against Class 4A St. Stanislaus 59-14 in 2018 and Class 3A Raleigh 39-28 in 2022.
Last year’s first meeting between the two teams was an instant classic.
The two amazing offenses produced more than 1,000 yards of total offense.
Oak Grove’s Caleb Moore, now a freshman at Southern Miss, stopped MRA running back Charles Simpson, now at Mississippi College, short of a goal line on a two-point conversion try to give Oak Grove a 45-44 victory in overtime before an estimated 4,000 at Oak Grove’s Warrior Field in Hattiesburg.
Oak Grove and MRA came into the game ranked No. 2 and No. 12 respectively in Mississippi by MaxPreps coming into the game.
Quarterbacks Anthony Maddox of Oak Grove, now at Texas A&M, and John White of MRA, now at Southern Miss, put an offensive show. Maddox completed 24 of 27 passes for 378 yards and four touchdowns and ran six times for 25 yards. White completed 25 of 30 passes for 394 yards and three TDs and ran for two TDs. The two quarterbacks combined to complete 86 percent of their passes, not only a rarity in high school, but college and NFL too. Maddox and White were two of the top three quarterbacks (Maddox No.1 and White No. 3) in Mississippi rated by 247 Sports.
Last year’s game reminded Mississippi high school football fans of Oak Grove’s only other football game with a MAIS team three years ago when Greenville Christian School defeated Oak Grove 48-41. Greenville Christian quarterback D.J. Smith – who was named the Mississippi Gatorade Player the Year later that year and is now playing at Division I Mercer in Georgia – passed for 305 yards and two TDs and ran for 125 yards and four TDs in the most anticipated meeting between private and public school football teams in Mississippi history before a standing room only crowd of 6,500 at Warrior Stadium in Hattiesburg.
Both teams came in highly ranked. Greenville Christian, ranked No. 3 in Mississippi by MaxPreps, surprised Oak Grove, ranked No. 1 in Mississippi and ranked No. 79 in the country by MaxPreps and No. 75 in the nation by High School America, and broke the Warriors’ 16-game winning streak – the longest in Mississippi. Many consider Greenville Christian one of the best MAIS teams in history.
The first public-private football game in Mississippi history was in 2001 when George County from the MHSAA defeated Jackson Prep from the MAIS 27-14 at Prep in Flowood. There have been at least a hundred public-private football games since then, but none between teams of this caliber.
Now, Metro Jackson high school football fans get the rematch of Oak Grove and MRA.
Oak Grove returns eight starters (two on offense and six on defense) from last year’s state championship team, which finished 13-1 and defeated Starkville 33-28 in the state title game. The Warriors’ top players are 6-foot-4, 280-pound senior defensive tackle and Ole Miss commitment Andrew Maddox, senior linebacker and Southern Miss commitment Malachi Henderson and senior linebacker and Jackson State commitment Jaylan Moore.
Maddox is rated the No. 13 best player in Mississippi in the Class of 2025 by 247 Sports.
Oak Grove coach Drew Causey has a 90-29 record (a 75.6 winning percentage) in 10 seasons, including two state titles in 2020 and 2023 and two state runner-up finishes in 2018 and 2019.
MRA returns 12 starters (six on offense and six on defense) from last year’s team, which finished with an 8-4 record and reached the MAIS Class 6A semifinals.
Junior wide receivers Case Thomas, Will Bizot, Jack Poole and senior wide receiver Jack Polles along with 6-foot-2, 280-pound sophomore offensive lineman Caleb Unger and senior offensive lineman Sebastian Griffin are the returning starters on offense.
Thomas – a member of the Mississippi Scoreboard Preseason Elite 11 Team – caught 59 passes for 1,296 yards – second-best in Mississippi, according to MaxPreps – and 17 touchdowns last season as a sophomore. He has caught 25 passes for 381 yards and five TDs this season. Polles has 10 catches for 209 yards and three TDs.
Unger has Division I offers from Southern Miss, Jackson State, Mississippi Valley, Baylor, Memphis, Tulane, Central Arkansas, and Arkansas State.
Junior defensive lineman Cade Gentry, senior defensive lineman Winn Crews, senior defensive back Matthew Perkins, junior defensive back Beckett Strong, junior defensive back Jack Ridgway and senior defensive back Jake McMillan are the returning starters on defense.
In addition, MRA has several transfers who have played well – senior defensive back and Arkansas State commitment DJ Watkins from Madison Central (a member of the Preseason Metro Jackson Elite 11 Team), senior defensive back AJ Parker from Jackson Academy, 6-3, 300-pound senior offensive lineman Kailand Stewart from Yazoo County, 6-3, 305-pound sophomore offensive lineman Clay Lawson from Richland, and junior running back-kicker Jason Jenkins from Hartfield Academy.
MRA junior Samuel Stockett has completed 61.7 percent of his passes for 1,267 yards and 15 TDs with only four interceptions. Stockett was White’s backup for the last two seasons. White set a Mississippi career passing record with 15,529 yards in his five-year high school career. He also threw for 177 career TDs, second all-time in Mississippi history. White passed for 3,557 yards and 42 touchdowns last year as a senior.
MRA coach Herbert Davis – a Brookhaven Academy, Co-Lin CC, and Mississippi College (bachelor’s degree) and Delta State (master’s degree) graduate – has won 241 games and six state championships (three at MRA, two at Brookhaven Academy and one at Pillow Academy) in his 28th season as a head coach. He is the only football coach in Mississippi history to take five schools (MRA, Brookhaven Academy, Pillow Academy, Heritage Academy and Winston Academy) to state championship games.
Davis has won 107 games in 11 seasons at MRA.
Oak Grove had its 10-game winning streak broken last Friday night when crosstown rival Hattiesburg pulled off a 27-21 upset. Hattiesburg senior quarterback and South Alabama commitment Deuce Vance scored three TDs.
MRA bounced back from its only loss – a 60-36 decision to Arkansas Class 7A public school power Pulaski Academy – to win its first MAIS Class 6A game this season with a 55-13 victory over Madison St. Joseph. It was the third game this year that MRA has scored 50 points or more.
Oak Grove is ranked No. 5 and MRA No. 13 in Mississippi in the latest MaxPreps rankings.
This one won’t go to overtime.
Oak Grove 35, MRA 21.
In other games (winners in bold):
Velma Jackson (1-1) at Jim Hill (1-3), Thursday, Hughes Field
Canton (2-1) at Callaway (1-2), Hughes Field
Central Hinds (2-2) at Canton Academy (3-1)
Copiah Academy (3-1) at East Rankin (1-4)
French Camp (0-3) at Pisgah (3-0)
Germantown (2-1) at West Lauderdale (1-2)
Grenada (2-1) at Clinton (2-1)
Hebron Christian (1-2) at Discovery Christian (1-3)
Jackson Prep (4-0) at Parklane Academy (4-1)
Lamar School (2-2) at Jackson Academy (4-1)
Lanier (3-0) at Forest Hill (1-2), South Jackson Field
McAdams (0-3) at St. Andrew’s (1-2)
McLaurin (1-2) at Wilkinson County (0-3)
Mendenhall (1-1) at Florence (1-2)
Murrah (3-0) at Jefferson County (2-1)
Northwest Rankin (2-1) at Madison Central (2-1)
Pearl (1-2) at Ridgeland (3-0)
Pelahatchie (1-2) at Richland (1-2)
Porter’s Chapel (2-3) at Park Place Christian (3-1)
Provine (0-3) at South Pike (3-0)
Puckett (3-0) at Stringer (0-3)
Raymond (0-3) at Port Gibson (2-1)
St. Aloysius (0-4) at Clinton Christian (2-3)
Starkville Academy (2-3) at Hartfield Academy (5-0)
Terry (3-0) at Vicksburg (0-3)
Warren Central (2-1) at Brandon (2-1)
Winston Aca. (3-1) at Tri-County Academy (4-0)
