The Ocean Springs Greyhounds will face off against the Northwest Rankin Cougars at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. The teams are on pretty different trajectories at the moment (Ocean Springs has five straight victories, Northwest Rankin has three straight defeats), but none of that matters once you're on the field.
Last Thursday, Ocean Springs really took it to St. Martin for the full four quarters, racking up a 42-15 win. Considering the Greyhounds have won four games by more than 19 points this season, Thursday's blowout was nothing new.
Ocean Springs' win was the result of several impressive offensive performances. One of the most notable came from Sharroid Whitehead, who threw for 62 yards and two touchdowns, and also punched in a rushing score. Ayden Watson made the highlight reel by snagging an interception and taking it all the way to the house.
Another reason for the win was Ocean Springs' imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for seven sacks. The heavy lifting was done by Brody Saenz and Bryant Ausmer, who racked up four sacks between them. Ausmer has become a key player for Ocean Springs: the team is undefeated when he posts at least one sack, but 3-4 otherwise. Another thorn in St. Martin's side was Ricky Orso, who picked up a sack and made seven total tackles (2.0 for loss).
Meanwhile, Northwest Rankin faced Brandon in a battle between two of the state's top teams on Thursday. Northwest Rankin lost 45-22 to Brandon.
Ocean Springs pushed their record up to 6-4 with the victory, which was their fourth straight on the road. They've dominated over that stretch too, winning by an average of 23.5 points. As for Northwest Rankin, their loss dropped their record down to 5-5.
Ocean Springs and Northwest Rankin were almost perfectly matched up in their previous meeting back in September, but Ocean Springs suffered an agonizing 29-28 defeat. Can Ocean Springs avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
