Oxford Meets Laurel for 5A State Championship Saturday in Starkville

The Oxford Chargers will represent the northern half of Class 5A as they take on southern champs Laurel at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at Davis Wade Stadium at Mississippi State.
Oxford (13-1) defeated the Pearl Pirates 48-7 at home on Bobby Holcomb Field Friday night.
The Chargers got on the scoreboard early with a 35-yard touchdown pass and never looked back. Coach Johnny Hill’s squad would take on two more touchdowns in the first quarter shutting the door quick on the Pirates chances of winning the game.
As the two teams headed to their dressing rooms at halftime, the Chargers were up on Pearl by five touchdowns.
Junior quarterback Jack Abraham went 12-of-19 passing the ball for a total of 240 yards with four of his passes going for a touchdown. Teammate junior running back Kenzie Phillips carried the ball 12 times for 221 yards and two TD’s.
The Chargers receiving core was led by junior Kyree White with three receptions for 79 yards while D.K. Metcalf was right on his heels with three receptions for 71 yards and two touchdowns.
The Pearl Pirates scored its only touchdown of the night with about nine minutes left to go in the game, ending Pearl’s season with the record of 11-4.
The Laurel Golden Tornados advanced to the state championship by defeating Wayne County 34-30.
When these two teams meet on the gridiron, it will be an offensive showdown as both teams have high season averages as Laurel average scoring 38.9 points while Oxford comes in at 42.5 points. The Chargers average 193.3 rushing yards per game while Laurel is at 143.4 yards. In passing both teams are about the same but the Golden Tornadoes do hold a slight edge in that category by two tenths of a point.
Adam Brown is the HottyToddy.com sports editor and he can be reached at adam.brown@hottytoddy.com.