WEST POINT — What started out as a nightmare turned into the game of Oxford quarterback Jack Abraham’s life.
Abraham, a junior, passed for a season-best 391 yards and five touchdowns Friday night to help Oxford rally for a 43-22 victory against West Point at McAllister Field.
Three of Abraham’s touchdown passes came in the second half, when he was 10 of 13 passes for 151 yards and helped Oxford close the game on a 35-0 run.
But it wasn’t always that easy.
Abraham’s dominant second half followed a first half in which he threw three interceptions that led to West Point touchdowns that gave the Green Wave a 22-15 halftime lead.
“I bet Jack hasn’t thrown three interceptions in his life, much less in a half,” said Oxford coach Johnny Hill, who improved to 2-8 all-time against West Point. “We didn’t have to say anything to him. He knew his mistakes. He knew what to correct, so we just let that work itself it.”
Did it ever.
Abraham (19 of 38) was nearly flawless in the second half. With Oxford trailing by seven entering the third quarter, the 6-foot-2, 185-pound quarterback opened the second half with two touchdown passes in the first three minutes of the third quarter to give Oxford the lead for good. The first, a 14-yard touchdown pass to Ole Miss-bound wide receiver D.K. Metcalf, tied the game at 22. The second, a 12-yarder to junior Zach Cousar, gave Oxford the lead.
“Give that kid all the credit in the world,” said West Point coach Chris Chambless, whose teams fell to 3-3 and 0-1 in Class 5A, Region 1. “In the first half, we were getting after him, forcing some bad throws, making some plays. In the second half, they made adjustments, we made adjustments … But we just didn’t have the same success we had in the first half. That’s on me. I take responsibility and blame for that.”
Abraham’s second-half effort was emblematic of an Oxford team that asserted its will after halftime. While the Oxford offense, which finished with 496 yards, topped the 250-yard mark in the second half, the Oxford defense was dominant, allowing just one first down and holding West Point to 8 yards in the second half.
“West Point has a good team,” Hill said. “To shut them down defensively like that says a lot about our defense.”
Oxford allowed 179 yards and forced four turnovers.
For West Point, like Oxford, the game was a tale of two halves. In the first half, the Green Wave controlled much of the action and raced out to a 22-8 lead. Much of that came courtesy of Abraham on interceptions by Davin Webb, Jalen Lee, and Lavarius Gunn. Webb returned his 24 yards for a touchdown, and Gunn brought his back to the Oxford 21-yard line, setting up a 21-yard touchdown run by Kadarius Forside two plays later that gave West Point a 22-8 lead.
That lead didn’t last long.
“Momentum shifts happen,” Chambless said. “We forced some bad throws and made some big plays to get momentum on our side. Then they made the plays to get it back on their side. Once they did that, we just couldn’t find a way to shift the momentum back to us. I take the blame for it.”
Three of Abraham’s five touchdown passes went to Cousar, who had nine catches for 138 yards and three scores, which came from 28, 12, and 11 yards.
“He’s a Division I quarterback,” Cousar said of Abraham. “He didn’t let adversity beat him. He turned it around when he needed to.”
Abraham’s big night propelled Oxford to its second-straight victory against West Point, and it’s a series that has yielded the eventual Class 5A, Region 1 winner in four of the past five seasons.
“West Point has beaten Oxford eight times,” Abraham said. “To come in here tonight at their place and win, that’s pretty special.”
Abraham wasn’t the only Charger with a Division I future on display. Metcalf is ranked by recruiting service Scout.com as the nation’s top wide receiver for the Class of 2016. He looked the part, catching three passes for 100 yards in the first half. He added four catches for 72 yards and a touchdown in the second, and finished with seven catches for 172 yards and a score.
His ability caught the attention of West Point cornerback Jalen Lee, who drew the unenviable assignment of trying to contain Metcalf on the outside.
“He’s real good,” Lee said. “He’s even better than I thought he was. But I think playing him will make me better. We will learn from this by watching film and on Sunday, we will start working for next week.”
West Point will play next week at Clarksdale.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brandon Walker on Twitter @BWonStateBeat
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