Oak Grove High School (Oak Grove, LA) 2026 RB Owen Layton is the Gridiron Football Player of the Week for Week 10.
Coming in with 40,929 votes, the Tigers running back had one of the best voting performances of the season from the Oak Grove community to help him get the top spot.
“Well, I watched the live stream that y’all hosted at 5 because I knew it was going to be close. We were neck to neck and I mean it was outstanding support and love from everyone all the community around teammates, coaches, and they helped me play like I did. They led me to this point and I’m so thankful for it, but I was on Cloud 9 whenever I heard the news.”
Oak Grove RB Owen Layton
His head coach Ryan Gregory, who is a former Oak Grove player, knows exactly what Tiger football means to this Oak Grove community.
“It’s just something that our community does. They support these kids and this program they have for a long time. Way before me and way after I’ll be gone. I mean when I was playing here as a player, it was the same thing. It’s just an unique place. One of the few left that’s a small rural town that they turn the lights out for Friday nights and they support our kids. It’s easy to support kids like Owen because everything that he does is the right way.”
Oak Grove HC Ryan Gregory
Speaking of Owen Layton’s performance, it really stood out for a lot of different reasons. First of all, he had a great stat line as he carried the ball 12 times for 102 yards and 1 touchdown while having another five catches for 35 yards and then, there was also another 99 yard kickoff return for a touchdown as well. This performance came against another North Louisiana powerhouse football program in Ouachita Christian that like Oak Grove has won numerous state championships. It was a 34-21 win for the Tigers, but for Layton, the game meant so much more as it was his way of honoring his grandmother who passed away earlier that day.
“Luckily, I have such great teammates. I talked to Coach too. The morning it happened, I went and got my devotion with them and well, I never really thought about not playing. It is what a lot of people have asked me before and I did because it was a rivalry. I love playing against OCS. It’s such a blessing to have that opportunity to play in such a big game and being in the Lord looking over me that night and my coaches and teammates hold my head up and just be able to ball out and do what I wanted to do for her. That was to make her proud, make the coaches, and all my teammates help them win the game that we’ve really worked hard for every single week.”
Oak Grove RB Owen Layton
That inspiring performance from Owen Layton tells everything you need to know about what kind of player has been for the Tigers and for Coach Gregory.
“It’s top shelf, but it’s not anything that if you know Owen is surprising or shocking. This is a kid that’s battled a lot of adversity from freshman year. I remember in junior high, he scored a touchdown and broke his collarbone, and you would have never known he hurt anything. He’s had several injuries that he’s had to work through. He had one this year. He really roughed up his Achilles in the jamboree and had to work really hard therapy wise to get back. So, to see it come full circle and perform on that big of a stage whenever we needed him the most because he’s kind of our go to guy as far as we move him all over the place. It seemed like every big play he had was at a crucial moment. The 99-yard kickoff return was right after OCS and Owen broke about six tackles, so it was awfully good to see him being able to be rewarded for his performance with such a heavy heart too.”
Oak Grove HC Ryan Gregory
“Well, I said it on the last interview, he’s a program builder as far as what you can do with him. He is a guy that you put in the middle. You don’t have to worry about him being in class on time or his grades or what he’s going to do when he leaves the field house. Is he going to be late to a meeting? Is he going to be late to a practice? It’s just one of those guys that you can build a program around and we have. He’s carried on the tradition that was passed to him by other guys that were in those leadership roles and we’ve got several of those guys, but he is a kid that is going to do exactly what you will tell him to do.”
Oak Grove HC Ryan Gregory
Layton has been a part of two state championship teams and has lost only one playoff game. Being a part of a program that has won four state championships in five years, he wants to continue carrying those values to the next wave of great talent to come through this storied program.
“They know what the experience is like especially the experience of how hard you have to work to meet the standard and the goal at the end of the year because that’s our goal every single time is make a run and it can get passed down to the lower classmen too so it will help them understand how hard they need to work in order to get to our goal.”
Oak Grove RB Owen Layton
Owen Layton’s performance and the Tigers’ Week 10 win over Ouachita Christian some momentum heading into their first-round Division III Non-Select matchup against Port Allen to make another run for what could possibly be their fifth state championship in six years.
“It’s going to give us a lot of momentum going into the playoffs. Going into the year, we knew we had lost a huge senior class. Expectations do not change. These kids still expect the same results. It doesn’t matter who we’re playing. We’re going to feel like we have a chance and feel like we have an opportunity to make a really good run.”
Oak Grove HC Ryan Gregory
With unselfish senior leaders like Owen Layton leading the way, the Tigers do have another good shot to get on that run once again to the Superdome.
For winning the Gridiron Football Player of the Week, Owen Layton will receive a letterman jacket patch that will say “Gridiron Football Player of the Week” and will be in consideration for Gridiron Football Player of the Year.
2025 Gridiron Football POTW Winners:
Week 1: St. Amant (LA) 2026 QB Cooper Babin
Week 2: Pine (LA) 2026 LB Cadyn Stogner
Week 3: Buckeye (LA) 2026 LB Ty Curtis
Week 4: Grand Lake (LA) 2026 QB JJ Labove
Week 5: Lake Arthur (LA) 2027 LB Wyatt Monceaux
Week 6: New Iberia (LA) 2026 RB/WR Kendrick Jeanlewis
Week 7: Albany (LA) 2026 RB Jonah Grob
Week 8: Archbishop Hannan (LA) 2026 LB Greyson Dupre
Week 9: Logansport (LA) QB Keaton Cason
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