Defense, TD passes to Higgins give Wildcats 24-13 win over Clinton

 

Note: This story was last updated at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 22.

Junior receiver Tee Higgins caught two touchdown passes, and the Oak Ridge defense prevented Clinton from scoring in the first half as the Wildcats beat the Dragons 24-13 in the season opener at home on Friday.

Oak Ridge also blocked a Clinton field goal attempt, sacked senior quarterback Tyler Thackerson five times, and scored a defensive touchdown on a high Dragon punt snap that rolled into the end zone. The Wildcats also forced Clinton to turn over the ball twice on downs, and Oak Ridge senior Brandon Nickle kicked a 24-yard field goal about halfway through the third quarter.

Oak Ridge Coach Joe Gaddis said the Wildcats played well on defense, especially in the first half, but the offense made some mistakes, particularly in the first half, that have to be corrected before next week’s game against Dobyns-Bennett in Kingsport.

Gaddis said he was thrilled with the performance of the brand-new secondary against Thackerson, a playmaker who can run, throw, and buy time to open up receivers. (All four members of the secondary last year were seniors and have graduated.) Oak Ridge held Clinton to 13 points, with six of those coming with less than 1.5 minutes to play.

“Anytime we beat Clinton it’s good,” Gaddis said.

But he said there is a lot of work to do on offense, both running and throwing, and there were some breakdowns in protection on Friday. The Wildcats showed spurts on offense in the second quarter, Gaddis said. Most players were “doing the right thing,” but a few weren’t, he said.

“It’s all correctable, and we’re going to,” Gaddis said.

He said he kept senior Jordan Dunbar in at quarterback—senior Logan Fadnek is the other option—because Dunbar was “making things happen.”

Clinton Coach Josh Kerr said the Dragons had opportunities to score in the first half and need to improve on special teams. For the most part, he said, his team played hard all night, despite trailing the entire game.

“We just got to keep on working,” Kerr said.

 

Both teams have mostly new offensive lines, with each having only one returning starter.

Friday’s game started off as a low-scoring contest, with no points in the first quarter. Clinton had a chance to score on the 24-yard field goal attempt near the end of the first quarter, but it was blocked by Oak Ridge junior Jaret Miner. Sophomore Adarius Simpson returned the football to the Clinton 45, and Oak Ridge converted that drive into the first score of the game, a 23-yard pass play from senior quarterback Jordan Dunbar to Higgins with 11:16 remaining in the second quarter.

Higgins caught his second touchdown pass on a third-and-20 from the Clinton 30 at 11:50 in the fourth.

Thackerson ran in one of the Dragons touchdowns from one yard out late in the third quarter, after Oak Ridge lost 42 yards on three penalties, including pass interference and a personal foul. He threw a touchdown to junior J’Quan Thomas from 33 yards out with 1:22 left in the game. Clinton failed to score on a two-point conversion after the second touchdown.

That second Clinton touchdown came about a minute after the Wildcats scored on the high punt snap that rolled into the end zone, where senior linebacker Matt Warmbrod recovered it.

Clinton had 307 yards total offense, compared to 211 for Oak Ridge. The Dragons passed for 301 yards (21 completions on 51 attempts), while the Wildcats passed for 79 (5-of-10).

But the Wildcats rushed for 132 net yards on 33 attempts, compared to six on 19 attempts for the Dragons. Freshman Jordan Graham led all Wildcats with 44 yards rushing on seven carries. Senior T.J. Allison, who led the Wildcats last season, had 31 yards. Dunbar had 27 yards rushing and picked up six first downs.

Clinton had about twice as many first downs as Oak Ridge, 21 to 10, with 16 of those gained through the air.

The Wildcats have had six straight wins over the Dragons, and they’ve won 42 out of 54 games, according to broadcaster David Clary.

Dobyns-Bennett won its first game of the season at Tennessee on Thursday, 45-14.

 

See more photos from Friday night’s game here.

Here are preliminary statistics by Mark Haste:

TEAM STATISTICS
Oak Ridge		Clinton
	FIRST DOWNS
10	Total	21
8	By rushing	1
0	By passing	16
2	By penalty	4
	RUSHING
33	Attempts	19
172	Yards gained	45
40	Yards lost	39
132	Net yards	6
	PASSING
5	Completions	31
10	Attempts	51
50.00%	Percentage	60.78%
0	Intercepted	0
79	Net yards	301
	TOTAL OFFENSE
211	Net yards	307
	PUNTS
1	Attempts	3
48	Average	18.67
	RETURN YARDS
-6	Punt returns	0
24	Kickoff returns	15
0	Interception returns	0
	FUMBLES
3	Total	2
2	Fumbles lost	0
	PENALTIES
13	Total	10
122	Yards lost	80

 

Rushing

Num	Player	Total_Carries	Total_Yards	Long	Average	Yards_Gained	Yards_Lost	Carries	FD	TD
5	Higgins, Tee	2	11	10	5.5	11		10,  1
6	Allison, T.J.	11	31	9	2.8	32	1	2,  2,  2,  9,  0,  3,  5,  3, -1,  6,  0	1
10	Kimbro, Chase	1	12	12	12.0	12		12
14	Dunbar, Jordan	9	27	17	3.0	55	28	9,  17,  11,  4, -5, -12, -11,  12,  2	6
25	Jackson, Caleb	2	9	8	4.5	9		1,  8
30	Graham, Jordan	7	44	30	6.3	53	9	7,  3,  0,  30, -9,  4,  9	1
41	Jackson, Tre	1	-2	-2	-2.0		2	-2

 

Receiving

Num	Player	Completions	Yards_Gained	Yards_Lost	Total_Yards	Catches	FD	TD
5	Higgins, Tee	3	57		57	 23,  4,  30		2
6	Allison, TJ	1	17		17	 17
9	Middleton, Darel	1	5		5	 5

 

Passing

Num	Player	Completions	Attempts	INT	Percent	Yards_Gained	Yards_Lost	Total_Yards	Catches	FD	TD
14	Dunbar, Jordan	5	10		50.00%	79	0	79	 5,  23,  4,  17,  30		2

 

Tackles by Position – Clinton 2015
No.	Name	Tack	Assists	TOT	Yards	Sacks	Yards	INTs	Yds	Fum	Rcv	Fum	Blk	Blk	Blk	TD
					Lost		Lost			Rec	Yds	Cause	FG/EP	Punt	Pass
54	Clark, Kyndall		8	13	0.5										 1
25	Jackson, Caleb	4	3	7		1	8
56	Warmbrod, Matt	4	2	6						 1						 1
10	Kimbro, Chase	4	1	5	6	1	5
31	Ka’Yon Waters	2	3	5	 0.5	 0.5	 1								 1
53	Henderson, Jamalcolm	3	1	4	3
1	Miner, Jaret	2	1	3									1
11	Warrington, Gavin	1	1	2		1	12								1
32	Middeton, Davon	1	1	2
66	Alcorn, Alex	1	1	2		1	11								1
7	Gross, Jacob	1		1
14	Dunbar, Jordan	1		1
28	McGhee, Jaycen	1		1											1
30	Graham, Jordan	1		1						1					1
5	 Higgins, Tee		 1	 1
9	 Middleton, Darel		 1	 1		 0.5	 7
24	 Simpson, Adarius		 1	 1
	GameTotals	31	25	56	10	5	44	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	5

More information will be added as it becomes available.

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