Oak Ridge relies on two running backs in near-shutout over Campbell County

 

Note: This story was last updated at 2:15 p.m.

Wildcats shut down big passing gains for Cougars

The running game was working well and burning up the clock, so Oak Ridge coach Joe Gaddis stuck with it.

Two running backs, juniors T.J. Allison and Jaylen Nickerson, racked up more than 100 yards each and led the Wildcats to three touchdowns in the first, second, and third quarters. Kicker Brandon Nickle added a field goal in the fourth.

The 24-8 victory was an important district win for the Wildcats, who are now 6-0 overall and 4-0 in District 3-AAA. The only other undefeated team in the district is Anderson County (7-0, 6-0). The two teams will face off in the season finale on Thursday, October 30.

Oak Ridge came close to picking up its fourth shutout of the season on Friday night at Blankenship Field, preventing the Cougars, who had averaged 42 points per game, from scoring until late in the fourth quarter.

“Our defense played really well,” Gaddis said.

 

The defense had a few sacks and blocked passes, and a couple of big hits.

The Wildcats had 276 yards of total offense, and most of that—228 yards—was on the ground. And almost all of it came from Allison (107 yards, 20 carries) and Nickerson (122 yards, 22 carries).

“They both ran really well and, for the most part, had really good blocking,” Gaddis said.

The Wildcats had had a great week of practice and were motivated by Oak Ridge’s loss at Campbell County last year.

Gaddis said the offensive line opened up holes for the running backs on Friday (Homecoming Night), and even though the holes closed quickly, Allison and Nickerson didn’t go down, sometimes making plays out of nothing.

“Our guys never stopped,” Gaddis said. “I bet we had more yards after contact than before.”

 

The Cougars picked up about three-quarters of their 202 yards through the air on 20 of 26 completions (76.9 percent). But the Wildcats prevented the Cougars from turning three- or four-yard pickups into 12-15 yard gains, coach Justin Price said. Normally, 20 completions would translate into 300 yards for Campbell County, Price said.

Gaddis said Oak Ridge, which is 28-1 all time against Campbell County, played a physical game and played well up front.

“We were ready to play,” the coach said.

Oak Ridge scored first on an eight-yard touchdown run by Allison at 5:44 in the first quarter. Midway through the second quarter, Nickerson led the Wildcats on a 61-yard drive before angling into the left side of the end zone on a 24-yard touchdown run with 6:54 left in the half.

“It was pretty tiring, but we had to push through it,” Nickerson said of the role he and Allison played.

 

In the second half, Oak Ridge scored after Campbell County fumbled a punt snap at their 25-yard line and Allison punched into the end zone from one yard out, putting the Wildcats ahead 21-0 with 5:31 remaining in the third quarter.

“The line did a great job,” Allison said after the game, giving credit to his teammates.

Nickle kicked the 30-yard field goal at 9:36 in the fourth.

The Cougars avoided a shutout about six minutes later when they drove 94 yards, scored on a 41-yard pass from quarterback Ethan Jeffers to wide receiver Preston Miller with 3:18 left in the game, and added a two-point conversion to make it 24-8.

Gaddis said it was a big district loss for Campbell County, which lost to Anderson County 14-35 on September 12.

Still, “it’s a good feeling to be on this stage” and “making a game of it” against Oak Ridge at Blankenship, Price said. It’s the closest game the Cougars (5-2, 3-2) have had against the Wildcats at Blankenship Field.

“Our program has continued to take these small steps,” Price said, pointing out that Campbell County had 10 wins last year, has won 15 of its last 19 games, and reached its 100th win last week.

“We’re proud of where we are, but we also have some work to do to be a good program,” Price said.

All of Oak Ridge’s remaining games are district games. Before the Anderson County game, the Wildcats play at Karns (0-7, 0-5) next week, and at home against Powell (1-5, 1-3) on October 17 and against Central (3-3, 2-2) on October 24.

 

 

Here are preliminary stats, courtesy of Mark Haste:

TEAM STATISTICS
Oak Ridge		Campbell County
	FIRST DOWNS
14	Total	10
10	By rushing	4
3	By passing	5
1	By penalty	1
	RUSHING
45	Attempts	21
237	Yards gained	107
9	Yards lost	59
228	Net yards	48
	PASSING
4	Completions	20
8	Attempts	26
50.00%	Percentage	76.92%
0	Intercepted	0
48	Net yards	154
	TOTAL OFFENSE
276	Net yards	202
	PUNTS
2	Attempts	5
40.0	Average	33.4
	RETURN YARDS
0	Punt returns	3
32	Kickoff returns	33
0	Interception returns	0
	FUMBLES
0	Total	1
0	Fumbles lost	0
	PENALTIES
1	Total	3
15	Yards lost	30

 

Rushing Stats

Num	Player	Total_Carries	Total_Yards	Long	Average	Yards_Gained	Yards_Lost	Carries	FD	TD
29	Nickerson, Jaylen	22	122	24	5.55	124	2	1,  14,  7,  2,  24,  8,  3,  3,  9,  5,  2, -2,  5,  8,  8,  4,  2,  4,  2,  3,  1,  9	5	1
6	Allison, TJ	20	107	19	5.35	107		7,  5,  1,  6,  8,  0,  4,  19,  1,  4,  8,  2,  5,  4,  4,  1,  1,  4,  5,  18	5	2
15	Hardy, Malik	3	6	3	2	6		3,  2,  1
	TOTALS	45	235			237	2		10	3

Passing Stats

Num	Player	Completions	Attempts	INT	Percent	Yards_Gained	Yards_Lost	Total_Yards	Catches	FD	TD
17	Fadnek, Logan	4	7		57.14%	48	0	48	 21,  1,  13,  13	3
14	Dunbar, Jordan		1			0	0
	TOTALS	4	8			48	0	48		3

Receiving Stats

Num	Player	Completions	Yards_Gained	Yards_Lost	Total_Yards	Catches	FD	TD
2	Johnson, Jiminquas	2	34		34	 21,  13	2
81	Bonds, Brandon	1	13		13	 13	1
14	Dunbar, Jordan	1	1		1	 1
	TOTALS	4	48		48		3

Tackles by Position – Campbell Co. 2014
No.	Name	Tack	Assists	TOT	Yards	Sacks	Yards	INTs	Yds	Fum	Rcv	Fum	Blk	Blk	Blk
					Lost		Lost			Rec	Yds	Cause	FG/EP	Punt	Pass
11	Warrington, Gavin	4	5	9
34	Warmbrod, Matt	3	6	9	15
35	Manookian, Adam	3	5	8.5		0.5	6
23	Hall, Jemiah	3	1	4
66	Alcorn, Alex	3	1	4											1
22	Myer, Riley	2	2	4
1	Mitchell, Ted	1	2	3	7
81	Bonds, Brandon	1	2	3											1
99	Middleton, Darel	1	2	3
16	Chitwood, Ricky		2	2.5		0.5	6
54	Clark, Kyndall	1	1	2
53	Henderson, Jamalcolm	1		2		1	7
78	Fleming, Shawmain		2	2
4	Kaczocha, Tommy	1		1
7	Anderson, Jamar	1		1
24	Freeman, Trevon		1	1
36	Hammer, Wilson		1	1
3	Anderson, Jamal			0
6	Allison, TJ			0
10	Kimbro, Chase			0
15	Hardy, Malik			0
18	Hurd, Tomarrea			0
19	Nickle, Brandon			0
33	Hannah, Jordan			0
63	Brown, Diaz			0
68	Gray, Hunter			0
84	Miner, Jaret			0
86	Waddell, Ryan			0