Wildcats use playoff ‘fury,’ determination to eliminate Soddy-Daisy

Sophomore wide receiver Tee Higgins (5) of the Oak Ridge Wildcats catches a 30-yard touchdown pass over defender Christian Bell (26) of the Soddy-Daisy Trojans, giving Oak Ridge a 23-14 lead midway through the third quarter in a first-round playoff game on Friday. (Photos by Julio Culiat)

Note: This story was last updated at 10:15 a.m.

Ahead by 17-14 at halftime, the Oak Ridge Wildcats played with fury and determination in the second half of their first-round playoff game on Friday and opened up a large lead against Soddy-Daisy, winning 53-28—despite an impressive offensive performance by the Trojans.

The undefeated Wildcats were not happy with the three-point margin at halftime.

“For it to be that close was just unacceptable,” junior running back Jaylen Nickerson said.

The 11-0 team was determined to play better in the second half against the best offense they had played all year, Coach Joe Gaddis said.

“We just came out and played with a fury,” he said.

While the Trojans had held Oak Ridge to two touchdowns and a field goal in the first half, they allowed four in the second—including two by Nickerson—and gave up a safety and an interception returned for a touchdown, or 36 points total.

“We were motivated,” Nickerson said.

Oak Ridge moves on to the second round of the Class 5A playoffs next week, playing at home against Cleveland (6-5). The Blue Raiders beat the Clinton Dragons 10-7 in another first-round elimination game on Friday.

The Wildcats and Trojans (4-7) were almost evenly matched in total yards of offense on Friday at Blankenship Field. Oak Ridge finished with 457, and Soddy-Daisy ended the night with 445.

Gaddis had warned that the Trojans were going to be a handful despite their record.

But Trojans quarterback Hunter Maynor, who had passed for almost 3,000 yards and 29 touchdowns in the previous 10 games, threw two interceptions on Friday, including one returned 87 yards for a touchdown by Wildcats safety Brandon Bonds with 1:50 remaining in the third quarter. The other interception set up an Oak Ridge scoring drive.

Junior T.J. Allison (6) was the leading rusher for the Wildcats on Friday with 175 yards on 19 carries and two touchdowns.

The turnover to Bonds came at an inopportune time, when the Trojans were still only down by nine points, Soddy-Daisy coach Justin Barnes said. The score by Bonds widened Oak Ridge’s lead to 30-14 near the end of the third quarter.

“We killed ourselves a little bit too much,” Barnes said.

The Trojans picked up most of their yards through the air, moving the ball 277 yards on 22 completions. Meanwhile, the Wildcats gained about three-quarters of theirs on the ground, or 347 yards on 37 carries.

Junior T.J. Allison was the leading rusher for the Wildcats on Friday with 175 yards on 19 carries and two touchdowns. Nickerson also topped 100 yards, with 132 yards on 16 carries.

“Those two guys ran like guys possessed,” Gaddis said.

Allison scored the first touchdown of the game on a one-yard run up the middle at 8:51 in the first quarter. That score capped a four-play, 57-yard drive on Oak Ridge’s opening series.

Oak Ridge scored its next two touchdowns on passes from junior quarterback Logan Fadnek to senior Jiminquas Johnson (four catches, 50 yards) at the end of the first quarter and sophomore Tee Higgins (three catches, 55 yards) on a five-minute, 73-yard drive in the third quarter.

In between, junior kicker Brandon Nickle added a 39-yard field goal.

The Trojans scored two touchdowns of their own in the first half, one on a 67-yard pass play from Maynor to senior Levi Thornton early in the second quarter and the other a three-yard run by junior running back Christian Bell near halftime.

They added a touchdown on a 20-yard quarterback keeper early in the fourth quarter, after Bonds’ touchdown on the interception.

Senior wide receiver Jiminquas Johnson (2) of the Oak Ridge Wildcats had four catches for 50 yards and one touchdown.

Allison powered up the middle on another touchdown run for Oak Ridge, this time from five yards out, with 8:42 left in the game. Oak Ridge picked up two more points on a safety about a minute later when a high Trojan punt snap bounced through the end zone.

Nickerson added the final two scores for the Wildcats, one on a two-yard touchdown run up the middle halfway through the fourth quarter and the other a 12-yard run that ended just inside the right pylon with 2:38 remaining.

In between, the Trojans added their final score, a 17-yard touchdown pass from Maynor to Thornton.

Fadnek finished the night with 10 completions on 14 attempts, 110 yards passing, and two touchdown throws. Maynor was 22-of-41 for 277 yards and two touchdown throws.

The senior members of the Oak Ridge secondary are pictured above. From left to right they are safeties Brandon Bonds (81) and Tommy Kaczocha (4), and cornerbacks Ted Mitchell (1) and Jemiah Hall (23). Bonds returned an interception 87 yards for a touchdown, Kaczocha returned a goal-line interception 25 yards to set up an Oak Ridge scoring drive, and Mitchell had three blocked passes.

Both coaches said their offensive lines played well, opening up big holes for their running backs, but both said their teams had too many penalties. Soddy-Daisy had seven penalties for 87 yards, and Oak Ridge had nine for 89. An unsportsmanlike conduct call against Oak Ridge with about 2.5 minutes to play in the first half kept alive a Trojans drive that Soddy-Daisy was able to turn into a touchdown.

“We didn’t play well in the first half,” Gaddis said.

Here are other defensive highlights besides the Bonds’ interception return for a TD:

• Senior cornerback Ted Mitchell and junior defensive Darel Middleton each had three blocked passes against Soddy-Daisy.
• Junior defensive end Alex Alcorn and senior Isaac Chapman, who spends most of his time on the offensive line, each had a sack.
• Senior safety Tommy Kaczocha also had a goal-line interception that he returned 25 yards, setting up a 74-yard scoring drive that ended with the 27-yard throw from Fadnek to Johnson as time expired in the first quarter.

The Wildcats won the district championship last week and ended the regular season 10-0 for the first time since 1999. They earned the Number 1 seed in Quad 2 of the Class 5A playoff bracket. Gaddis said that gives them home field advantage throughout the playoffs for the first time since 2005.

Soddy-Daisy was the Number 8 seed in Quad 2. Cleveland is Number 4.

Campbell County is the only other District 3-AAA team still in the Class 5A playoffs, which is now down to 16 schools across the state. Campbell County will play at South-Doyle on Friday.

Anderson County, Gibbs, and Knoxville Central all lost in the first round on Friday. See the updated playoff bracket here.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

Here are preliminary stats by Mark Haste:

Rushing Stats

Passing Stats

Receiving Stats