Senior quarterback Jordan Dunbar (14) ran for 27 yards on nine carries and six first downs against the Clinton Dragons on Blankenship Field on Friday. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
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.
Oak Ridge freshman Jordan Graham (30) led the Wildcats in rushing on Friday, gaining 44 yards on seven carries against the Clinton Dragons. (Photo by Julio Culat)
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.
Oak Ridge junior linebacker Chase Kimbro (10), who had four tackles, one assist, and a sack, tackles Clinton senior quarterback Tyler Thackerson (8). (Photo by Julio Culiat)
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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