The Oak Ridge Wildcats and Lady Wildcats opened the 2018-2019 season with wins in non-district games at Meigs County on Tuesday.
The boys won 72-27, and the girls won 56-38.
It was the first time the Oak Ridge and Meigs County boys teams have played against each other, according to broadcaster David Clary of Prepradio.com. The girls last met in 1994. [Read more…]
Oak Ridge senior quarterback Herbert Booker (13), left, is pictured with senior wide receiver Jeremy Mitchell (1) during a 40-23 win at Soddy-Daisy on Friday, Nov. 9, 2018. (Photo by Luther Simmons)
Oak Ridge High School senior Herbert Booker, who plays quarterback and cornerback, is a finalist for the Tennessee Titans Mr. Football Award.
Booker is one of three finalists in Division I Class 5A. The other two are Deshawn Page of Fulton High School and Cade Larkins of David Crockett High School.
The Tennessee Titans Mr. Football Awards will be presented to the top football players in nine classifications of the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association on Sunday, November 25, at Nissan Stadium in Nashville. For the 17th consecutive year, the top kicker in the state will be recognized with a Mr. Football Award, regardless of classification.
Five semifinalists in each classification, including Booker, were announced on November 2. There are six classifications in Division I and three in Division II.
Three finalists for each category were announced by Mike Keith on the Titans website on Monday afternoon. Those three finalists for each award will be invited to attend the awards dinner at Nissan Stadium, where the winner of each award will be announced, a press release said. [Read more…]
Oak Ridge senior Jordan Graham (8) runs behind the blocking of junior Tyrell Romano (21) during a 54-28 win at Clinton on Friday, Oct. 12, 2018. (File photo by Barry Houchin)
Note: This story was last updated at 1:45 p.m.
The four touchdowns of senior Jordan Graham helped propel Oak Ridge to a 40-23 win in a second-round playoff game at Soddy-Daisy on Friday and a rematch with Knoxville Catholic in a quarterfinal game at home next Friday.
The Wildcats (10-2) did not score on their first possession on Friday, but then they scored on their next four drives to take a 27-3 halftime lead. Graham, who finished with 134 yards on 10 carries, had two touchdowns in that half. He added two more in the second.
Soddy-Daisy (6-5), which won a first-round matchup against Clinton last week, was more successful in the second half on Friday when senior quarterback Gavin Chambers played. They scored on two of their first three drives in the third quarter. Chambers threw for 170 yards and had two touchdown passes to narrow the margin to 40-23. The Trojans had no passing yards in the first half when senior wide receiver Spencer Gore was quarterback, according to preliminary statistics by Mark Haste.
Chambers did not start due to an injury from three weeks ago against Signal Mountain, and the Oak Ridge defense took advantage of the senior’s absence in the first half, the Chattanooga Times Free Press reported. Soddy-Daisy Coach Justin Barnes told the newspaper that the Trojans, unsure of how Chambers was feeling, wanted to stick with what they’ve been doing the past few weeks because it had worked before Friday. [Read more…]
At right, Dalton Morgan, now a senior at Oak Ridge High School, competes at the state cross country championship meet in Nashville on Nov. 4, 2017. At left is Reid Dukes, who was then a senior and has since graduated. (File photo by Kindell Moore)
Senior Dalton Morgan of Oak Ridge High School will race in the state cross country championship in Nashville today (Saturday, November 3).
Morgan, who will run in the Division I Large School group, advanced to the state meet by finishing fifth with a time of 16:46 at the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association Region 2 Championship at Victor Ashe Park in Knoxville on October 25. The top three teams at the regional meets advance to the state championship. The Oak Ridge boys finished sixth. But runners like Morgan who finish in the top 10 at the regional meets advance even if they’re not on a qualifying team.
The top four runners at the Region 2 championship were senior Jake Renfree of Knoxville Catholic (15:53), junior Tommy Ward of Maryville (16:25), senior Jordan Thomas of West (16:39), and senior Preston Ruth of Bearden (16:40). Renfree finished fourth in the state meet last year with a time of 15:59.02. [Read more…]
Oak Ridge shut out Rhea County 42-0 in a first-round Class 5A playoff game on Blankenship Field on Friday, Nov. 2, 2018. Above, coach Joe Gaddis talks to the Wildcats after the game. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Note: This story was last updated at 10 a.m. Nov. 3.
Oak Ridge shut out Rhea County 42-0 in the first round of the Class 5A football playoffs on Blankenship Field on Friday.
“That was a complete game,” Oak Ridge Coach Joe Gaddis said. “It couldn’t have been more timely. No one has beaten them (Rhea County) like this.”
The Wildcats (9-2), a Region 3 team, advance to play at Soddy-Daisy (6-4), a Region 4 team, in the second round at 7 p.m. next Friday (November 9). Soddy-Daisy eliminated Clinton (a 4-7 Region 3 team) in another first-round game this Friday.
Winners of the second-round games advance to the state quarterfinals. The winner of the Oak Ridge-Soddy-Daisy game will play the winner of Catholic-Fulton in a quarterfinal game on Friday, November 16. [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge Wildcats walk down the stairs at Jack Armstrong Stadium before a 41-12 win over Dobyns-Bennett on Blankenship Field on Friday, Aug. 24, 2018. (Photo by Barry Houchin)
The Oak Ridge Wildcats will host Rhea County in a first-round Class 5A football playoff game today. The game will start at 7 p.m. Friday, November 2, on Blankenship Field in Oak Ridge.
The two teams last met in the playoffs four years ago, in November 2014, when Oak Ridge had a thrilling fourth-quarter comeback, narrowing a three-touchdown deficit to one. But the Wildcats were unable to make up for missed opportunities and turnovers and fell to the Golden Eagles 35-21 in a state quarterfinal playoff game. At 12-0, both teams were undefeated before the game, which made it a historic showdown on Blankenship Field.
This year’s Rhea County team has a losing record at 4-5 in Region 4, while the Wildcats are 8-2 and finished second in Region 3. [Read more…]
The Tennessee Valley Authority and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have reached a multi-agency agreement to provide continued funding for three federal fish hatcheries that have stocked waters in Georgia and Tennessee with millions of trout. The agreement was announced Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2018, at a press conference beside the Clinch River below Norris Dam. (Photo courtesy Tennessee Valley Authority)
The Tennessee Valley Authority and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have reached a multi-agency agreement to provide continued funding for three federal fish hatcheries that have stocked waters in Georgia and Tennessee with millions of trout.
The partnership, which began in 2013, includes the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
Since 2013, TVA has been funding trout production by the Service at three national fish hatcheries: Dale Hollow and Erwin in Tennessee, and Chattahoochee Forest in Georgia. The trout are then provided to the following tailwaters: Apalachia (Hiwassee River), Blue Ridge, Boone, Cherokee, Fort Patrick Henry, Normandy, Norris, South Holston, Tims Ford, and Wilbur. Trout-stocked reservoirs in the plan include Fort Patrick Henry, South Holston, Parksville, Watauga, and Wilbur reservoirs.
The four partner agencies announced the new agreement Tuesday at a press conference beside the Clinch River below Norris Dam. The agreement provides partnership funding through fiscal year 2021, a press release said. [Read more…]
Oak Ridge senior quarterback Herbert Booker (13) runs during a 41-13 win at Sevier County on Friday, Sept. 21, 2018. (Photo by Luther Simmons)
Herbert Booker, the senior quarterback and cornerback for the Oak Ridge Wildcats, has been named a Mr. Football semifinalist.
The semifinalists for the Tennessee Titans Mr. Football Awards were announced Thursday by the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association, or TSSAA.
Booker, who also plays basketball for the Wildcats, was named a Mr. Football semifinalist in Division I, Class 5A.
He was one of five semifinalists. The other four are Michael Burdick of Page, Cade Larkins of David Crockett, Deshawn Page of Fulton, and Grayson Tramel of Shelbyville.
Stanton Martin, Anderson County’s quarterback, was named a semifinalist in Division I, Class 4A. [Read more…]
Julio Sanchez
Coach Julio Sanchez has been hired by the Oak Ridge Rowing Association as head coach of Atomic Rowing.
Sanchez is experienced as both a rower and a coach, a press release said. He has rowed on elite national teams for Argentina and Spain, and he continues to compete at the national level as a master sculler, the release said.
Sanchez recently came back from Sarasota, Florida, after competing at the FISA Masters Worlds Regatta. He also had much success as the coach of the Spanish Junior National team, as well as U.S. teams such as Miami, Sarasota Scullers, and Westerville, the press release said.
“With Oak Ridge Rowing Association having the best rowing venue in the country, I am incredibly excited to get started and work with this team,” the press release said. “The club is filled with amazing and hardworking rowers that have welcomed me with open arms.” [Read more…]
Pictured above during a 54-28 win at Clinton on Friday, Oct. 12, 2018, are Oak Ridge junior linemen Tyler Galloway (72) and Issair Franquez (70). (Photo by Barry Houchin)
After a week off earlier this month, the Oak Ridge Wildcats (8-1, 5-0 Region 3-5A) have had two more regional wins in the past two weeks: a 54-28 win at Clinton on Friday, October 12, and a 28-21 win at home against Powell on Friday, October 19.
Here are photos from the Clinton game by Barry Houchin. [Read more…]
Oak Ridge trailed Powell in the first half on Blankenship Field on Friday, Oct. 19, 2018, but took the lead and a 28-21 win in the second half.
Note: This story was last updated at 11:45 a.m. Oct. 20.
Oak Ridge trailed Powell in the first half on Blankenship Field on Friday but took the lead and a 28-21 win in the second half.
It was the second week in a row that Oak Ridge (8-1, 5-0 Region 3-5A) struggled in the first half but played better in the second. Last week, Oak Ridge led Clinton 24-21 at halftime but then scored 30 points in the second half to beat the Dragons 54-28.
The Wildcats will meet the only other undefeated team in the region, Fulton (also 8-1, 5-0), at 7 p.m. Thursday in Oak Ridge for the region championship. It’s the last regular-season game.
Powell (1-8, 1-5 after forfeiting six wins due to an ineligible player) had a 21-7 lead over Oak Ridge halfway through the second quarter on Friday. But the Wildcats narrowed the lead to 21-14 on a two-yard run by senior Jordan Graham with 1:20 remaining before halftime. The Wildcats then scored two more touchdowns in the second half while holding the Panthers scoreless. [Read more…]
Submitted photo
Join park rangers for a hike along the Cedar Hill Greenway in Oak Ridge on Saturday, October 13.
The hike will begin at Cedar Hill Park, former location of Cedar Hill Elementary School at 10 a.m. Saturday. Along the hike, rangers will discuss the early school system of Oak Ridge, early shopping centers, and housing in the Clinton Engineer Works, a press release said. This 2.5-mile hike is considered moderately difficult, and some parts of the trail can wash out after a strong storm. Visitors are encouraged to wear appropriate footwear, insect repellent, and sunscreen, and bring drinking water.
Oak Ridge is part of the Manhattan Project National Historical Park. Besides Oak Ridge, the park includes Hanford, Washington, and Los Alamos, New Mexico. The three sites and others were involved in the Manhattan Project, a top-secret federal program to build the world’s first atomic weapons during World War II. [Read more…]
