Note: This story was last updated at 2:40 p.m.
Oak Ridge lost to Ooltewah, 26-17, in a second-round Class 5A playoff game in Ooltewah on Friday. Here are pictures by Julio Culiat.
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Note: This story was last updated at 2:40 p.m.
Oak Ridge lost to Ooltewah, 26-17, in a second-round Class 5A playoff game in Ooltewah on Friday. Here are pictures by Julio Culiat.
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Note: This story was last updated at 10:25 a.m.
Oak Ridge beat Soddy Daisy 45-33 on big plays and turnovers in the first round of the 2015 Class 5A football playoffs on Blankenship Field on Thursday.
The Wildcats (10-1) will travel to Ooltewah (9-2) on Friday, November 13, for a second round game. The Owls, who are ranked eighth, beat the Clinton Dragons (4-7) in another first-round game on Thursday to advance to play Oak Ridge.
The Wildcats, who are ranked third, had another big night on defense and special teams. Oak Ridge senior Davon Middleton intercepted one Trojans pass in the end zone to stop one Soddy Daisy drive deep in Wildcat territory, and he later deflected a third-down pass near the goal line to help end another.
Junior wide receiver Tee Higgins and freshman running back Jordan Graham also had big nights. They each had two touchdowns for Oak Ridge.
One of Graham’s touchdowns came on the opening kickoff of the second half. The small, speedy freshman broke tackles and curled from the left side of the field—after it looked like he had been stopped—to the right before racing 88 yards to score on a run that took 25 seconds to complete. Graham ended the night with the two touchdowns, including one on a 50-yard run, and 154 yards on eight carries. [Read more…]
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Senior running back T.J. Allison scored two more touchdowns for Oak Ridge, and the Wildcats had their second shutout of the season in a 24-0 win over McMinn County at home on Thursday. Here are photos by Julio Culiat.
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Note: This story was updated with more photos at 4:23 p.m.
SEVIERVILLE—Oak Ridge scored three touchdowns and a field goal on four turnovers by Sevier County in a 44-34 win in Sevierville on Thursday.
The Wildcats added three more touchdowns without the help of turnovers to maintain their game-long lead over the Smoky Bears in a televised game on Hardin-Robertson Field.
Here are photos from the Thursday night game by Julio Culiat.
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Led by the three touchdowns of freshman Jordan Graham, the Oak Ridge Wildcats beat the Lenoir City Panthers 55-15 on Homecoming Night at Blankenship Field on Friday. Here are photos from the Friday night game, with all but one by Julio Culiat. [Read more…]
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Note: This story was last updated at 1:15 p.m. Sept. 19.
Wildcats freshman running back Jordan Graham scored three touchdowns, including one on the opening kickoff return and another in front of University of Tennessee Coach Butch Jones, during a 55-15 win over Lenoir City on Homecoming Night at Blankenship Field on Friday.
“It was a great experience,†Graham said. He gave credit to his teammates and their blocking for setting up his first three Wildcats touchdowns.
Graham, who ended with more than 100 yards rushing, started the scoring on a 91-yard kickoff return on the first play of the game. He initially fumbled the ball, but he recovered his own fumble and raced to the Panther end zone, first making defenders miss and then outrunning them.
Graham, a small, fast 14-year-old, scored again at 5:51 in the second quarter, sweeping around the right side of the offensive line after a toss from senior quarterback Jordan Dunbar, weaving through defenders in the center of the field, and running 59 yards to score inside the left pylon, making it 21-8. [Read more…]
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The Oak Ridge Wildcats had their first shutout of the football season, rolling over Anderson County 41-0 in a game that resumed Monday after being suspended because of lightning on Friday.
Here are pictures by Julio Culiat.
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KINGSPORT—A tipped pass intercepted by the Oak Ridge defense at their own 11-yard line with less than three minutes to play saved a 17-14 win for the Wildcats at Dobyns-Bennett on Friday. See the story here.
Here are pictures by Julio Culiat and John Huotari.
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Note: This story was last updated at 12 p.m. Aug. 29
KINGSPORT—A tipped pass intercepted by the Oak Ridge defense at their own 11-yard line with less than three minutes to play saved a 17-14 win for the Wildcats at Dobyns-Bennett on Friday.
Before the tipped pass and interception, the Indians had blocked a Wildcats punt at the Oak Ridge 33 and driven to the Oak Ridge 10. The Wildcats were ahead by three, but Dobyns-Bennett had a chance to tie the game or even take the lead.
But with 2:39 to play, Wildcats senior defensive end Alex Alcorn blocked a pass by Indians quarterback Cole Maupin, and senior linebacker Adam Manookian intercepted it, shifting the momentum from Dobyns-Bennett back to Oak Ridge.
After the interception, two big runs by senior quarterback Jordan Dunbar helped the Wildcats (2-0) get the football into Dobyns-Bennett territory, where Oak Ridge was able to let time run out at the end of the fourth quarter.
“It was definitely a nail-biter,” Manookian said. “They were so close to the end zone.” [Read more…]
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The Friday night football game between the Oak Ridge Wildcats and Clinton Dragons at Blankenship Field was very well-attended, with the ticket line snaking around the lower parking lot at Blankenship Field and down Broadway. The Wildcats won 24-13 in the season opener. Here are pictures by Julio Culiat and John Huotari.
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Note: This story was last updated at 3 a.m. Oct. 11.
KARNS—The Wildcats defense set the tone early in the 62-7 win at Karns on Friday night.
Less than one minute into the game, senior linebacker Ricky Chitwood picked off a Beavers pass and returned it 52 yards for a touchdown. The Oak Ridge defense went on to score twice more in the first half, once on an interception by senior Ted Mitchell early in the second quarter and the other on a fumble recovery by senior Tommy Kaczocha as time expired at halftime. Both plays covered about 25 yards.
The offense added five touchdowns of its own in a flurry of scores—including two touchdown catches by sophomore Tee Higgins in the second quarter—and the score at halftime was 56-0. That’s the most ever for an Oak Ridge football team in the first half, according to David Clary of PrepRadio.com.
The six-yard and 38-yard touchdown passes to Higgins came from junior quarterbacks Logan Fadnek (8-for-11, 85 yards) and Gavin Warrington (2-for-3, 48 yards). Warrington also scored on a 23-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter, while junior running back T.J. Allison scored on a two-yard run near the end of the first. Later, Fadnek connected with sophomore Caleb Jackson on a five-yard pass play to make it 42-0 at 2:16 in the first half. [Read more…]