The Oak Ridge Lady Wildcats won the Region 2-AAA championship for the second year in a row on Wednesday, crushing Hardin Valley 71-42 in their best overall game. Here are photos by Luther Simmons. [Read more…]
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The Oak Ridge Lady Wildcats won the Region 2-AAA championship for the second year in a row on Wednesday, crushing Hardin Valley 71-42 in their best overall game. Here are photos by Luther Simmons. [Read more…]
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Note: This story was updated at 10:15 a.m.
The Oak Ridge Lady Wildcats won the Region 2-AAA championship for the second year in a row on Wednesday, crushing Hardin Valley 71-42. Oak Ridge Coach Paige Redman said it was the best overall game she’s seen the girls play.
“This game showed me a lot about them from start to finish on both ends of the court,” Redman said. “We played really, really well.”
The Lady Wildcats (29-3) had at least 15 steals, and they scored on eight of those. Oak Ridge had 25 points off of turnovers, including steals. Some of those turnovers led to three-point shots, some to layups, and still others to two-point plays converted into three-point plays because of Hardin Valley fouls.
Oak Ridge also had at least a half-dozen feeds in the paint for a basket, sometimes from one player standing near the free throw line to another cutting inside toward the basket when Hardin Valley guards came out too far.
“Tonight they played basketball,” Redman said of her team. “It was the best overall game I’ve seen them play.” [Read more…]
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Maryville senior guard Easton Upchurch scored 25 points and made seven three-point shots on Tuesday, but it wasn’t enough to keep Oak Ridge from advancing to its fifth straight regional championship.
The Wildcats were held to their lowest offensive output of the season in the 46-43 Region 2-AAA semifinal win over the Rebels at Wildcat Arena. No Oak Ridge player scored more than 13, which is unusual.
Maryville Coach Mark Eldridge said Oak Ridge has better players than the Rebels, so his team tried to limit the number of possessions. More possessions mean the better team wins, Eldridge said.
The Wildcats probably had about half as many possessions as they normally do, Oak Ridge Coach Aaron Green said. Maryville has guards who are good enough that the Rebels could run time off the clock—and they did.
“Sometimes you have to find ways to grind them out,” Green said. “Our guys haven’t had a lot of close games, and our guys kept their composure.”
Oak Ridge (28-2) advances to play Bearden (21-8) in the Region 2-AAA championship at Wildcat Arena at 7 p.m. Thursday. The season is over for Maryville (24-6). [Read more…]
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KNOXVILLE—Oak Ridge finished as Region 2-AAA runner-up at Bearden on Thursday, and the Wildcats play Dobyns-Bennett in a sectional soccer game in Kingsport this afternoon (Saturday, May 21). Here are more photos from Thursday’s game.
The winner of today’s game will advance to the Class AAA state tournament in Murfreesboro next week.
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KNOXVILLE—Oak Ridge finished as Region 2-AAA runner-up at Bearden on Thursday, and the Wildcats play Dobyns-Bennett in a sectional soccer game in Kingsport this afternoon (Saturday, May 21). Here are photos from Thursday’s game.
The winner of today’s game will advance to the Class AAA state tournament in Murfreesboro next week.
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Farragut High School’s baseball team punched its ticket to the Class AAA state tournament with a 13-0 victory over Morristown East in a sectional game at John Heatherly Field at the Ballpark in Farragut.
The Admirals, who posted a runner-up finish in Murfreesboro in 2015, will begin their quest for a 10th state title Tuesday.
Farragut (37-6) had endured some offensive struggles during the postseason but broke out in a big way against Powell in the Region 2-AAA championship game in Farragut on Wednesday night. The Admirals scored five runs in their last at-bat against the Panthers and came off the field with a 6-5 victory after erasing an early five-run deficit.
Farragut wasted little time Friday picking up where it left off Wednesday. The Admirals took advantage of a pair of errors by the Hurricanes in the bottom of the first and scored six runs on just three hits in the bottom of the first inning. [Read more…]
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Note: This story was last updated at 12:35 a.m.
Oak Ridge eliminated Maryville 2-1 in a Region 2-AAA semifinal game at home on Tuesday, and the Wildcats advance to play at Bearden in the region championship on Thursday.
Oak Ridge scored the winning goal on a header by senior defender Blake Clowers off a corner kick by junior forward Austin Vinyard with 8:21 remaining in the playoff elimination game.
The Wildcats are guaranteed two more games: the Region 2-AAA championship and a state sectional. In the sectionals, the Region 1 champion plays the Region 2 runner-up, and the Region 2 champion plays the Region 1 runner-up.
The Region 2 championship game will start at 4 p.m. Thursday at Bearden High School in Knoxville. The sectionals are Saturday.
The Region 1 championship between Sevier County and Dobyns-Bennett starts at 6 p.m. Thursday in Sevierville.
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Note: This story was last updated at 5:15 p.m.
Continuing a string of successes on the basketball court, the Oak Ridge Wildcats won the Region 2 championship in a 70-40 victory over Karns on Thursday. The boys’ regional win at home came one day after the girls won a Region 2 championship at Bearden.
This year, the two teams both won the District 3-AAA championships and the Region 2-AAA championships. It’s the first time that’s happened since 2008.
The Wildcats (34-2), the Region 2 champion, now move on to play David Crockett, the Region 1 runner-up, in a Class AAA sectional game on Monday. The winner advances to the state tournament. David Crockett (29-5) is one of only two teams that beat Oak Ridge this year.
“They are one of the better teams we’ve played all year,” Oak Ridge Coach Aaron Green said. “It’s going to be a tough game. It should be a tremendous basketball game. There’s a lot on the line.”
The Pioneers eked out a two-point 89-87 win over the Wildcats on two free throws in double overtime in the Arby’s Classic on December 29. [Read more…]
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Note: This story was last updated at 3:15 p.m. March 3.
KNOXVILLE—The Oak Ridge Lady Wildcats upset Bearden and won their first Region 2-AAA championship since 2010 on Wednesday, and freshman Jada Guinn was named most valuable player in the regional tournament—one week after being named most valuable player in the district tournament.
The 49-35 win for Oak Ridge, the Region 2 champion, means the Lady Wildcats (27-4) will have home-court advantage when they play Dobyns-Bennett in a Class AAA sectional at Wildcat Arena at 7 p.m. Saturday. Dobyns-Bennett (25-10) is the Region 1 runner-up.
Bearden (27-6), the Region 2 runner-up, will also play in a Class AAA sectional, but the Lady Bulldogs will have to travel to Morristown West (30-3), the Region 1 champion.
Sectional winners advance to the state tournament. [Read more…]
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Powell had more rebounds and Oak Ridge Coach Aaron Green wasn’t pleased with the defense, but the Wildcats prevailed over the Panthers in a Region 2-AAA semifinal game with help from the 32 points of juniors E.J. Bush and Tee Higgins.
The 53-48 win in a playoff elimination game at Wildcat Arena on Tuesday sends Oak Ridge (33-2) to the Region 2-AAA championship game on Thursday. Oak Ridge will face Karns (22-7) for the fourth time this season. The Wildcats have won the previous three contests.
Tuesday’s game was the fourth time that Oak Ridge battled Powell (22-11) this season. The Wildcats won all four matches, a difficult feat, Green said. Two of the wins were in the regular season, one was in the District 3-AAA tournament, and the last was in the Region 2-AAA tournament on Tuesday.
It’s hard to beat a team four straight times, Green said. The Tuesday night game was the closest of the four this year.
“I told the guys the last two days this is going to be a dog fight,” Green said. “This is the toughest game of the year.” [Read more…]
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For the second year in a row, the Oak Ridge High School boys cross country team has won the Region 2-AAA championship. The boys finished first in Knoxville on Thursday.
Oak Ridge senior Gashaw Duhamel finished first in the 5k race. Senior Tyler Boullie finished third, senior Thomas Colburn was sixth, junior Jacob Etheridge was seventh, and senior Daniel Beckett finished ninth.
The Oak Ridge boys team will compete in the state meet on Saturday, November 7, at Percy Warner Park Steeplechase Course in Nashville.
Here are photos by Adrian Etheridge from the 5k (5,000 meter) race on Thursday at Victor Ashe Park in Knoxville. [Read more…]
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Note: This story was last updated at 7:20 p.m.
For the second year in a row, the Oak Ridge High School boys cross country team has won the Region 2-AAA championship. The boys finished first in Knoxville on Thursday.
Oak Ridge senior Gashaw Duhamel finished first in the 5k race. Senior Tyler Boullie finished third, senior Thomas Colburn was sixth, junior Jacob Etheridge was seventh, and senior Daniel Beckett finished ninth.
Here are their times:
Oak Ridge finished with 26 points, and the other two teams in the top three, Maryville and Hardin Valley, both finished with 72. A lower score is better.
The Oak Ridge boys team will compete in the state meet on Saturday, November 7, at Percy Warner Park Steeplechase Course in Nashville. [Read more…]