Cactus Jack

I understand he broke his hip. Hopefully he will recover OK

Some of the good ones I remember: Red Etter - Chattanooga Central and Baylor Jack Armstrong, Emory Hale and Joe Gaddis - Oak Ridge George Quarles, Ted Wilson - Maryville Graham Clark - Kingsport DB John Cropp - Tennessee High of Bristol Craig Kisabeth - Jefferson County Calvin Short - Gallatin Gary Rankin - Riverdale, Alcoa Benny Monroe - McMinn County, Cleveland, Ooltewah Steve Brewer - Fulton, Sevier County Buck Coatney - Fulton Joel Helton - Knox Central Louis Thompson - Lincoln County More at other classes and in Middle and West Tennessee, the guy at Brentwood Academy for years, can't remember his name...

Not a big fan of Packer, they need to see about replacing him. I agree with those who have noticed his cracks and attitude, they are right, and I am glad to see I am not the only one who noticed that. On the other hand, I am glad to see them promoting high school football, just let Packer do the political shows, he would be better at that. Then he could deal with people who are like him!!

DB needs to avoid the early round playoff trap, they should win until the 3rd Round, which could be a matchup with Maryville, and if DB plays like they have so far, this could be a very good game and the Indians could pull the upset. DB is better this year, and GC is keeping them focused and tougher by playing the starters longer in the blowouts.

Hardin Valley is better than Karns, will rely on running the ball, controlling the clock. Had some good moments against Powell and dumped Halls 52-18 last Friday night. Cats don't need another slow start like they had against AC and Maryville, got to put the Hawks away early.

No contest, Farragut is a little down this year, good offense and passing game, but will have big problems stopping the Maryville offense. Maryville 35-14

All the credit in the world to Maryville, I thought they were the better team tonight. They are where Oak Ridge used to be. They have a good coaching staff, good players and a lot of them, good feeder programs, and good community support. Oak Ridge has good coaching, good starters, but are thin on numbers of players, the feeder systems haven't been quite up to speed and community support is not what it used to be and the town is not near as prosperous as Maryville is. As for the game, I thought Maryville would probably win, but I thought it would have been a 10 to 14 point game and be in some doubt going into the 4th quarter. Oak Ridge was in the game until the late 2nd quarter, when the tipped punt resulted in a 21-0 lead and then a late field goal gave Maryville the 24-0 lead. Another key point was the turnover on the interception at the 3 and the 93 yard run by Prevo to make it 14-0 instead of a possible 7-7 game. Its hard to compare past and present teams, but I believe the late 70s teams of Emory Hale and the 1991 Team of Joe Gaddis would have been able to hold their own with Quarles good Maryville teams, they had the athletes and the depth too. Maryville should go on to win out, Bearden may be tough next Friday, but they should win, the only East Tennesse obstacle would be a good DB team, better than past years, they have some speed and depth and could be a tough challenge should they play Maryville around week 3 of the playoffs. Oak Ridge should win out, but have to get refocused for an offensive minded Anderson County team this Friday to start with. The Wildcats goal now should be to win out, win the home playoff games it should get and get a shot at Maryville in the semifinals at Maryville. I think they would play better then. Good luck to both teams for the rest of their seasons.

Farragut did not play well at DB, and DB was very good. The punt return early set the Admirals back on their heels and they did not show any sign of life until the 4th quarter, when they scored twice, but DB came back with the starters taking 80 yards in 3 plays to seal the game. I think Farragut will make adjustments this week and play much better against Oak Ridge, they have a definate size advantage up front, so the Wildcats will have to make sure they can block them. I think the game will be a lot closer with Farragut playing better at home, but if Oak RIdge does not make mistakes, they will win this one.

I understand the Admirals are very big up front, they lost some good skill people from last year, but usually has enough depth to replace them. Coach Eddie Courtney does a fine job over there as does Graham Clark at DB. It should be a great game and a measuring stick for both teams. Like most Oak Ridge fans, we would love to get DB back on our schedule, its a great game to have and I would even be OK with dropping Maryville to do it. We will see them in the playoffs anyway, the way they got it going over there, it is almost automatice you will meet them if you go far enough. How are the plans going for the upgrade to J. Fred? I saw the drawing and it looks good. Wish we could get the OR City Council and School Board interested in upgrading Blankenship. Don't think we need the turf, we have a great grass field, but we need work on bleachers and other things. I will be listening on the radio, good luck to my friends at DB....

No, not unless the ordinary citizens start pushing the powers to be here to start getting some things done here...

Looking forward to the Farragut game, may drive up and watch, Oak Ridge has Farragut the following week, will be interested to see how this game turns out. One thing for sure, playing this Week 0 game with DB gives Farragut an advantage playing us. Also, hope we can work out the schedules next year to get DB back on the Oak Ridge schedule.....good luck to the Indians this year!!

Bounder is right, I was involved at that time too, and he is right on the money about the restroom job. We have been to the Board, Superintendent etc. several times about Blankenship, and we were extremely dissappointed when there was not some money earmarked for it in the High School renovation. We have a new basketball arena (good) and a new soccer field (good), and they were needed, but its time to remember that football game receipts go a long way to pay for the other sports at ORHS, and the prime money making sport needs support in the form of a major upgrade of Blankenship Field, which will take more than the clubs can raise. I noticed today that Fulton will dedicate its new stadium in a few weeks, and other schools have stepped up and done upgrades to their fields. Kingsport is considering a massive renovation to J. Fred Johnson Stadium, perhaps next year, and their School Board and Board of Alderman are actively discussing it and researching it. You never her Blankenship discussed at school board meetings here, and if you ask a City Council person about it, they just shrug their shoulders and say, "it belongs to the schools" and offer nothing. There are new companies perhaps coming into Oak Ridge soon and they may be able to help with donations and a mix of public and private money might get the work done. Blankenship was built in 1944 by Leslie Groves, and the last major school funded upgrade that I can remember was in 1979, when they installed new lights and aluminum bleacher bottoms, that has been over 30 years ago, so its time to spend some major money up there to make it nice, and not only for football, but it could be used for other city events like concerts for the Secret City Festival as well. Its a historic stadium and I want to see it improved.

Best of luck to my friends at DB this year. I hope we (Oak Ridge)can get you back on the schedule when the next schedules are decided....I will be there for your week zero game with Farragut, since we get them the next week. By the way, fill us in on how the addition of an upper deck to J. Fred is coming along. We hope to get the Oak Ridge School Board interested in some upgrades at Blankenship like you are doing at J. Fred.

I think it goes to 5 classes, and I think we play up....if the town ever comes back, the enrollment will come back, and our numbers will go back up some...we got to keep our feeder schools going, along with the Boys Club, to develop young talent. We have a good team coming this year, with the players we have, we can play up. We just need to get the town back from its current state...

I would prefer OR to play up, and I believe they will. I support lowering the tuition, its way too high, we could attract more students, and more players if we did. Maybe not all the way down to $500, but at least a 50% cut. What we really got to hope is that this town will start coming back, with manufacturing and retail, and new residents moving in to get the enrollment back up. Lots of houses for sale in town, especailly the older ones, which are affordable now due to the collapse of the market. It will go back to 5 classes and I think OR will be 5-A

Having met Jerry Joslin over the years, you couldn't ask for a better guy. Will miss seeing him in 6A,good luck at John Paul II, where he will be going up against another good friend at Father Ryan, Bruce Lussier.

I believe the schedule and the lack of strength in that Region up there hurts DB, because they usually are much better than the competition up there and the wins in the regular season come too easy, then the shock of the playoffs is too much. I would like to see DB and Oak Ridge play again, even if Oak Ridge had to let Maryville go, since the probability is that OR would probably see Maryville in the playoffs anyway. DB traded OR for Clinton, and Clinton is not very good right now, they may get better, but it may take a couple of years. Maybe Science Hill will get better now, I am hearing they are starting to work harder there to build the program up, especially since they have that nice stadium to play in. I wouldn't be too hard on Coach Clark, like any coach, he has to have players that can execute, and it sounds like breakdowns in the kicking game cost DB the Sevier County game and the fumble on the goal line kept DB from scoring and tying the game in OT, coaches don't fumble, players don't intend to fumble, but do, it just happens. You live or die in the playoffs by avoiding turnonvers. Good luck to the Indians next year.

Having seen both teams live, I would say it will be a good game early, Riverdale has a very good defensive line, they really did a good job stopping the run against Oak Ridge, but I think that Robinette and those tall Maryville receivers will cause the Warriors a lot of problems and find a way to break it open. Riverdale must run the ball and the clock to shorten the game and keep Maryville's offense off the field, they cannot have turnovers, because Maryville will make a living off of them, they know how to capitalize on them. Kicking game edge to Maryville too. Oak Ridge was a bit off when they played both teams, but they would have done better against Riverdale if they had been sharp like they were in their last 7 games. This one goes to the Rebels, 35-14

Joe Gaddis, he is coaching in NC and might be interested in coming back to ET. He is familiar with the Cleveland program and its potential. He likes to rebuild programs and would return the Blue Raiders to the Benny and the Jets glory days....

Maryville cruises easily, 35-14. Will be hard for SC to throw on Maryville, I would say they pick two or three, maybe one to the house. Great comeback for SC against DB, what is up with them, they seem to get bit in the playoffs each year, could be the soft district they are in, Upper ET not very strong overall.

The Question is: WILL THE BOUNDER MOTOR HOME MAKE ITS FIRST APPEARANCE OF THE SEASON IN COOKEVILLE!!!!

Got to go with AC, they have to win to make the playoffs, more at stake, however, the Dragons are playing at home and with a nothing to lose attitude. They have some size up front and on a wet field, that could help them run the ball right at AC. Also could slow AC's passing game some. Still, I would say AC 27 Clinton 10

I would like to see AC win, but you can hold them all night and then Mobley breaks one or two, Oak Ridge did, but the big plays kept Powell in it in the first half and then Zulliger went out and OR just tried to hang on, Key for AC is ball possession and finishing drives with touchdowns, OR came away empty or with a field goal when they could have put Powell away. AC must score off drives, and hope they contain Mobley for the most part, but I believe he will score. Got to go with Powell here, 28-14.

Farragut by two scores, they have a great offensive line, and 14 is a good back. Just think they will overpower West, 28-14