Cactus Jack

I haven’t seen Central play but I know Coach Rosser and can attest to the fact that he is a fine football coach and will be prepared. Catholic has very good lines and a quarterback who can pick you a part if he has time. The key to the game I think is if Centrals lines can play with them and on offense, run the ball, and on defense pressure the quarterback with their front people allowing the secondary to cover. I think Catholic wins, but I am pulling for Central.

Everybody be sure and turn out Thursday night for the Jefferson vs Robertsville game. Jefferson is coming off a huge comeback win in the last minute over CAK 18-16. Big crowd will encourage kids on both teams to continue their football careers at ORHS next season, some good prospects on both teams.

I was at the OR vs West game and I got to tell you West has a great defense, they read well, #4 the defensive end is everywhere. If they get you behind two scores you are in big trouble. I did think the West defense wore down late against OR, as we started getting plus yardage we were not getting in the first half. Farragut's ability to throw the ball down the field may be the difference IF they can protect their quarterback, Booker had to scramble a lot in our game and the good thing was his ability to escape the rush and get some yardage. I don't think West offense can move the ball consistently on Farragut, OR gave them a short field for two scores and you have to avoid that if you are Farragut this week. If Farragut starts fast and scores early, they will be fine, if they start slow and let West score first, dog fight. I think it will be Farragut 31-21, with an edge to Farragut's kicker.

Pretty good, I enjoyed working with Coach Blade while he was at Oak Ridge, He is a football guy and his knowledge of the game at every position is impressive. I enjoyed watching film with him because he doesn't miss anything, he can really explain the details. Best of luck to him and the Independence team this season.

Got to say Farragut in a WIne and Cheese win.....Bradley sounds too green to win at Fox Den.

Got to go with the Mavs in a blowout in this one.....Dragons are waiting down the road

First games are always full of unknowns, like last years game at OR. I expect it to be a low possession game, with both sides moving the ball on drives, some scores, some not. Kicking game will be important and can OR stop the run, and can HVA prevent the big explosive plays. Turnovers of course could change the game either way. Lets hope the Cats send Mark Packer home unhappy.

Dragons take this one, they should be improved this year and I really like the nice job they did on their indoor facility. Do my friends at AC hear footsteps???

Catholic has some good D-1 talent, but I think Maryville is a better team, although I am not sure they are quite up to some of the previous years teams. Should be a good ball game. Ill take the Rebels in a close one.

I will take DB in a close one, advantage of a big line and a solid running back and playing at J. Fred. Hope the Green Devils soften them up some though before they come to Oak Ridge next week;

Turfs just the first part of it, they are still raising money for the second stage, especially the replacement of the home side upper and lower bleachers, which are at the end of their useful time. I do think they may need to consider capital funding for the bleachers because they really don’t need to wait on donations.

One point on turf fields, the weather, as Coach Blade once told me, he said with the weather here it’s needed. I like a good grass field, but it has to be maintained week by week, especially in the rainy seasons, even UT has had issues with their field. Weather is why schools are going to it, not just because it’s a fad or looks nice.

Also, I think we have a chance to be pretty good this year, we have good people at skill positions, good young players who will contribute and could be very good by playoff time. There are some great games on the early schedule at home, Kingsport DB and Farragut, plus the last game of the season with Fulton coming here. The Spring Practice I saw was good with some work to do yet in some areas, we will have new kickers and quarterback. There is a 7 on 7 at Maryville College in July and scrimmages with Maryville and Heritage in August. Home opener at Hardin Valley on Thursday with Packervision there, August 16 will be a tough test on Hardin Valley's new field turf.

Just FYI to everybody, the word is that the installation of the field turf is still due to start on June 2, immediately after graduation exercises are done and be ready for the August 24 home opener against Kingsport DB. At last check, they were still having issues with the State on the grant, but they are expected to be resolved in time for the June 2 start date. So we are in a wait and see mode. Hopefully it will move forward since the grass field took a beating the last three playoff games and would need some major work to be ready to play on by August 24.

I also think that we have a chance to have a really good team next year, we have some good returning starters and players as well as having a very good freshman team coming up. For the record, I think Catholic should have been playing in the private class, they got players from everywhere and had several D-1s on the field. We gave them the best game in the playoffs, I watched their championship game with an undefeated Beech team, which was pretty good, but no match for Catholic's talent. I think had we not had Catholic there, we would have had a good chance to reach Cookeville and the game with Beech would have been a very good game.

The word is the start date on the installation of field turf is sometime in January, 2018, weather permitting. FIrst they will have to remove the crown, which involves removing the dirt and the sprinkler system underneath it. They also want to position a small visitors side press box on the visitors side bleachers (they already have it) before the field turf is installed since it will involve using a crane. This will free up room in the home side press box. (if we get a jumbotron in a couple of years, there has to be computers in the press box to run it and that will need space too.) Then the field turf ( the same kind that was installed at Notre Dame, which is very good) will be installed as well as the walking track and some trail improvements to the trail behind the visitors bleachers, which is part of the requirements of the grant the city got. The grant also has requirements for public use open from dawn to dusk. Some work is also planned on the ticket booth end of the field, but I am not sure of the extent of that......all this is due to be completed by June 1, in time for the ORHS Graduation ceremonies. The first home game played on the turf will be the Kingsport Dobyns-Bennett game the last Friday in August, although there might be a scrimmage before that, One thing I think needs attention up there in the next few years are replacement of the home side upper and lower bleachers, both are old and showing deterioration, the lower part was installed in 1944 by Leslie Groves, I think a 4000 seat grandstand there would be good, and make the total stadium seating 6000. The capacity of the old bleachers with the old visitors side was 6554. Money spent up there is well spent for future teams and citizens who wish to use the facility. I think Oak Ridge is beginning to come out of a 30 year decline, if more DOE land can be freed up for new housing construction and new manufacturing jobs come in at the K-25 site and Horizon Center, the town will ramp back up. We can only hope,

Hopefully the scoreboard will be working by the Knox West game, parts were ordered the week before the Hardin Valley game, but didn't make it in time, as of the Maryville freshman game last Monday the scoreboard was still out. Many thanks to Ray Evans and his crew for the landscaping and clean up work around the ticket booth area, first time it had been touched since the Quarterback Club did it around 2000, Great job!!

Everybody is building a fence to the sidelines designed to string Jordan out and make him run out of bounds or try to reverse field, they just hold their positions and tackle him when he comes to them, they don't come across the line, because he could cut underneath them. We have moved him around but the result is usually the same defense. He gets through for a couple of runs a game, but for the most part this defense has been successful. To beat it, he needs lead blocking, but our offense doesn't use a fullback much, or he needs good blocks where he wants to turn up field. The fence strategy fails if he gets through it or past it.

Turnovers. "The team that makes the fewest mistakes wins" sound familiar. Two fumbles inside the 20, a pick 6 on the 30, take them out and the game is 28-21, Farragut may have still won, but it's a lot closer. We got to cut down on turnovers, improve offensive execution and not leave the defense on the field so long as was the case in all our games so far. West has a very strong defensive team, with a very strong D Line, so let's get the bugs out in practice this week and be ready Friday night! We can run the table, but we got to play hard, mistake free football.

I would really like to see this game. I think its a measuring stick for both teams and is especially interesting to Oak Ridge fans as we travel to Kingsport next week to play DB. Does anyone have any predictions on the outcome? Looking forward to visiting J Fred. great job they did upgrading it. I wish that we could get the same done on Blankenship Field.

Oak Ridge High School Wildcats * 1958 Regular Season Record 10-0 Knox. East 54-0 W Chattanooga City 46-6 W Knox. South 34-0 W Science Hill 27-0 W Unicoi County 52-0 W McMinn County 40-14 W MBA 56-0 W Cookeville 54-0 W Fulton 61-0 W Chattanooga Central 14-6 W Coach Jack Armstrong Average Points For/Game43.8 Average Points Against/Game2.6

Boosters should probably run a reverse raffle for the uniforms, they can because they have the non profit status....cookies may not raise enough to get them for this season, and its for sure the school budget probably doesn't have any money for them in it.....

I'm OK with the new uniforms, and I am an old guy....the kids are the ones playing, If that is what they want, then OK with me, especially if it gets more kids out for football......I'll buy some cookies.....All gray does fit with us since it is one of our colors..... I would like to have some home games (maybe one a year) if possible in throwback uniforms (jerseys), like the 50s, 60s and the ones we used from 70 through 2011. Of course that costs money and that is a big obstacle in OR.

Farragut very good up front and has good size....seems like everyone is bigger than OR this year on the lines. Admirals have cruised against token opposition in their first two games while the Wildcats have had two battles. Shaping up to be another close game this coming Friday at Fox Den. Big game for both teams as it is a critical 2-5A game now. Winner may have a leg up in the region race and a home field playoff spot. The win at DB was big, but this game is more important for Oak Ridge.