Govolsknox

Betsy is always tough, and even with Cole Smith, would have put up a big time fight especially without a 3 hour bus trip and playing at home. But I agree, CAK would have just been too much. As it stands, Betsy is the favorite, but I can't write off CAK by any stretch. They have adapted better than I thought they would (see my earlier post in this thread if you care to) and have a real opportunity to pull off the upset. Looks like I'm going to make the long drive and have to watch this one in person.

I'm totally confused by this....Alcoa plays Scott this week and will cruise. Catholic plays Fulton if I'm not mistaken and will play the Devils next week assuming both win this week....

I think you are referring to CAK's play calling. As I understand it, the current head coach, who has a defensive background has left the OC position with one of Bradley's former assistants, and he is calling plays. This is logical given that they have, for the majority of the year run that system "with a few wrinkles added in." Bradley's system is a one of a kind system, and IMO, the new coach only had two choices. Change systems all together or let one of Bradley's assistants call the plays. He chose the latter. Coach Bradley was and is a great coach, but one of the few knocks on him is that he did not let his assistants (with the exception of his father) do as much as many assistants do, and therefore, I think the new OC was not really experienced or ready in regard to play calling. This showed particularly early on, but improved dramatically as would be expected as that OC got experience in an actual game. I do think a few decisions he made were very questionable, but overall, for a first year OC I think he did a great job.

Good people can disagree and although I agree with your first paragraph, I totally disagree with your second. Don't get me wrong, I believe CGR is a fine coach. But when you dress over 90 kids at a 2A size school, and in an open zone area where 2 of the big 5A - 6A size schools in your county have weak programs (and the only other is a 6A program that has now virtually stopped taking out of zone kids as they are near capacity), you can safely predict a pretty good outcome. CGR did a great job of using open zoning legally to his benefit at Riverdale, and as that policy was changed, he changed locations. He is a fine man, and a very good coach, but I would have taken Gaddis over him in a skinny minute. It's one thing to win consistently when you ALWAYS have the best talent on the field and the most numbers of players. At Oak Ridge, he would have very good talent and good numbers, but not always a decided advantage like he does now. Gaddis was a proven commodity with a history of success at Oak Ridge, and a love for the town and the program. He was the right man for the job. Perhaps someone else could have done better, we'll never know, but since there are no crystal balls to look into and see the future, they gave the job to the man that seemed like he had the highest probability of success. Again, Just my opinions, Your mileage may vary.

Admittedly, after I became an adult and my kids started attending CAK, I started to follow their program. This also coincided with the SS era that frankly I could not hardly watch. But for many years I never missed an OR game, home or away and had great season tickets. Used to sit almost directly in front of Spencer's family. During that time I watched some great football under Hale, Gaddis, and Lussier, with an interlude during the Young era, and a really bad interlude during the early part of the SS era. I'll just offer a couple of thoughts. To those who say the game has passed Gaddis by, I'll just point out that OR was beaten by a team (Webb) who runs the antiquated Wing T. (Now they do it with precision and some athletes) but while there is no excuse for OR to lose that game, my point is that Webb's coach has run that same offense for 25 years. I don't think the game has passed Meske by, nor do I think it has passed Gaddis by. He didn't forget how to coach. I agree with others that Higgins was under used. Unlike Summers that you could just hand the ball to, it required more QB ability to get T the ball, OR it required the coach to be more creative getting the ball in his hands. I think Gaddis underperfomed in that area. When you have an athlete like that, you just have to Find or CREATE ways to get him the ball. Two trips inside the red zone in the final 3 minutes and coming away with no points is just rediculous. While I and many others are really disappointed (reminds me of the Jeff County loss in the mid 90's when we had the horses to go all the way, only this is far worse) and this is a bitter pill to swallow, I don't think firing Gaddis and creating more change-over and turmoil is what the program needs. Coming out of the SS era, that is the worst I have ever seen an Oak Ridge program handled. IMHO, the Wildcats need stability and not another change over. I agree Gaddis needs more help and creativity to improve his offense and use of his playmakers, but I would hate to see us try to make a wholesale change and end up accidentally going back something like the SS era... JMO. Your mileage may vary.

Number 16 for CAK needs to play both ways. He is extremely valuable as a receiver but he would also be one of the top defenders on the team. If we are going to play some players both ways, which we are, in my opinion, number 16 needs to be playing outside linebacker on almost all the snaps. That is no disrespect to the other players but I believe number 16 could not only contribute but start and be one of our top defense of players.

Yes they did. If I read the bracket correctly though, they would only meet in the finals. Same with SG if I didn't misread. They are in the other half of the bracket. Looks like USJ has BGA this week and if they win, would play either DCA or Lausanne who is 11-0. Tough road ahead, but I wouldn't count USJ out at all. As far as SG and FACS though, they play each other this week, and then will likely play Webb the following. So my opinion is that Webb will knock out which ever one is left before any possibility of a rematch in the finals. IMO Webb is the team to beat this year.

Betsy is the favorite in this game and should be the favorite. Let's be candid. In the CAK offense, if you lose your College prospect, Senior QB, that is a huge loss. Losing your starting QB in any system is significant, but losing him in CAK's system is huge. But I have to say from about half way through the second quarter tonight, throughout the end of the game, I saw significant growth by the new QB in confidence and competence in running our offense. At CAK we have been fortunate that other that one game in Charlie High's sophomore year, we have not had an injury to our QB that kept him from playing in many years. I suspect the new QB, who was a the starter at inside LB never expected to take a meaningful snap this entire year with Cole Smith as the starting QB. He had to be focused on being the quarter back of the defense, not the offense, and he did a great job at MLB / ILB. He has now had 3 weeks to get the first team reps, and adjust to the mindset of being THE QB of this team and I saw a kid that grew up throughout this game. He is tough as nails running the ball, no one questioned that, but what I saw was a QB that started seeing and accurately throwing to wide receivers. I personally am proud of that young man. And I have to give a shout out to #9 who had a tremendous game on both offense and defense. You just can't let a kid like that sit. He just has to rest on Saturday and Sunday is all I know. Bottom line, IMO, Betsy has earned the right to be the favorite, but I think CAK may be getting grossly underestimated next week. I think the Cyclones may be in for much more of a game than they or others think, or than they would prefer. As always, just my opinions. Your mileage may vary.

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Thank you and good luck to you guys as well. I'll be keeping track as the night progresses.

Thanks for the well wishes Charlie. We lost our college prospect SR QB and as you know, in our system that is almost insurmountable. We lost to Alcoa I believe, 45 - 0 last week. It will be an uphill battle against anyone we face now, not just Alcoa. Before, I would have liked our chances against anyone in the east side in 3A with the exception of Alcoa, and I'm not convinced that if "it had been our night" that we couldn't have pulled one out against them. We have been lucky. First significant QB injury we've had in the decade I've been watching CAK. . I may go back and watch that USJ game. I won't say much given your demeanor regarding the playoffs, but USJ is not the same team, and the opponent was very lucky to pull out the victory there. However far you go, I hope this season has been an enjoyable one for you, and I hope you have enough on the benches and coming back that next year, year 2 in the new system, will be even better.

It will be interesting to see what happens, especially if USJ meets SG again. I will say that having played Alcoa 2 times every year for many years, I understand what it means to just simply be beaten by a better team that makes you look silly. If SG is really just at "another level" than USJ this year, then no pep talk or system or coaching is going to flip that. But if USJ just had a bad game and all the breaks went the other way then who knows. I will also say regarding sacks / hurries, etc, you have to keep in mind that when you are throwing the ball 60% - 85% of the time (unless you are running clock) you are simply going to have more sacks than a traditional running team that only throws the ball off play action or when they are behind by 28 points. Hopefully this was just a bad game or the team was flat. But on the pessimistic side (for this season) I have seen very few games over many years where CRB teams were flat. I have seen a couple where they were so pumped they literally looked like keystone cops, just trying too hard, and making every possible mistake. The future of this program is very bright! But whether year 1 turns into a deep run is an entirely different question, one that I am eager to see! Good luck Bruins! One person asked why I would hate to be the round one rematch for USJ. The answer is that if I'm not getting my wires crossed, that team was down by 2 scores half way through the 4th, and it took a series of amazing plays to come back and win in over time. This was also week one, where the Bruins looked like deer in the headlights. This is not the same team now. Maybe they do or maybe they don't have the horses to go all the way, but the team I'm referring to got lucky. They only pull that one out 1 time out of 10, and I predict if they meet again, their luck will have run out. JMO.

I would not want that rematch if I was an FACS supporter.

Ha ha, yes the privates against the Blount All Stars! May this match up return another day! It has been a lot of fun. Some years more than others!

Thanks to Slant for the article and Warriors for the response. I truly am surprised after watching his demeanor after he got hurt. Regardless, what a great career; I hope he gets to follow his dream and play on Saturdays. I think Ivy league, following after former player of the year and CAK QB Quinn Epperly, might be a great fit for him. He certainly has the brains, and has proven himself on the field. A footnote, that while he did break the all time record of C. High, he started 3 1/2 years while High only started 2 years plus one game when Epperly had a concussion. Regardless, 2 great QB's that I had the privilege of watching. No negative meant to Shuler who is a tough kid, but on paper at least, this has to make an already up hill battle even more up hill. The only positive is that they knew before an open date and at least had a little time. At CAK, the QB never plays defense, so I would be shocked if he does. That means it costs us in 2 positions, MLB and QB. Hopefully these two weeks will help, and regardless of Friday's game, another week before week 1 of the playoffs will give him 50% more time to adjust as well as the entire team to adjust. Regardless of outcome, I always look forward to this match up!

LOL, well I can honestly say that at least on a couple of occasions you didn't see that while you were kicking anything out of CAK, and there were a couple of close games in addition that your boys weren't doing any kicking, they were fighting tooth and nail to come out on top. But I get your point! Good luck and safe travels.

So is Smith definitely out, and what is the nature / duration of the injury. I saw the play and then saw him afterwards on the sideline and with ice in the shoulder area, but honestly he didn't look like he was terribly injured, nor as if he was dejected as if he was going to have to miss time or the rest of the season. Perhaps that is just my perception and wrong but I'm pretty surprised to read what I'm reading.

While there is never a guarantee in a football game, I would not want to be SG this Friday. And I would not want to draw USJ in round 1. JMOs.

How does this one turn out?

Great recap, thank you!!

Thank you very much for the information that is very helpful. Sounds like the Bruins were able to generate offense wow Briarcrest had a very stout defense as the field compressed inside the 20. Since I can't get your local newspaper, if anyone has box score type game stats of first downs, rushing yards, passing yards, etc. I would be very interested. Also wondering about turnovers? Thanks for any help anyone has

Did USJ kick two field goals in the second half or did they have a missed extra point to end up with 13 points?

Congratulations to USJ defeating Briarcrest. Sounds like it would've been a fun game to watch. It will be interesting to see if they are able to finish the regular season eight - two with a win next week. I don't think they are who I would want to draw for round one of the playoffs…

I will second what Warriors2011 said. The big thing I noticed after watching at least 1 game a year of Loudon for a decade (yes I generally caught a game even when they didn't play CAK there for a few years) was line size. You could always count on Loudon to have a big physical line. I just didn't see that this year at all. Not that they weren't playing hard, just simple size and physics. I think that killed them offensively and defensively against CAK this season. As Warriors said, I don't know if they are young, or just don't have a lot of size at this juncture, but the lack of line size surprised me before we ever saw the first snap.

While the odds are always stacked against any one team winning state (unless you are Maryville or Alcoa) wouldn't it be something if everything fell just right, things came together, and this team started to really put all the pieces together when it matters?! I watch the score on my CoachT app every week and I sure hope USJ pulls it out tomorrow. Is Briarcrest in your path in the playoffs? I'm still learning D2 details, and of course every thing changes next year.