cwp76

They did it....5-0! Oakdale deserves to celebrate this season! Congrats, and here's hoping they add on some more wins over the next few weeks!

Good luck Oakdale!

Yay, Oakdale!

Oakdale is not my team....but I couldn't be happier for them to be doing so well! Good luck tonight, Oakdale! I hope you end the evening 4 - 0!

Good job, Oakdale! Several players stood out for me, including the QB and running back. I hope they continue to have a great season!

I feel sorry for the Oak Ridge football players....they are the ones who suffer the most. I can say from experience that any good ball team is dependent upon the coach. Years ago, I thought if kids were athletic enough they could overcome poor coaching. Based on my own son's experience (he went to another school, where he played basketball and football), a good coach is essential. A good coach can take mediocre kids and turn them into a winning team, while a bad coach can have outstanding talent and lose every game. I hope Oak Ridge makes some coaching changes for the good of the players, the school, and the community. Good sports programs will actually draw people into the community, in my opinion. It would be a real smart move for the powers-to-be to try to make good coaching choices in every sport in Oak Ridge. (If attendance is down, maybe they need to reduce the price of the tickets for awhile.....might get more people there.)

I don't know the names of kids who should be playing but aren't, but I know what happened to our team last year. We had a new coach who wasn't very savvy and didn't bother to watch any film, and as a consequence he played the tallest kids (who weren't necessarily the better players) and left kids on the bench that knew how to play. Everybody in the gym knew who the good players were except for the coach. Finally after a dismal record during the 1st part of the seaon, he finally figured it out (I think someone told him) and put the better players in (former bench warmers), and won a lot of games at the end of the season. The kids left sitting on the bench at the beginning of the season included 2 seniors who had been starters as sophomores, one who was MVP of the Freshman team, which consisted of 15 kids. So it does happen that kids get the shaft if the coach isn't very smart. This particular "coach" messed up what should have been a pretty good team, not to mention ruining the season for the players, school, and the Community.

Swildcatfan - a quick count from your roster adds up to 19 Seniors and 23 Juniors. Definitely not your average AA team! My advice to OS...one game at a time! With the possible exception of round one, every game will be against good teams and there will be no freebies. Good luck!

AAA is often very unfair to the smaller schools in their classification. My kid's school has 500 students and has to play schools with nearly 1000 students in basketball and baseball. I hate to see that happen in football too. The 4A sounds more like a happy medium.

I have lots of admiration for any team that has improved as much as Sequoyah over the last few years. I think they will give OS a good game, but the Bobcats have to be feeling good after last week's win and that will help them in this game. Bobcats by 10.

Thanks Tigerfan! I guess I got a little confused .

At the first of the season, it was obvious that 5 of the teams in this region were very closely matched, and unfortunately one of these would not make the playoffs. Wartburg has proved that they can play with any of the teams by how they matched up with Rockwood and Sweetwater (don't remember the Alcoa vs Wartburg score). I was hoping they would make it, and they were so close! I'm thankful OS managed to win this year because next year is probably a rebuilding year for them.

Thanks, I hate being in the dark. Hope to see you at the game!

ACCARP, Yep, that's me, although I should say "was" the tight end's mom. I just wish I could suit him up and send him out on the field again this year...not for the team's sake, but for my sake. I miss having my kid play. Since I don't have a clue who you are, come over and say hi sometime at a game!

ACCARP, You're right. Now that you mention it, I can think of a couple of teams that Coach Johnson wouldn't mind piling it on a little. Didn't realize Harriman was one though. Last year though he was playing some subs real early in the game. I noticed bc my son was playing then and he sat out most of the game. I just hope OS plays well! Good luck Bobcats!

Coach Johnson will not run up the score on any team, especially a struggling one. Just curious, Harriman fans...are the Middle School players from the last few years staying with the Harriman program or have some transferred to other schools? Also, I saw the end of a Harriman game with the Freshman QB playing and he looked pretty good.

Good luck Loudon! Play like you can and you will win this game! Your program has become one of my favorites and I wish you well. [Edited by cwp76 on 3-5-03 9:14P] [Edited by cwp76 on 3-5-03 9:15P]

I think,no.....I KNOW without a doubt that OLIVER SPRINGS has the Best and the loudest student section around!It was definatly shown in the district tournament!I don't know of any team who likes to play in the Cage!!!!

Answer, I don't mean to take anything away from AC AT ALL. I think they are a good team and very well coached. They are all quick and super good shooters, plus they seem like good kids. My whole point could be summed up with what you said about the big man committing the foul 25 feet away from the basket. They called 2 of those and IMO they WEREN'T fouls. I feel that the refs in this area are not very good and THAT was my point. Again, I'm NOT trying to take anything away from AC. I have just had it with poor officiating. I don't know how to get my point across very well in a post I guess, but mainly I think that having good officials should be a given and that's not happening. Sorry I made you mad because who we played was irrelevant to me. It could have been any team. I just want to see fair games. And I don't think it's a cop-out to state that some games are decided by refs. Around here that's a truism.

Sorry but I am so sick of the poor officiating. OS played well but one ref was determined that AC would win, and he made sure of it. The fouls in this game were definitely not equally called for both sides. All OS starters had 4 fouls at the end of the game with one player (Peterson..btw, Peterson almost never fouls..he makes it a point not to and only 2 of the fouls tonight were legit) fouling out in the middle of the 4th. OS was ahead by 8 with 3 minutes to go. I was told that all but 6 of AC's 2nd quarter points were via the foul line. In other words they only scored 3 baskets from the floor without the freebies. The winning point came with a foul called on an OS player with 1.7 seconds left - OS was still ahead by one point at the time. I'm not taking anything away from AC. My beef is the lack of accountability with the officials. Until there is accountability refs will continue their power plays. Also, it was only one ref who was guilty, but one is all it takes. OS played well and didn't deserve to lose because of a partial ref. I just wish that somebody (TSSAA???) would try to control this. Slaps on the wrists just aren't enough. They need to get tough with the rogue refs.

So how much do refs make per night? I heard that it was pretty good pay, but I don't know the exact amount. I was sitting next to the husband of a ref at a JV game and he said his wife (who was doing a really good job, IMO) was about to give up refing because getting assignments had become too political. I saw an excellent ref at the Rhea County tournament over the Christmas break. I don't have a clue what his name was (he was the black ref), but he was everything a ref should be. Obviously knowledgable, he was also calm and totally professional. I actually forgot he was out there because he only called what needed to be called, in a totally impartial way. He also did not sprint off the court like many I see - there was no need, he knew he had been fair - and when he left he said good-bye to the parents who were standing around. I wish I had told him "good job". He sure made it look easy, and not one person ever yelled at him during the course of the game. Maybe competence is the key to keeping the fans happy. Just my .02 worth.

OS girls had 8 fouls by the end of the 1st quarter, 15 by the half. M.C. had 5 at the end of the half...until the last few seconds when the refs slapped 2 more on to make it 7. This went beyond bad calls, this was total bias. But the girls were just a tad cold tonight so it might not have mattered. In fact the refs laid off a bit in the 2nd half when they saw it wasn't necessary. Same for the boys game. The boys were tied - in spite of the refs - with a few minutes left in regulation and the refs called anything and everything against OS. Their boys were riding Peterson like he was a pack mule...but no calls. Ringley started out strong so they slapped him with 2 right off the bat. He ended up fouling out. Nearly every other Bobcat boy had 4 fouls by the end of the game. With fair calls the boys had an excellent chance to win. The worst news of the night though is that Allen Nation took a very hard lick to the head when he was knocked down...I'm worried it may be a concussion because he was having very blurry vision afterwards. [Edited by cwp76 on 2-11-03 11:33P]

BBALLTN, I didn't realize this happened! I bet I can guess which ref, though.

Xtreme, do you know the time of that game?

"When they pound Rockwood, Harriman, and Oliver Springs on a regular basis in all sports thy never rub it in their face" That's an oxymoron. You say you never rub it in their faces in the same sentence that you talk about "pounding" them. But actually Kingston should win the majority of the games in any sport since they have over 700 students as opposed to 500 for OS, 400 for Harriman, 370 for Rockwood, and even less for Midway. Just a thought. Quite frankly, I'm amazed at how venomous the Kingston fans have been about this game. :confused: :confused: [Edited by cwp76 on 2-6-03 10:57P]