Intermission

What places in town are selling tickets?

With regards to Gaston and Spencer, I think both Riverdale and Oak Ridge will have something to cheer about this time next week. Gaston has the Mr. Football award, and Spencer will soon be sporting a State Champion ring. And they'll both be content with that. And so should we.

I don't know Tank. If it turns up badly, we might have to censor it.

What do you have against the OR band?

Spencer was a beast tonight. He hit the heck out of FHS #6 a couple of times on the first drive. Unofficially, they said over the PA system that he had 347 yards.

Please. Spencer absolutely trucked some Farragut kid on his touchdown run in the first game last year. I wouldn't worry about him "getting buried".

Are you in middle school? I'm suprised you know how to type.

Do you have Boise State Syndrome? Maryville probably could have competed against the best teams. But they didn't.

Who the heck is Tony Bianco, and why should anyone care about his poll?

Maryville does not have to travel 5-6 hours to play good 5A football teams. Some of you make it sound like there is not a team worthy to step on the field against Maryville that exists in the state, or in 5-6 hours drive. Oak Ridge is a 5-6 hour jog from Maryville, but by bus is only about 40 minutes or so. I would pay double the price of admission to watch Oak Ridge and Maryville play in a regular season game. And D-B is only 2 hours from Maryville.

Until Maryville steps up to 5A, they can never legitimately claim to be the best team in the state.

The only real problems with the field are when it rains. When it's soaked it can be pretty terrible, like when we played Soddy Daisy last year at home. But who gives a crap, nobody has any advantage because everyone plays on the same field.

Paul Bingham is probably the best player DB fans might not have heard of. He's #20, he has two interception returns for TD's in the past two weeks, including a 87 yarder last week. He is also the fastest person on the OR team, yes faster than Spencer. Watch for #20 for OR to make some plays this week. OR by 10

Low class = Vandalizing the Ship Payback = 74-0

Let me be the first to throw in the name Spencer Gulmire. Rushed for over 2000 yards this season at Oak Ridge, and I think he was the only back to rush for more than 100 yards this season against Riverdale.

Oak Ridge lost alot of talented players last year but it sounds like similar to Riverdale in most years, your team has reloaded with young talent and goten better with each game. My second question for Oak Ridge fans since I have mentioned a few ways you can beat Riverdale, is what does it take to beat Oak Ridge? Any certain weakness area? I look forward to a great game in the Boro next Friday. 825444286[/snapback] Where OR has gotten burned this season is when the other team has tall receivers. The rest of the defense is solid, and our defensive backs are athletic, but in the past their height has been an issue. Soddy Daisy had a wideout or two that was probably 6'3'' or 6'4'', and they used him well. I think the worries about this though should be overshadowed by the outstanding job they did against Dobbyns Bennett last Friday night, and especially against Lamon Williams, who physically looks like a college football wideout. Other than that, the only stumbling block OR had this year was themselves. Against Farragut in the regular season, we didn't play well and won 21-13. We know also that OR came back in the playoffs and crushed Farragut 48-0. The team right now is playing extremely well. Also, I was wondering about something. Aside from the championship game, did Oak Ridge give you the closest game last season?

I think Riverdale has to be the favorite for this game, simply for the awesomeness that they've showed so far this season. But last years game was a close game, and with many of the major players on both sides of the ball for both teams, I don't see why this game should be a blowout. I understand why some people think that it will be a blowout, because almost every game Riverdale they have blown the doors off the other team. They deserve respect for their strengths, but I believe it would be dangerous to look past Oak Ridge, especially with their form the past two weeks. It's interesting to see some people say that no one, with maybe the exception of Jesus, could run through the Riverdale defense, while others say that their star running back will do just that. I think that if Oak Ridge plays well, they can stick with Riverdale. It's irrelevant to argue that any team will blow out any team when both teams have not played any of the same opponents. I also had a few questions for the Riverdale fans, because I confess to being ignorant about their team: 1) Is Gaston Miller a shifty, scat back? I saw his stats...he's small, but he must have some amazing athletic gifts. 2) Is Dave Thompson a pocket QB, or does he run when he gets the chance, or is he a little of both? 3) Who are your standout wide receivers, and who stands out on the defensive side of the ball? Thanks

Wow. What a game. Wasn't exactly the gunslingin' shootout we were expecting. OR got the ball first and marched down the field, McMahon hitting a wide-open Coffey for the touchdown. Not much action to speak of for the rest of the half. An ill-advised pass from Ferguson was picked off by Paul Bingham inside the OR 10, but the game remained 7-0 OR at halftime. Also a scary moment for DB when Ferguson went down in the first half, but stayed in the game. After the half, Ferguson dove in from the 1 to tie the game at 7-7. OR made it 10-7 with a Joe Aloi field goal, and wouldn't look back. OR scored again, on a long Spencer Gulmire run, to make it 17-7, but DB came right back and got within three points after a Ferguson touchdown pass. 17-14, and OR had the ball inside the DB 40 with a crucial 4th and 10 coming up, with around 3 minutes left in the game. Scott McMahon connected with J.J. Wells on the same pass play they burned Farragut with last week to get the first down and effectivly end the game. Scott McMahon went on to punch it in from the 1, and that was all she wrote. 24-14. It seemed to me like Ferguson and Williams just weren't on the same wavelength tonight. Occasionally, they'd do some nice things, but good coverage and some confusion between the two limited their progress. One of the things that stuck out to me was something Ferguson did in the 4th quarter. He was scrambling right, and Daniel Johnson was comin' fast. Ferguson pulled out an absolute sick stiff arm, then completed the pass for the first down. As an OR fan, there's nothing you can do but just respect that. Also, there were more DB fans here this week than there were Farragut fans last week. Farragut=20 minutes away, DB=2 hours away. Everyone from DB, players, fans, they all brought everything they had and made this game one of the greats. It's easy to say that when you win, but you deserve nothing but respect. And, I'm sure we all know, this rivalry ain't over.

100 minutes to kickoff.

DB has played tougher teams so far in the playoffs, but remember that OR had to beat the Owls and Soddy Daisy the last two weeks of the season to win the region. I can't really see that factoring into this game...I think the kicking game will be crucial. Last year against Riverdale, OR missed the XP after a touchdown, and if they had made that, the game could have turned out differently. That just goes to show the importance of the little things. Turnovers will be key as well. I predict the team that turns the ball over the least will win. Gulmire is like a bear trap when it comes to holding on to the ball, so DB will have to make something happen on pass defense. Ferguson has thrown something like 10 interceptions this year, which is great for the amount that he throws the ball... OR 35 DB 31 A classic game that will be etched into the memories of those who saw it.

Didn't see 48-0 comin

#43 isn't a transfer. He's played basketball for 3 years so far. I think he just wanted to give football a shot this year cause he's certainly big enough, and he's got decent speed for someone his size. He's #33 in this picture: http://oakridger.com/photo_pages/110504/10918.html

RDM is one of the biggest human beings I've ever seen in person, and he's pretty athletic too, which is suprising for his size. His sack on the Farragut QB this year was awesome.

I thought the field looked deceivingly good from the stands, and that's not saying much. But I was on the field at halftime, and my shoes almost came off every step I took between about the 35's, hash to hash. Suprisingly, outside the hashes, the field was in really good condition. The middle of the field was like a mudpit. Are most high school fields normally like this? I thought the past three weeks have been continuously harded in terms of opponents. Farragut was tricky, the Owls were unlucky to lose their running back, and Soddy Daisy was definitely the best team we've played since DB. They've got a quarterback who knows how to use his wideouts. I've got a question though, why wasn't Kasey Reed in on defense? We had little Gulmire in, at least during the second half. Was it the heighth advantage of SD?