IanMackaye

Oak Ridge has too many weapons on offense, just enough on defense, wins by two TD. 42-28

It doesn’t sound like you all are at any risk of getting turf any time soon. I don’t understand the push for that either. I also don’t understand why your football stadium isn’t at the school, why it’s a couple of miles away. I know that the high school used to be over there and that’s why the field is there, but I don't get why OR never moved it to the school like every single other school. It would make a ton more sense and actually be a public asset right there in the middle of town.

A sophomore sprinter should feel pretty good about qualifying for the state meet. The guys from Section 1 placed 9, 12, and 15, and one Section 1 qualifier didn't run. West Tennessee and Middle Tennessee sprinting are a whole different animal. Graham looks good mechanically, and he should be much better when older. Too bad he wasn't at 100%.

I was there. They had to run the 100 into a nasty headwind so the times are slow. He also ran out of lane 8 which wouldn't be the best lane because he couldn't see the whole field. He looked even better in the 4x100 where it looked like the 3rd runner stumbled or ran out of gas just as he got to graham but graham flew on the straightaway. Honestly he looks more impressive than last year whether he's hurt or not. OR had a strong group of sprinters because they didn't run the same group for both sprint relays but were still very good. I think several of them are football players so that should bode well for them this fall.

It looks like he did not run at the Vol Classic meet at UT yesterday.

Graham won the 100, dykes didn't run it. Dykes was second in the 200, graham didn't run it. Dykes was the anchor against graham in the 4x200 for sure. I am not sure about the 4x100 but I think dykes anchored that too. Both races were so close and the anchors were flying, competing. I didn't see much difference between them in ability, speed, or desire except graham just had that little bit extra.

I went to the HVA meet as well, it's the only meet I've been to this year. Graham was unbelievable anchoring both relays. It's obvious he hates to lose because he had to work hard to win. I don't know the kid who led off out of the blocks but I heard someone in the stands say he was a football player too, and he was fast. Both of those guys ran 3 races in about thirty minutes. Both teams had a lot of impressive sprinters. I did not see Jackson unless I missed something.

A friend of mine that coaches in Knoxville told me about this.

http://www.wildcattrack.org/announcements/february21100mttresultsandvideos

I have to drive through Oak Ridge periodically, and today I was going through town at a little after 4:00 when I saw that practice was going on. I stopped over on the swimming pool side and watched for a couple of minutes before I had to go. I saw Graham doing relay practice. He has a distinctive running style that's easy to spot. There were a lot of other fast kids out there that I didn't know, a lot of guys that looked really fast. Any of them playing football in the fall? There were a lot of kids out there.

I didn't realize that Moore was already a senior. Time flies. Moore was a terror as a short sprinter. Not much as a football player. Seems like there was a physical issue, shoulder maybe. Always glad to see kids like him succeed at the next level.

OR has had a succession of great sprinters--Short, Moore, Hardy, Graham. As good or better a record at sprinting as any other school in the area. What will Graham do this spring? 10.9 or better in the 100? 22.0 in the 200? I would think that a kid like him might be a jumper also, but I've never seen a long jump or high jump result for him.

Well done.

I don't mean this disrespectfully, because I know that SC has had quite a bit of athletic success, but how in the world does SC have both when OR with all of its athletic history has neither?

I might have misgauged fan support. I have have been to some basketball games but not football games. I was mainly basing my opinion on coverage in the Knoxville News Sentinel. It seems like they have been giving OR basketball a lot of coverage but not as much to OR football outside of Higgins.

Track/cross country are far and away the most successful sports at OR but in terms of media and fan interest basketball is at the top. With two winning programs and decades of tradition I can see why. Both teams play an exciting brand of ball.

As I understood the article, the grant is only available for construction that can benefit the public. As much as it may be necessary to update, locker rooms and stands have no ongoing public benefit. New turf and track may seem out of place if the stadium looks old.

There isn't a track at the stadium is there? The only one I know is at the school.

I am glad to hear that Etheridge may stick it out with track. I don't know why you would do one and not the other.

I have heard about various fundraisers like breakfasts and things like that which all seem small potatoes to me. Is there a real fundraising push to get businesses involved? I don't think I have seen anything that looked to me as if it could raise the money you would need to do the type of renovation it seems like you need. Who is leading this charge?

You know I follow track also and I saw on Facebook that the OR coach retired. That's too bad. That has been an extremely successful program.

I can't say I understand the push for a turf field when by all accounts the rest of the football stadium needs an overhaul.

I don't like it either. I expect them to teach first.

Back in my day, coaches were teachers who were also school leaders. Some of them didn't get it done in the classroom, but a lot of them did. It seems like state testing and other academic requirements make it tough to try to do both successfully these days. I don't know how they do it in any sport.

After 25 years of eatin' 'em you start likin' em brah!!!

Farragut is still a football community (and baseball, and soccer, and basketball, and track). Their facilities and fan support are top notch.

It's my perception that you're likely to keep eating those mothballs in OR because while some in town still think OR is a football community, it's not. Facilities are run down, and the community doesn't seem interested in fixing that. Even though you have great basketball and track, I don't see the overall support and numbers there. I'm told that kids at ORHS don't really care that much about sports any more.

Seems like Farragut has weathered the change from an overcrowded 2000+ student school to a more average sized large school since HVA was built.

I thought the TSSAA had in its bylaws that to be a head coach in football and basketball you have to be a certified teacher or at least working towards certification. Can anyone verify this?

TSSAA By-Laws state that a non-faculty coach may become a head coach in football and several other sports with five years' experience coaching at a TSSAA member school.

I just looked at the results on the TSSAA website. That is a consistently good program.

Did Jackson play last night? He had a huge game against CC but I did not read about anything this week.

You're saying that OR is in decline?

I am surprised that OR lost that one after graham's great first quarter. I am surprised too that your Mr Football candidate did not get more touches. The second half of the season was perplexing.

Harrell doesn't coach any more does he?

McMinn and Webb must be pretty good teams, because OR looked solid in all phases on tv last night. Did not know that Jackson was that good. He ran tough.

Runswithknife--OR runners won the Region again.