Oak Ridge vs. Jefferson County

[NickOrlando]

Hopefully the cats will continue to improve tonight and take care of business. They better figure out something quick because the schedule gets tough after tonight. Maybe we should try the water boy at QB. OR maybe we should stick with Conner because I believe that starting tonight we will see him play like we thought he would.

OR-42

JC-7

and the 7 comes on our subs late in the game.

[bounder]

Hopefully the cats will continue to improve tonight and take care of business. They better figure out something quick because the schedule gets tough after tonight. Maybe we should try the water boy at QB. OR maybe we should stick with Conner because I believe that starting tonight we will see him play like we thought he would.

OR-42

JC-7

and the 7 comes on our subs late in the game.

This is getting scary Nick... you and I agree on something again!!!!

[OakRidgeCat]

Close Nick, very close on calling the score. Oak Ridge takes care of business. For some of you who did not know there was at least one true freshman in on defense in the fourth period, Steven Monger (#99) who came through and made a couple of key tackles!

 

Conner looked good and played well hitting a couple of tough passes in double and triple coverage (kudos to the recievers as well )

 

One of the Jefferson County players took a leg injury and had to leave on a stretcher, we hope he is doing OK!

 

Great job 'Cats! ROLL WILDCATS ROLL!

[Topgun]

Unfortunately, that's pretty much accurate. I think McFall is a great kid, he's very tough and takes a lot of punishment before going down, but he's overused and that's why he's getting hurt so much. Same story for our QB, Gatlin, who will also eventually be hurt again due to running the QB option/draw 80 times a game when McFall isn't in there. McFall looks great when we play 3A schools or other programs that are struggling to build up and just aren't competitive yet, but he's yet to look good against any formidable 5A opponent and even against some 4A teams. It's a little bit size, a lot of bad play calling.

 

Our first touchdown of the year was a beautiful pass play to the TE. Have we run it since? No. We throw the ball on average about once every other game to the TE. We never use our 6'5" WR either.

 

Jeff Co has athletes, we just don't use them. Move some folks around, get a RB in there. We have good sophomores, plus Zach Long and Nick Sherod, all of whom could fill in at RB. Instead we'll put a sophomore in there at tailback and either hand it to the fullback for 1 or 2 yards or do a QB draw for the same, then punt. We don't throw the ball because our best passer doesn't start and they don't run slants but maybe once a game. Instead we throw low percentage fade routes.

 

As good as this game could be, unless they make some offensive changes, it'll be another route. That's sad given how dominant some of these kids were at the middle school levels and then they work their way up to a high school program that is still faltering.

 

I know Coach is trying, but sooner or later he's going to have to open up the playbook and be willing to change a little. The talent is there, use it.

 

As for our O-line, yes they have some size and they run block very well. Their pass blocking however, is below average at best. It needs to improve. We also need less kids playing both sides of the ball, McFall in particular doesn't need to be playing D if he's going to be used so much on offense.

 

And Sherod, who was projected to be our best player this year, isn't playing hard enough on every down. He seems to miraculously play better when the other team subs in it's 2nd and 3rd strings. We'll prolly get a TD at that point in the game from Sherod. Nick, if you see this, you're a great athlete, but you have to play hard for 4 quarters, not just 1 at the end. Run hard on all kickoff returns, not just against the 3rd stringers. What happened to the fearless play you showed last year that had everyone excited about this season? I hope you find it again.

 

All pretty standard stuff that most in the Jeff Co area know. Good luck to both teams, I hope Jeff Co can pull off the upset, but I don't think OR has much to worry about unless we made some major changes this past week.

 

My prediction

 

OR 34

JC 7

 

It doesn't matter whose running the ball when your defense gives up 35pts in the first half! I got tired of counting the missed tackles. Always trying to arm tackle. It was like watching the grass cuttters. Just plain pitifull. This OR team was punny in size compared to JC and they should have dominated on both sides of the ball. McFall would not have made a differnce in the this game because the O line did not do their job on blocking. They did not stick with the defense, they would bump them once and let them go. Sometimes they didn't even do that. Numbers 46 and 11 had some good runs when the line did their job. There were a few bright spots in the passing game but not enough of them. The QB had to run for his life too many times. I thought the play calling was a better mix this time but it doesn't matter if you can't execute.

 

Guys I have always defended you on here, out in public and always will, but dang you got get motivated and lay some people out on the blocks. You could be a very physical dominating team if you tried to be.

 

My thoughts and prayers go out to #50. I understand he has a broke leg.

[JC4life]

Offense laid another goose egg against the starting defense of another good opponent. And once again an overworked player goes down to injury, 1st Gattlin, then McFall, now Sherrod. Hopefully its not severely serious, although the way he left would suggest it was. I don`t know what to think about this team and program anymore, I was hopeful we`d at least be somewhat competitive these last two games. These are program we use to go toe to toe with, not only in the regular season but the playoffs as well.

 

The effort level and excitement that use to surround Jeff County I just don`t see anymore. It seems like every game we play is sloppy, we gift wrap fumbles, players run through our defense and defenders just seem to fall off the runners, we either overthrow or underthrow wide open receivers, take bad angles trying to tackle guys. A lot of the problems I see are effort based, not all but most, guys just blow the same assignments game after game. Undisciplined, sloppy, poorly coached, those are the three things I see when I watch Jeff County now, and its not something I`m just not use to and teams we traditional play aren`t use to. Talking to some O.R guys last night the 1st question they asked was "whats happened to Jeff County", and it wasn`t in respect to the score(everyone pretty much expected it) as much as it as to the type of play on the field. The same feeling was echoed by DB fans last week, they couldn`t believe we fell from grace as quickly as we did. For them it was "wow, seems like yesterday Jeff County was our top threat in the conference." Times are changing, and it seems Jeff County football will be left behind.

[MoWestBBALLplaya]

JC I dont know where you have been but Jefferson County fell from grace a long time ago. Other than the two years that Meadows was there and had enough talent to overcome his coaching shortcomings, JC hasnt been worth a dang since 96.

[Wildmanfan]

Kudos to the CATS. They looked better much better tonight. I kinda got bashed a little about not being satisfied with the win over Heritage. The fact of the matter was even with a lopsided score the Cats looked bad. JC wasn't a very good team either and the score was similar. The difference was the way OR looked doing it. They still had too many illegal procedure penalties they just simply looked like they are improving...finally. Those are the kind of things that can be fixed fairly easy.

Hats off to coach Stevens even tho he made the comment that coacht posters didn't know anything except what they see on Friday nights. That was kinda funny because what we see on Friday nights is where the rubber meets the road. I made a sarcastic remark in one of my earlier posts about getting to where we need to be in two weeks. I was really very skeptical they could improve that much when they have looked so average the first 4 games. If they can continue to improve from week to week as much as they did from last week to this week they should be able to avoid a round one visit to Kingsport. Irby, Rogers, Coffee and the rest of the soph class continues to impress me. Or's future looks very bright. I am going to go out on a limb and predict another trip to Murfeesboro in 2008

[mellomc]

Not much discussion for the Jeff Co. rivalry. Are Cat fans already over it?

 

Jeff County needs to be competitive again. I do hope they get there. It is much more fun winning a close game than it is a one-sided afair.

[JC4life]

JC I dont know where you have been but Jefferson County fell from grace a long time ago. Other than the two years that Meadows was there and had enough talent to overcome his coaching shortcomings, JC hasnt been worth a dang since 96.

Going to have to explain some things

 

1. Why are you trying minimize 02 and 03 like they didn`t exist? Also does 04 not count? A season I might add where Jeff County beat your Trojans like a drum

 

2. Talent overcoming coaching shortcomings?

 

3. What exactly is worth a dang in your eyes?

[billiard13]

Amen

 

JC has issues within the program currently but to suggest we haven't been good for 10 years just simply shows your ignorance. JC will find it's way back from the cellar, hopefully sooner than later, but in the meantime, if you don't have anything more intelligent to say other than we haven't been worth a dang for over 10 years, then you're an idiot.

 

Even the DB and OR programs respect where JC has been in the past and understand it's something that has happened only recently. This is a typical post by a typical MoWest fan with not only no basis, but a complete lack of class. Grow up and quit simply stirring up trouble on the boards.

[OakRidgeCat]

I pray that the young man that got hurt Friday night is OK and will not let this trial get him down. Been way too close to that kind of scenario so I understand what he and his parents are going through. Just let him know that others are thinking of him and wish him and his family only the best!

 

As for Oak Ridge the TEAM just keeps getting better. We just have to stay on that track and not jump it. The only thing I would like Oak Ridge to get past is those O Line penalties for false starts. There are waaaaayyyyyy to many of them. Anybody can jump once or twice, but I swear I think some of 'em may be close to double digits in that category.

 

ROLL WILDCATS ROLL!

[Topgun]

According to the Knox News Sent. JC had 295 yards on offense. Which is pretty good considering it was against the #2 ranked team in the state. And a heck of alot better than against DB which we had less than 100yrds. Six turn overs and 583yds for OR is hard to over come for any team. I don't care who you are!!!