Best Football Team of All Time in TN

[SweetScience]

They were certainly awesome. I was on the Oak Ridge team that lost to them 21-7...We were tough as nails that year and undefeated when we played Riverdale...they had just a bit more!

I have to put a vote in for the 1979 Oak Ridge Wildcats, finished 15-0 and ranked #3 in the nation at the end of the year. 1991 Oak Ridge team was also awesome...And Sunbright? Cmon dude lol

[davidlimbaugh]

They were certainly awesome. I was on the Oak Ridge team that lost to them 21-7...We were tough as nails that year and undefeated when we played Riverdale...they had just a bit more!

 

I think that was the year we came up to ya's place and it was really cold and a nice older man gave us all hot chocolate while we waited to board our buses. We came back a few years later and someone told me he had passed away????

[SweetScience]

I think that was the year we came up to ya's place and it was really cold and a nice older man gave us all hot chocolate while we waited to board our buses. We came back a few years later and someone told me he had passed away????

David, the 94 OR Riverdale game was played at MTSU, you are probably thinking about the following year.

[JSamson7]

They were certainly awesome. I was on the Oak Ridge team that lost to them 21-7...We were tough as nails that year and undefeated when we played Riverdale...they had just a bit more!

 

I remember scrimmaging OR that preseason at Maryville. I can't recall if Bohannon or McAdley(sp?) played that year, but I remember lining up as a DB across big Roy Howard from OR a few times when he split out wide from his TE spot in some formations... I thought I was about to get murdered!

 

That said, I'm not sure either OR or Riverdale could have beat Cleveland in 93 or 94.

[SweetScience]

I remember scrimmaging OR that preseason at Maryville. I can't recall if Bohannon or McAdley(sp?) played that year, but I remember lining up as a DB across big Roy Howard from OR a few times when he split out wide from his TE spot in some formations... I thought I was about to get murdered!

 

That said, I'm not sure either OR or Riverdale could have beat Cleveland in 93 or 94.

Ha! Big Roy, grew up with every one of them guys from grade school on...Oak Ridge had some unreal talent back then..Shoulda won state more then we did, to be honest.

[JSamson7]

Ha! Big Roy, grew up with every one of them guys from grade school on...Oak Ridge had some unreal talent back then..Shoulda won state more then we did, to be honest.

 

Lol, that's funny. I ran around with a bunch of OR folks when I wrestled at UT Chatt that you might know then. Needless to say, my eyes got real wide & I actually batted down 2 passes intended for Roy when we lined up across from each other. The next year (my Sr. year) we scrimmaged you guys at OR & I was lined up against McAddley all night. Shut him down pretty easy, but Bohannon ran me over a few times like he did most folks that year.

 

BTW - We had one guy transfer from OR that played pretty well for us until he got kicked off after the Alcoa game my Sr. year. Thurman Bates, does that name ring a bell? I know he said he was cousins with Marcus Bates from up that way...

[SweetScience]

Lol, that's funny. I ran around with a bunch of OR folks when I wrestled at UT Chatt that you might know then. Needless to say, my eyes got real wide & I actually batted down 2 passes intended for Roy when we lined up across from each other. The next year (my Sr. year) we scrimmaged you guys at OR & I was lined up against McAddley all night. Shut him down pretty easy, but Bohannon ran me over a few times like he did most folks that year.

 

BTW - We had one guy transfer from OR that played pretty well for us until he got kicked off after the Alcoa game my Sr. year. Thurman Bates, does that name ring a bell? I know he said he was cousins with Marcus Bates from up that way...

Thurman Bates played for Maryville??!! Me and Thurman Bates played on the same boys club team. We both were the starting running backs. Thurman could have been one heck of a football player if he could have stayed out of trouble, but he just couldn't. Me and him used to go one on one in Oklahoma drills in boys club! We were the 2 hardest hitters on our team LOL...That is too funny man! Yes, All the Bates' in Oak Ridge are related, and they are related to the Thrift's. Antoine Thrift who was on the 91 OR team, his original last name was Bates. Me and my dad used to take Thurman home from practice every day. It was sad, he lived in a really rundown rough part of Oak Ridge, and it looked like nobody was ever home when we dropped him off. Kinda easy to see why he went down the wrong path.

[JSamson7]

Thurman Bates played for Maryville??!! Me and Thurman Bates played on the same boys club team. We both were the starting running backs. Thurman could have been one heck of a football player if he could have stayed out of trouble, but he just couldn't. Me and him used to go one on one in Oklahoma drills in boys club! We were the 2 hardest hitters on our team LOL...That is too funny man! Yes, All the Bates' in Oak Ridge are related, and they are related to the Thrift's. Antoine Thrift who was on the 91 OR team, his original last name was Bates. Me and my dad used to take Thurman home from practice every day. It was sad, he lived in a really rundown rough part of Oak Ridge, and it looked like nobody was ever home when we dropped him off. Kinda easy to see why he went down the wrong path.

 

Thurman was one of my best friends my Jr. & Sr. years at Maryville. He was our #2 TB & started CB on the opposite side of me during my Sr. year. He got kicked off the Monday after the Alcoa game before we played Halls & we eventually lost our starting WR/FS, OLB/WR, TB, & FB towards the end of the year due to injuries. Cleveland 3 peated that year, but I think if we were healthy there's no way we wouldn't have come back without the 1st title since '78 for Maryville. Unfortunately we lost to a team we beat down in the regular season (Smyrna) in the 2nd round at home & they barely lost to Cleveland in the semis.

 

That said, we had another guy from OR transfer in my freshman year you might have heard of too, Demetrius Holmes. Ring a bell?? He came in & said he had never played football in his whole life & said he only played basketball for OR growing up. Needless to say he was probably the most explosive RB Maryville has EVER had, but he also couldn't stay out of trouble & got kicked out just like Thurman. His 1st game starting for us our Freshman year against Lenoir City (keep in mind he'd only been playing football for 3 weeks before this) he had 7 carries for 205 yards! He averaged close to 200 yards a game for the rest of the year & broke at least one run for 60 yards every game. He was faster than Thurman, had better vision, & was a stronger runner after contact (if you could touch him). Just like a lot of other talented kids, he didn't pan out & was the biggest waste of talent other than one guy we had that DOMINATED Roy Howard when we scrimmaged you guys my Sophmore year.

 

That guy's name is Kevin Patrick & I would say he was the epitomy of a physical freak as I've ever seen one. He was 6'4 270 as a Sophmore & ran a legit 4.65!! He & I were always in the top 5 fastest kids for our grade growing up in Maryville City school system, but he was so huge it almost made it unfair for him to be that fast! He lined up at TE & DE against Roy & pretty much owned him all night our Soph year. Your head coach (Gaddis I think) came up to Coach Hammontree after the game & said he'd never seen a Soph like that & no one ever dominated Roy like that either... Sadly, he too got kicked off our Soph year right after Demetrius got booted otherwise our Sr. class would have been untouched in '95.. lol

[SweetScience]

Thurman was one of my best friends my Jr. & Sr. years at Maryville. He was our #2 TB & started CB on the opposite side of me during my Sr. year. He got kicked off the Monday after the Alcoa game before we played Halls & we eventually lost our starting WR/FS, OLB/WR, TB, & FB towards the end of the year due to injuries. Cleveland 3 peated that year, but I think if we were healthy there's no way we wouldn't have come back without the 1st title since '78 for Maryville. Unfortunately we lost to a team we beat down in the regular season (Smyrna) in the 2nd round at home & they barely lost to Cleveland in the semis.

 

That said, we had another guy from OR transfer in my freshman year you might have heard of too, Demetrius Holmes. Ring a bell?? He came in & said he had never played football in his whole life & said he only played basketball for OR growing up. Needless to say he was probably the most explosive RB Maryville has EVER had, but he also couldn't stay out of trouble & got kicked out just like Thurman. His 1st game starting for us our Freshman year against Lenoir City (keep in mind he'd only been playing football for 3 weeks before this) he had 7 carries for 205 yards! He averaged close to 200 yards a game for the rest of the year & broke at least one run for 60 yards every game. He was faster than Thurman, had better vision, & was a stronger runner after contact (if you could touch him). Just like a lot of other talented kids, he didn't pan out & was the biggest waste of talent other than one guy we had that DOMINATED Roy Howard when we scrimmaged you guys my Sophmore year.

 

That guy's name is Kevin Patrick & I would say he was the epitomy of a physical freak as I've ever seen one. He was 6'4 270 as a Sophmore & ran a legit 4.65!! He & I were always in the top 5 fastest kids for our grade growing up in Maryville City school system, but he was so huge it almost made it unfair for him to be that fast! He lined up at TE & DE against Roy & pretty much owned him all night our Soph year. Your head coach (Gaddis I think) came up to Coach Hammontree after the game & said he'd never seen a Soph like that & no one ever dominated Roy like that either... Sadly, he too got kicked off our Soph year right after Demetrius got booted otherwise our Sr. class would have been untouched in '95.. lol

Dang man! Yall quit taking OR players away from us! lol We had a guy play for DB back in the early 2000's named Adonis Johnson he was originally from oak ridge...He was probably one of the best RB's they have ever had! We couldnt stop him when we played them...Also, Kyler Kerbyson for Catholic last year who plays for UT now is originally a Ridger! That Patrick guy sounds crazy dude! lol

[davidlimbaugh]

David, the 94 OR Riverdale game was played at MTSU, you are probably thinking about the following year.

 

I am pretty sure you are right - the years are starting to run together

[JSamson7]

Dang man! Yall quit taking OR players away from us! lol We had a guy play for DB back in the early 2000's named Adonis Johnson he was originally from oak ridge...He was probably one of the best RB's they have ever had! We couldnt stop him when we played them...Also, Kyler Kerbyson for Catholic last year who plays for UT now is originally a Ridger! That Patrick guy sounds crazy dude! lol

 

Kevin was unreal, but again squandered his talent. I'm sure the Riverdale teams have probably had a few that could have starred for them, but unfortunate circumstances keep them from succeeding.. I know Alcoa's had their fair share too or they would have won a ton of more titles themselves. Particularly the classes in the mid to late 90's, Alcoa had the Webb brothers with youngest one being the best of the bunch (Andre). The older 2 played great as OLB for them, but Andre has to be one of the most gifted RB Alcoa's had in 20 years. He wasn't any more than 160, but with his raw speed & "Barry Sanders" like moves he was almost impossible to stop. The only player they've had since then that has Andre's kind of maneuverability might be Cobb, he was that good...

 

For whatever reason Andre got let go, but I bet almost every great team looses a player or 2 that doesn't fulfill their potential. It's a shame really, for every great team that gets mentioned as being the best ever, I'm sure they have a story or 2 on why they could have been ever better. For instance, imagine what Cookeville would have looked like if Eric Locke hadn't moved to Murfreesboro.

[SweetScience]

Kevin was unreal, but again squandered his talent. I'm sure the Riverdale teams have probably had a few that could have starred for them, but unfortunate circumstances keep them from succeeding.. I know Alcoa's had their fair share too or they would have won a ton of more titles themselves. Particularly the classes in the mid to late 90's, Alcoa had the Webb brothers with youngest one being the best of the bunch (Andre). The older 2 played great as OLB for them, but Andre has to be one of the most gifted RB Alcoa's had in 20 years. He wasn't any more than 160, but with his raw speed & "Barry Sanders" like moves he was almost impossible to stop. The only player they've had since then that has Andre's kind of maneuverability might be Cobb, he was that good...

 

For whatever reason Andre got let go, but I bet almost every great team looses a player or 2 that doesn't fulfill their potential. It's a shame really, for every great team that gets mentioned as being the best ever, I'm sure they have a story or 2 on why they could have been ever better. For instance, imagine what Cookeville would have looked like if Eric Locke hadn't moved to Murfreesboro.

Very tue man. I didn't know Locke was from Cookevegas? Watched him play a few times, against oak ridge...Very talented. It just seems this part of East Tennessee over the years breeds good football talent, mainly Oak ridge, Maryville, and Alcoa...I bet them 3 schools have produced more good talent over the years then every knoxville school combined.