Catholic vs Oak Ridge: A Rivalry is Born

[WilleTheWildcat]

Just very proud of the coaches, team, cheerleaders, dance cats, band and student supporters. Thank you seniors. Good luck to those returning. RWR!

Wonder what the new field will look like? Hopefully, some other improvements at the Ship will be made. 

[oridgecat]

Proud of our team and coaches.  A few too many mistakes, tonite but great effort til the end.  Hats off to Catholic, they are a very talented football team.  It was a fun ride!   Thanks to all the Seniors and all the players and coaches.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

w

[WildcatRealist]

8 hours ago, ORcats said:

I would like to see public schools against only public schools in the playoffs for a level playing field.  It's just common sense , IMO.  These boys deserved the chance to advance if they could have beaten their own kind of school. I thought they played so good and I hope they know how much we fans appreciate their effort and hard work !

I am older than many of you who post on here. When I played high school  football, there were only 3 classifications...A,AA,AAA...and publics played with privates. Private schools didn't win the state championship every year. Why can't publics compete with privates on the field now?

[ORcats]

36 minutes ago, WildcatRealist said:

I am older than many of you who post on here. When I played high school  football, there were only 3 classifications...A,AA,AAA...and publics played with privates. Private schools didn't win the state championship every year. Why can't publics compete with privates on the field now?

Simply put, privates can stack the deck in a way that a public school can't.  That's why it's not a level playing field. It's my understanding that that is the reason they separated into 2 different categories to start with. Certainly these schools can be beat but having scholarship kids is an advantage that public schools don't get. I know one coach in bball that quit playing a certain private school bc they kept recruiting his best players whenever they played.  

[Eaglesfan00]

2 hours ago, ORcats said:

Simply put, privates can stack the deck in a way that a public school can't.  That's why it's not a level playing field. It's my understanding that that is the reason they separated into 2 different categories to start with. Certainly these schools can be beat but having scholarship kids is an advantage that public schools don't get. I know one coach in bball that quit playing a certain private school bc they kept recruiting his best players whenever they played.  

Most private schools that play in private school leagues can scholarship players. Catholic can not since they stayed in the public school league.  Do you not think the TSSAA are breathing down their necks trying to hit them with a violation? OR,Fulton,Alcoa, have and will continue to get kids too come to their schools that live out of their school zone. Rather it be on a communications class transfer (Fulton) or paying out-of-county tuition to attend (Alcoa) or paying $8,000 for tuition (OR).

[bounder]

I have no problem with students moving into a city or paying tuition to attend a school. Some schools just don't have classes they need. I do have a problem with kids taking underwater basket weaving as a "needed" class. Smaller school don't have the capability to offer certain classes larger schools have. And this doesn't single out any of the above mentioned schools. Just schools in general.

[tucker52]

I must say great atmosphere at OR last night.  My only compliant was the PA system was pretty bad on the visitor side.  Honestly it was also refreshing to watch a game in late November on real grass.   OR defense was as advertised.  Was impressed that the Irish cleaned up the penalties some.  

 

[SweetScience]

31 minutes ago, Eaglesfan00 said:

Most private schools that play in private school leagues can scholarship players. Catholic can not since they stayed in the public school league.  Do you not think the TSSAA are breathing down their necks trying to hit them with a violation? OR,Fulton,Alcoa, have and will continue to get kids too come to their schools that live out of their school zone. Rather it be on a communications class transfer (Fulton) or paying out-of-county tuition to attend (Alcoa) or paying $8,000 for tuition (OR).

There aren't many parents of kids willing to pay 8,000 big ones to attend school just to play on the football team. Those are very few and far between at Oak Ridge. We have one of the highest tuition rates around for public schools.

Edited November 18, 2017 by SweetScience

[SweetScience]

18 minutes ago, tucker52 said:

I must say great atmosphere at OR last night.  My only compliant was the PA system was pretty bad on the visitor side.  Honestly it was also refreshing to watch a game in late November on real grass.   OR defense was as advertised.  Was impressed that the Irish cleaned up the penalties some.  

 

I watched it on NFHS and it did look like a great environment. I am gonna rewatch it sometime later today. It was a great game. We put up a great fight against a team that had all the advantages over us, besides not playing at home.

[atrisk]

I think the TSSAA understands the made a mistake in letting private schools play in the public venue. Do they care? The enrollment difference  (9-12) between OR must be substantial, but anyone could see the difference in the players. I would dare to say this has been the case with all the public schools they have played. Good luck to Catholic.  If the bring home the gold ball that will make CC, Fulton, OR and Central look better. For what that is worth. 

Thanks for a exciting and fun season 'CATS. Your hard work has made our city and your school proud. Looking forward to 2018 and beyond. 

Coaches and AD's need to petition the TSSAA for a complete public/private split

[SweetScience]

8 minutes ago, atrisk said:

I think the TSSAA understands the made a mistake in letting private schools play in the public venue. Do they care? The enrollment difference  (9-12) between OR must be substantial, but anyone could see the difference in the players. I would dare to say this has been the case with all the public schools they have played. Good luck to Catholic.  If the bring home the gold ball that will make CC, Fulton, OR and Central look better. For what that is worth. 

Thanks for a exciting and fun season 'CATS. Your hard work has made our city and your school proud. Looking forward to 2018 and beyond. 

Coaches and AD's need to petition the TSSAA for a complete public/private split

Right. Their lines were massive compared to ours, and I'm sure are massive compared to most public schools around here. With that said, we still held our own on both sides of the LOS.

[WildcatRealist]

5 minutes ago, atrisk said:

I think the TSSAA understands the made a mistake in letting private schools play in the public venue. Do they care? The enrollment difference  (9-12) between OR must be substantial, but anyone could see the difference in the players. I would dare to say this has been the case with all the public schools they have played. Good luck to Catholic.  If the bring home the gold ball that will make CC, Fulton, OR and Central look better. For what that is worth. 

Thanks for a exciting and fun season 'CATS. Your hard work has made our city and your school proud. Looking forward to 2018 and beyond. 

Coaches and AD's need to petition the TSSAA for a complete public/private split

"...but anyone could see the difference in the players." Really...I couldn't. Does anyone that attended the game think that Catholic had THAT MUCH of a talent advantage? I attribute their victory to superior coaching (scheme) and execution.