Oak Ridge vs Campbell County

[IanMackaye]

On 9/3/2019 at 6:08 PM, SweetScience said:

Sorry, Nut. I didn’t mean to direct all of that towards you. You are right in a lot of ways that the makeup of the city has changed, there’s no denying that. The school was much bigger when I was going there, not even 25 years ago yet. All I’m saying is we still have plenty of talent to go around and we are still very much in the running most every year. Yeah, that talent may not be as dominant as it once was, but there’s still aplenty to be a really good team most years.

Congratulations on your boys (Powell) having a really good season so far this year. They have a really nice looking team who has the ability to go pretty far. I just hope we can improve a lot by the time we play y’all so we can at least be competitive. Have a good day brother.

Are you sure? TSSAA lists the school at about 1400 students. That’s an average of 350 kids per grade. I can’t remember OR ever being bigger than that.

[IanMackaye]

1 hour ago, WildcatRealist said:

The city is old. Lots of the facilities (home side stands, horrible dressing rooms, press  box) are old. Your coach is old. Oak Ridge's football achievements are old. Their loyal fans are old and stuck in past glory. Oak Ridge football is irrelevant...

The city is working at being young. I can see that when I drive through town a couple of times per week. You’re right about the other things, though. Oak Ridge was good at sports when other schools hadn’t quite caught up to it. Now the good large schools in the area has caught up or passed OR.

[osunut2]

20 minutes ago, IanMackaye said:

The city is working at being young. I can see that when I drive through town a couple of times per week. 

The census data tells the real story. The population in Oak Ridge has been relatively flat since the 1950s, hovering around 28k. We'll get new data next year, but in 2010, the median age of an Oak Ridge resident was 43.5 years of age, which is incredibly high and also the highest it's ever been in Oak Ridge. The only way to reverse that trend is with population growth, which arguably the city hasn't seen since WWII.

For context, the median age in Knoxville was 32.7, Lenoir City was 35, and both Oliver Springs and Clinton were 39.

[BarneySox2007]

Unlike Oak Ridge, Maryville figured out how to keep the older generation from out numbering the younger generation.

 

[CatskerS]

2 hours ago, WildcatRealist said:

The city is old. Lots of the facilities (home side stands, horrible dressing rooms, press  box) are old. Your coach is old. Oak Ridge's football achievements are old. Their loyal fans are old and stuck in past glory. Oak Ridge football is irrelevant...

What would make them relevant? Going to the 3rd round of the playoffs and losing to a team with 10 future d1 players? Last I checked do fans congregate in the pressbox and dressing room?

[CatskerS]

1 hour ago, IanMackaye said:

The city is working at being young. I can see that when I drive through town a couple of times per week. You’re right about the other things, though. Oak Ridge was good at sports when other schools hadn’t quite caught up to it. Now the good large schools in the area has caught up or passed 

The girls basketball team was close to winning a state championship last year, boys basketball has been to the state tournament many times in the past 7-8 years. The football team went to the 3rd round of the play6and played the only private school team playing in public school playoffs. The private school team had 10 d1 players to oak ridges 2 and they lost in the 4th quarter. 1 year is an anomaly, not status quo 

[WillieTheWildcats]

3 hours ago, WildcatRealist said:

The city is old. Lots of the facilities (home side stands, horrible dressing rooms, press  box) are old. Your coach is old. Oak Ridge's football achievements are old. Their loyal fans are old and stuck in past glory. Oak Ridge football is irrelevant...

LOL. Dang, is this the funeral for Oak Ridge or CoachT.com? If I had known I was coming on here for a funeral, I would have worn pants!

[CatskerS]

4 minutes ago, WillieTheWildcats said:

LOL. Dang, is this the funeral for Oak Ridge or CoachT.com? If I had known I was coming on here for a funeral, I would have worn 

Not a funeral 

Edited September 5, 2019 by CatskerS

[Cactus Jack]

1986 comes to my mind when I see this team, not meaning it badly, but the similarities are there.  86 was a pretty good defensive team, Les Jones was a great linebacker and we played good Bruce Lussier defense, but offensively, we never could score much, lack of skill at certain offensive positions was the reason.  In 86 we went 4-6 and lost to Clinton 18-14. We didn't make the playoffs (there was only one team going then).  The schedule was very tough in 86, opening at Jefferson County, and also having Kingsport on the schedule and I think Brentwood Academy also.  The season ended with a big win over Campbell County.  The following year we did a little better but got destroyed at Jefferson County in the playoffs 51-0 and that ended the Bill Young era.  Enter Joe Gaddis and the 88 season was a 10-0 start with a playoff loss to a talented Oakland team. The point is that it can turn around quickly.  Fast forward to this team, a tough loss to Hardin Valley on a messed up night with a break for a hurricane. HVA got one big run and a short field touchdown and the Oak Ridge offense only found the end zone once, my guess is we beat HVA if we played later in the season, but that's the way the schedule falls. Then the 41-6 loss to Kingsport DB, which as my friends up there told me had the best defense they have had in several years, that contained our offense for the most part and allowed their offense, which is very efficient, to march up and down the field and wear down our defense.  Like 86, sure is.  Now comes 2-0 Campbell County team, thanks to the Price brothers, no longer the dormat, no longer a sure win. They use a very wide open passing offense, which can keep them in games if you don't get them off the field.  The key to the game is our offense, they must be able to run the football, grind up clock, keep the Cougar defense on the field and score touchdowns, keeping our defense off the field. A win turns us back in the right direction and also is a Region win, we really need this one.  Think of this too, we lost Jordan Graham, Jeremy Mitchell, Kai Reese Pendergrass and Herbert Booker off last years team, they were responsible for the majority of points scored, on both sides of the ball.  LIke 86 when we lost Eric Thomas, Alfred Jones, and lots of skill guys off the 85 team. That's where we are, now lets go play.

[WillieTheWildcats]

59 minutes ago, Cactus Jack said:

1986 comes to my mind when I see this team, not meaning it badly, but the similarities are there.  86 was a pretty good defensive team, Les Jones was a great linebacker and we played good Bruce Lussier defense, but offensively, we never could score much, lack of skill at certain offensive positions was the reason.  In 86 we went 4-6 and lost to Clinton 18-14. We didn't make the playoffs (there was only one team going then).  The schedule was very tough in 86, opening at Jefferson County, and also having Kingsport on the schedule and I think Brentwood Academy also.  The season ended with a big win over Campbell County.  The following year we did a little better but got destroyed at Jefferson County in the playoffs 51-0 and that ended the Bill Young era.  Enter Joe Gaddis and the 88 season was a 10-0 start with a playoff loss to a talented Oakland team. The point is that it can turn around quickly.  Fast forward to this team, a tough loss to Hardin Valley on a messed up night with a break for a hurricane. HVA got one big run and a short field touchdown and the Oak Ridge offense only found the end zone once, my guess is we beat HVA if we played later in the season, but that's the way the schedule falls. Then the 41-6 loss to Kingsport DB, which as my friends up there told me had the best defense they have had in several years, that contained our offense for the most part and allowed their offense, which is very efficient, to march up and down the field and wear down our defense.  Like 86, sure is.  Now comes 2-0 Campbell County team, thanks to the Price brothers, no longer the dormat, no longer a sure win. They use a very wide open passing offense, which can keep them in games if you don't get them off the field.  The key to the game is our offense, they must be able to run the football, grind up clock, keep the Cougar defense on the field and score touchdowns, keeping our defense off the field. A win turns us back in the right direction and also is a Region win, we really need this one.  Think of this too, we lost Jordan Graham, Jeremy Mitchell, Kai Reese Pendergrass and Herbert Booker off last years team, they were responsible for the majority of points scored, on both sides of the ball.  LIke 86 when we lost Eric Thomas, Alfred Jones, and lots of skill guys off the 85 team. That's where we are, now lets go play.

Way to BRING it Cactus Jack!  You obviously know your Oak Ridge football. You obviously love your Oak Ridge football. You obviously are able to see where the program stands now and what the team needs to do this Friday Night.

All this Oak Ridge team can do is go play now. They can't put the History of Past Wildcats on their back. They can't be held accountable for the Wildcats of the future. They can only play for the here and now. It really isn't that hard, PULL FOR YOUR 2019 WILDCATS! There isn't any other Oak Ridge football team going to magically appear. And if Oak Ridge dropping a couple of football games is too hard for you to accept try applying to the Alcoa or Maryville Football Boosters. I have a great respect for both programs. 

Reality can suck but it is the only reality we have so make the best of it. Cheer the Wildcats over Campbell County, RWR!

 

[WillieTheWildcats]

TIME TO BLINDLY GUESS THE SCORE FOR THE OAK RIDGE VS CAMPBELL COUNTY FOOTBALL GAME.....

Oak Ridge     19   

Cougars         17

...Good luck Cats, RWR!

[bonkers]

12 hours ago, IanMackaye said:

Are you sure? TSSAA lists the school at about 1400 students. That’s an average of 350 kids per grade. I can’t remember OR ever being bigger than that.

I've never thought about the ORHS enrollment other than knowing OR is 5A in a 6 classification state. I have a pretty good friend who is a former school board member and I asked him about enrollment figures through the years. What he told me he said isn't exact but it's very close. He said back when Coach Hale was here that ORHS had around 1800 students in grades 10-11-12. He said when Gaddis was here in the 90s that ORHS had around 1800 in grades 9-10-11-12 and in the last 2-3 years ORHS has had about 1450 in grades 9-10-11-12. So it seems that while the population of Oak Ridge stays around the same that the population of the youth has decreased.