Don’t let the records fool you.
Dobyns-Bennett football coach Joey Christian is expecting one tough game when his Indians (6-2) travel to Oak Ridge to take on the Wildcats (2-6) on Friday night.
The Wildcats have big losses to powerhouses Powell and Greeneville, but the other four came in one-possession games. And they’ve rolled in victories over Lenoir City and Clinton.
“It would be totally wrong for anyone to assume Oak Ridge isn’t that good based on the record,” Christian said. “They’re probably the most athletic overall team we’ve faced all year. They don’t have the three, four guys that Greeneville has with the superior speed, but they’ve got around 20 guys with really good speed.”
Junior quarterback Hayden Tarwater has completed 65 percent of his passes, going 101-for-168 for 1,136 yards and nine touchdowns. He’s also thrown nine interceptions.
In last week’s 42-35 loss to Karns, Tarwater threw for 263 yards and four touchdowns. Jai Hundley had seven catches for 83 yards, Elijah Rogers also had seven for 82 yards and Brandon Heyward added five for 85 yards.
Heyward leads the team with 41 catches for 575 yards this season.
Oak Ridge’s running game has had a harder time getting on track. Kendall Jackson, a talented 6-foot-1 senior, leads the way with 75 carries for 287 yards and De’Jauvis Dozier has 46 rushes for 230 yards. Dozier is dangerous in the kicking game with 270 return yards.
“Jackson is dangerous when he runs the ball. They’ve got quite a few guys hard to deal with,” Christian said. “Everybody on the edge is more athletic than us. It’s very important for us to hold up structurally on the back end.”
For the D-B defense, sophomore linebacker Branson Carswell has been a force and leads with 76 tackles. Levi Evans is second on the team with 70 stops, Caleb Baker has 65 and Hayden Sherer has 52.
“Branson is such a great kid and what a fantastic year he’s had,” Christian said. “He’s always around the football. You tell him one time how to do things and he remembers. He’s got a great football mind, a great player.”
D-B OFFENSE vs.
OAK RIDGE DEFENSE
In last week’s 48-21 win over William Blount, Jake Carson was 12-of-15 passing for 216 yards and three touchdowns. Running back I’Shawn Graves added to a balance by rushing 11 times for 101 yards and a score.
The Indians can keep defenses off balance with left-hander Noah Blankenship taking his share of snaps. Carson has 937 passing yards and Blankenship 610 this season.
Graves is the leading rusher with 76 carries for 524 yards, averaging nearly 7 yards a pop, and the leading receivers are Jonavan Gillespie (26 catches, 467 yards) and Sherer (24 catches, 403 yards).
“We need to establish the line of scrimmage and run the football,” Christian said. “We proved against Jeff County (a 35-21 loss) we can come out swinging, but by then we were so far down, we were in trouble. It was good to see our offensive line bounce back last week and open up some holes. That’s the most important for us because of how we base our offense and the efficiency we preach.”
That line — center Carson Christian, guards Ryder Brown and Cardin McVey, and tackles Tommy Sexton and John Teboe — has paved the way for the Tribe to average 341.4 yards of offense per game.
However, the Indians must account for Oak Ridge linebackers Jacob Berven and Brian Kelley. Berven leads the team with 89 tackles, and Kelley has 62 tackles along with four sacks.
Five Oak Ridge players — Peyton Sharpe, Pryce Davis, Jayden Williams, Justyn Crowley and Jackson — have recorded an interception this season.
ALL-TIME RIVALRY
Despite the schools being separated by 120-plus miles, Oak Ridge has been one of D-B’s biggest rivals over the years. The Wildcats hold a 22-20-1 advantage in the series, but the Indians have won the past two meetings.
