’Cats win big on a special night
Wildcats De’Jauvis Dozier follows his blocking for a gain against Jefferson County Friday night. Dozier scored twice to help Oak Ridge win its season opener 30-14 against the Patriots. (photo:Ken Leinart )
Prior to Friday night’s game, the 1958 Oak Ridge High School Wildcat High School national champion football team was honored.
Friday night’s contest was also the opening game of the 80th anniversary/season of Historic Blankenship Field.
“It was big to start out with a win,” Wildcat Head Coach Derek Rang said of the game.
The ’Cats looked a little shaky to begin, but “being shaky” is a relative term. Despite a fumble on the opening kickoff giving the Patriots a short field 25 yards from the goal, the Wildcats showed early signs of how the game was going to be played.
It took Jefferson County eight plays to finally put the ball in the end zone when signal caller Izaiah Hall scored on a keeper from three yards out.
It would turn out to be the highlight of the Jefferson County attack until very late in the game.
The ’Cats’ offense sputtered a little in their first drive of the night, but a 27-yard third down pass from quarterback Blaine Stansberry to Brandon Heyward on a third down, and a couple of tough runs from De’Jauvis Dozier showed off what the hosts’ offense was capable of.
A couple of shots to the end zone were for naught and a holding penalty left the ’Cats to settle for a 27-yard field goal from Eli Pearson and the Patriot was cut to 7-3.
“First game of the season, it’s going to be a little sloppy,” Rang said. “There are going to be mistakes made.”
Oak Ridge’s defense held the Patriots to a chorus line (one, two, three, kick) and took advantage of a short punt in two plays. The first didn’t count. It was a holding call against the Wildcats. The second play was a 45-yard touchdown from Stansberry to Almani Rembert. With the Pearson point after the Wildcats enjoyed a 10-7 lead.
Four plays later Vashawn Nalls made it 16-7 when he picked off a Patriot offering at the 32 and went to house untouched. The point after made it 17-7.
“On defense … We did really good on defense,” Rang said of his ’Cats.
Oak Ridge got bit contributions defensively for Eljah Bradley and Nalls who were huge at stopping the Patriot running game.
Bryce Dorsey camped in the Jefferson County backfield and disrupted any passing game the Patriots might have wanted to try.
But Oak Ridge’s offense again sputtered somewhat in the second quarter and the Wildcats entered the break with a 17-7 lead.
Something interesting began in the third frame — namely De’Jauvis Dozier. The big senior back played well in the first half, but in the second half he played like a beast.
“He gets stronger as the game goes on,” Rang said of Dozier. “He moves the ball down the field. That’s’ what we need him to do.”
The ’Cats didn’t give up anything to the Patriots. The Patriots gave up lots to the hosts, with two exceptions. On a fourth and one at the 22 the Wildcats were stuffed on a run — “They had a guy who was at the right place at the right time,” Rang said — and Stansberry had an interception when he threw just as he was being hit.
Dozier closed out the third quarter scoring with an 11-yard touchdown run at the 1:54 mark and the Wildcats took a 23-7 lead into the fourth after the PAT was missed.
In the final quarter Oak Ridge got an interception from Izzy Mitchell and another from Heyward to help keep the Patriot offense off the field and then saw Dozier rumble for a 22-yard touchdown with 2:44 left in the game. The Point after made it 30-7.
It might have stayed that way except the Patriots’s Omarian Mills broke off a 72-yard run with a little more than a minute to play and with the PAT the final score was settled at 30-14.
“They (Jefferson County) dominated Cocke County in a scrimmage, and they played really well in a scrimmage against Knoxville West,” Rang said. “We beat a really good football team.”