Oak Ridge’s big plays not enough in region loss
Oak Ridge’s Branson Newberry races downfield on his way to a touchdown against Hardin Valley Academy on Friday, Oct. 16. The Wildcats fell to the Hawks 32-21 in a key Region 2-6A matchup. (photo:Joseph Moseley | ORHS Sports Media )
Despite those highlight-reel moments, the Wildcats fell 32-21 to the Hawks.
Zayden Williams made a diving, one-handed catch for 35 yards to set up an Oak Ridge touchdown on a short run by backup quarterback Kipton Feagan.
Feagan later turned a bad snap in punt formation into a 36-yard pass completion to Liam Gerber, setting up Chas Jackson’s 2-yard touchdown run.
But costly mistakes and missed opportunities overshadowed those spectacular plays.
A long Oak Ridge drive to open the third quarter featured three fourth-down conversions, but the Wildcats came away empty-handed despite reaching the Hardin Valley 1-yard line. An interception on another fourth-down attempt ended the threat.
The Hawks poured salt into the Wildcats’ wounds with an 80-yard touchdown pass on the ensuing possession.
Hardin Valley later snuffed out Oak Ridge’s momentum following Jackson’s touchdown by returning the ensuing kickoff 75 yards for another score.
“A lot of self-inflicted wounds, you know, just procedural stuff that we haven’t really done much most of the season, which is kind of unfortunate,” Oak Ridge Coach Derek Rang said.
Penalties cost the Wildcats a third-quarter touchdown and wiped out a 58-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter.
“And then, you know, from a coverage standpoint, we let a couple guys go open in the secondary there and contributed,” Rang said, referring to a big first-half pass play that set up a Hardin Valley touchdown.
“Special teams again; they returned a kickoff for a touchdown, and that’s kind of been a recurring theme.
“They had 21 points come from special teams or just from a standpoint of losing the guy in coverage.”
The bottom line, Rang said, was simple: Oak Ridge made too many mistakes to win.
“And that’s when, you know, if you’re a good football team, you can’t make those mistakes,” Rang said. “We just had a lot of self-inflicted wounds on our end.”
Rang also credited Hardin Valley for its physical play and offensive execution.
“They were pretty physical. They did a nice job with their unusual formations as far as point of attack in the run game,” he said.
“It felt like at times, we showed some box physicality. But at times, they got us.”
The Hawks’ offensive approach presented challenges, although Rang said his team knew what to expect.
“Their system, they kind of want to be in some unusual formations and kind of suck you in,” he said. “And then they kind of want to take their calculated shots.
“And, what they did was what we expected. We just didn’t execute well enough overall throughout four quarters.”
The Wildcats’ lone first-half touchdown came on a 5-yard pass from quarterback Brody Sparks to Malik Howard with 1:45 remaining in the first quarter, giving Oak Ridge an early 7-0 lead.
Despite the loss, Rang singled out several Wildcats for their defensive efforts.
“Jeremiah Stevens made some plays there defensively for us; he was pretty active, you know, kind of playing up there on the line of scrimmage,” Rang said.
“And Blake Woody and Kade Stuart kind of come up there and kind of bowed up a little bit.”
The loss dropped Oak Ridge to 6-2 overall and 2-2 in Region 2-6A, while Hardin Valley improved to 6-2 overall and 3-2 in region play.
If the Hawks win at Cleveland this Friday, Oct. 23, they will finish no worse than second in the region.
Oak Ridge, meanwhile, can secure a playoff berth with one more region victory.
The Wildcats will be heavily favored when they host Farragut at Blankenship Field on Friday, Oct. 23.