Oak Ridge 0, Farragut 24: "We are our own worst enemy"
The Wildcats fall at home to rival Farragut in stunning fashion on Friday night.
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Oak Ridge has now played four high school football games in 2022. The Wildcats have won two of them. They have lost two of them. After four games, it is fair to assume you might have a good feel for a team.
I do not have a good feel for the Wilcats.
Through four weeks, the Wildcats, and their future, is as much of a mystery as it was back in July when I first visited with the team.
On Friday night at Blankenship Field, Oak Ridge was shutout by rival Farragut. Zero points for the Wildcats. The loss gives the Admirals three-straight victories in the series versus Oak Ridge.
This was a game where the final score did not tell the whole story. With Clinton last week, the final score matched the game. The same was true against South-Doyle in a very different way. This week, though, things were different for Oak Ridge. It was more frustrating. More frustrating than their loss at Bearden two weeks prior.
The Wildcats outgained the Admirals. They had more first downs. They had more passing yards. They had more rushing yards. However, they also had more turnovers. They had more penalties. Oak Ridge had more everything in their game against Farragut on Friday night. “We are our own worst enemy. We just are,” Oak Ridge head football coach Scott Cummings told me after the game.
Farragut marched down the field and scored on their opening possession Friday night. You kind of got the sense that this might be a back-and-forth game where both offenses put up a healthy number of points.
Oak Ridge, which has excelled in their opening drive to this point in the season, did not involve star linebacker Brian Kelley on any seam routes over the middle again this week. Instead, they ran their lead tailback De’Jauvis Dozier. They got Almani Rembert involved on some jet sweeps. They were aggressive and went for it on fourth-and-short and were rewarded with a huge scamper from Dozier up the middle.
The Wildcats got to first-and-goal. Then came a false start. Then an illegal procedure and then quarterback Peyton Sharpe took a bad sack and coughed up the football.
That was the first costly turnover.
That first drive from Oak Ridge told the story for how this game would go. Oak Ridge could run on Farragut. They responded to that opening punch in the mouth via Farragut and responded well. Then things got tight in the red zone and disaster struck. The defense, which has thrived under defensive coordinator Robert Ayers Jr. this season, held their own once again. They forced a three-and-out from Farragut following the turnover only for Rembert to muff the punt return and give Farragut first-and-goal from inside Oak Ridge’s 10-yard line. “We are killing us,” Coach Cummings told me after the game.
That cannot happen.
But it did.
Farragut punched it in and went into the second quarter up 14-0. The Wildcats tried to create some chunk plays deep to get their offense clicking like it did back in Week 1 vs. South-Doyle. The offense hasn’t looked the same since, with injuries being a large reason why. However, it can’t all fall on Dozier. The deep 50-50 balls have not fallen in Oak Ridge’s favor to this point. This offense needed a spark. So it should come as no surprise that head coach Scott Cummings played three different quarterbacks in this game beginning on that third drive with junior Ethan Garza.
On the decision to go to Garza in the first half Coach Cummings said, “We kinda talked about potentially doing it, but we didn’t know for sure. We just felt like we kinda needed a spark. Garza gets rid of the ball so quickly, you know, we just kinda needed a spark and for him to get rid of it.”
Garza was not able to find his footing against Farragut, either, though. On an important third-and-eight Garza missed high that result in another punting situation for Oak Ridge.
Still, he provided a different look and feel for the Wildcats’ offense with his ability to use his feet a bit more and roll out to put more pressure on opposing defenses to stay disciplined to prevent the big play.
The backbreaker for Oak Ridge came just as the second half began. Already surrendering seven points due to a turnover and fumble, Oak Ridge fumbled on their first play of the second half which resulted in another immediate touchdown for Farragut to put the Admirals up 21-0.
And yet, Oak Ridge responded well. The Wildcats put together a masterful 15-play drive, but again, could not finish the drill in the red zone and were stuffed on fourth-and-goal.
The final score was ugly, but it did not tell the whole story. The Wildcats fought hard, but when you lose the turnover battle 3-to-1 and commit as many penalties as they did, it’s hard to win games in this sport.
With three quarterbacks getting work in this one, I asked Coach Cummings if there would be an open competition to be QB1 going into next week’s game. His answer was clear, “Yes.”
We shall see who is under center to kick things off next week for Oak Ridge. The Wildcats host Lenoir City as they look to get back over .500 on the 2022 season.