Oak Ridge 10, Bearden 14: Two Very Different Weeks
After dismantling South-Doyle a week ago, the Wildcats were stifled on the road at Bearden Friday night.
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If you were not at Bearden High School Friday night in West Knoxville, you missed out. (If you didn’t snag some Chez Guevara beforehand, you missed out on multiple fronts.) Although the final score was not what Oak Ridge fans had anticipated coming into the contest against the 0-1 Bearden Bulldogs, this was exactly the kind of high school football game you reflect on in the offseason. You tell friends and family members about a game like this, all that happened, and that it came down to the very last play.
The very last play.
Oak Ridge had their chances in this one.
The Wildcats’ defense remained steadfast throughout not falling victim to explosive plays via the Bearden offense at any point in the contest.
It was the Wildcat offense, that put up 46 points on South-Doyle in the first half last week on the road, that was the story tonight. Bearden and their defensive front closed the b-gap for business Friday night. A lot was asked from star running backs Jai Hundley and De’Jauvis Dozier to step up with star wideout Brandon Heyward unavailable and star two-way player Elijah Rogers leaving the game due to injury. And yet, the Wildcats had an opportunity to win a tough road game in front of a fired up Bearden fanbase up until the very last play of the game.
You go back to the start of the second half, though. That first play of the second half. On an inside zone run, Dozier was hit hard and coughed up the football that resulted in an Oak Ridge turnover and great field position for the Bulldogs. The momentum shifted, and the Bulldogs took advantage of the mistake and marched down the field quickly and put another touchdown on the board to put the Bulldogs up 14-3.
For Oak Ridge, it was the way the game was going. The Wildcats’ offense just felt off and could not get the running game cooking like they wanted. The explosive plays weren’t there.
The Wildcats forced three punts on the first three possesions for Bearden. The defense put the Wildcats in a good spot to build off last week’s offensive explosion, but when things would get rolling a bit, it changed in the red zone. Things get tight inside the 20-yard line, and quarterback Peyton Sharpe struggled with holding onto the ball too long at multiple points in the contest. The quick crossers over the middle to Izzy Mitchell were clicking for Sharpe, but situations like the sack he took on 1st & Goal on that opening drive for the Wildcats stood out. The Wildcats were forced to settle for three on that drive.
Then there was the 91-yard drive by the Bulldogs.
Based on what you saw last week and early in this one, this kind of sustained drive by Bearden was huge. It took 12 plays, none of which were large in yardage for the Bulldogs to march down the field and go up 7-3 early. The Wildcats kept everything in front of them, especially with the Bulldogs’ quick slants and inside zone runs. They just couldn’t stop them and get off the field. One bad drive from the defense all night, and one costly turnover was the difference.
That’s football.
However, the Wildcats fought back after the disastrous start to the second half. Mitchell, who had a great game on both sides of the ball, jumped the route in the third quarter in Bearden territory for a huge interception. Immediately, the Wildcats put it in their best RBs hands and it resulted in a touchdown by Dozier to put the Wildcats back in the game. However, head football coach Scott Cummings was in a predicament here. He could take the extra point and be down four, or he could go for two to make it a 3-point game instead of needing another touchdown to win. Ultimately, there was some confusion for the Wildcats on the field and a timeout was called. Cummings elected to not go for two and the Wildcats were still down a touchdown.
You never know which way things are going to go in a football game. I asked Coach Cummings after the game about his decision not to try and make it a field-goal game and he told me, “We had made a decision not to try to chase points at that time. It was still early enough, where, you know, just didn’t feel like it was smart to chase the points.”
Cummings was right in that the Wildcats had three more offensive possessions following the touchdown early in the fourth quarter to score more points. They had the time and the possessions to make their move, but the Wildcats went three-and-out their next two drives before the final drive.
The Wildcats, led by quarterback Sharpe, rose to the moment in their first two-minute drill of the season in hostile territory. The Wildcats were pinned up deep in their own territory, but they moved the ball. Bearden had a pair of big pass-interference calls, and Hundley finally found a lane inside for a big burst up the middle to give Oak Ridge a chance to steal it late. The Wildcats got it inside the Bearden 10-yard and Will Pressley, a deep-target favorite of Sharpe’s, just missed coming down with the game-winner in the back of the endzone.
The Wildcats came up just short, but Cummings was proud of how his team handled the two-minute drill late. “Not bad, not bad. You know, we didn’t do bad with it. I thought we were a little discombobulated at some points there. I thought we got it back together, made some plays to get ourselves in position to win this thing.”
Next Friday night, the Wildcats host the Clinton Dragons with ostensibly their first full game with Heyward out wide at Blankenship Field. However, the Wildcats may be without another star in Rogers for this one as Coach Cummings and his staff waits to find out the severity of the injury he sufffered in the Bearden game. “My worry right now is for Elijah Rogers. You know, we cannot afford to lose him,” Cummings told me after the game in regards to getting his team healthy as a whole.
With the loss, Oak Ridge falls to 1-1 on the season.
Chase Thomas is the Sports Renaissance Man, Atlanta Sports Guy and Vol For Life. He is a graduate student at the University of Tennessee and resides in Knoxville, TN. Chase obtained his undergraduate degree in journalism from the University of North Georgia. He has written for a variety of publications that include Outsider, SB Nation, VICE Sports, SI’s The Cauldron, Cox Media Group & ESPN’s TrueHoop Network. You can email him at chasethomaspodcast[at]gmail.