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24 Oak Ridge Players Earn All-District Honors

November 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Oak Ridge Now offers its congratulations to the following Oak Ridge War Eagle All-District 14-5A football players:

1st Team Offense

Linemen: Anthony Presutti, Cody Ward
Receivers: Cade Cyr
Quarteback: Chris Grett
Running Back: Michael Handy

1st Team Defense

Ends: Andrew Paige, Paul Brown
Linebackers: Trevor Quick, Zach Sanders
Safeties: Jamal Candley

2nd Team Offense

Linemen: Martin Murillo, Hayden Haselbein
Receivers: Kyle Adams, Macklin Thomas

2nd Team Defense

Linemen: Torrey Dickey
Linebackers: Chase Daniels, Dale Adams
Cornerbacks: Armontre Sneed
Punters: Martin Gonzalez

Honorable Mention Offense

Offense: Cesar Rangel, Jonathon Vargas, Bernard Pierre
Defense: Dallas Harvey, Scott Corbett

All District Academic

Trevor Quick, Martin Gonzalez, Cade Cyr

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More Photos from Friday’s Football Finale

November 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Courtesy of Jim Eastin, here are some more terrific photos from Friday night’s 37-22 loss to Klein Collins. While the last game may have been disappointing, high school football really can help to bind our community together. If you didn’t get a chance to see a game this season, make a point to do so next year. You won’t regret it.

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Helmet Manufacturer Challenges Repair Practices

November 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Editor’s note: we have included a response from Oak Ridge High School football coach and athletic director Bob Barrett at the conclusion of this article.

The helmet-on-helmet cracks at North Forney High School’s 7 a.m. football practice aren’t music to Hank Semler’s ears. The head coach of the fledgling Division 3A Falcons — the pride of this $70 mllion exurban high school — still suffers migraines and dizziness that doctors attribute to years of football concussions.

Semler’s players, convinced of their invincibility, tease him about his obsession with safety technology. He investigated the science behind every available helmet before settling on a top-of-the-line model. “I want to be able to say, ‘Your child is one of the most protected athletes in the state, if not the nation,’” Semler says.

But what constitutes safety — and whether any brand of helmet provides more safety than the others — has lately become a subject of fierce debate. Parents are torn between the desire of their kids to play and increasingly hard-to-ignore studies about the relationship between football and long-term brain damage. Coaches struggle to balance safety with fans’ cries for harder hits, bigger players and crushing wins. And at least one underdog manufacturer, Xenith, which makes the helmet Semler chose, is raising safety concerns about the industry’s long-standing practice of refurbishing old helmets and pitching its own product as a solution.

The buzz around Xenith, a relative newcomer, stems from its founder and CEO’s credentials: Vincent Ferrara, 37, played quarterback for Harvard University and went on to get an MD and an MBA from Columbia University. Passionate about preventing head injuries, Ferrara hired an elite crew of doctors and scientists at the University of Ottowa’s Neurotrauma Impact Lab to help design his X1 helmet, which uses a web of patented shock absorbers — not traditional helmet pads — to reduce the sudden head movement that causes brain injuries.

But it’s Ferrara’s safety message, and his not-so-veiled swipe at the country’s helmet reconditioning industry, that have made headlines lately. In Xenith’s “One Player, One Helmet” advertising campaign, Ferrara argues that the approach of most youth athletics programs — buy a stash of helmets from big companies like Riddell and Schutt at $150 to $200 a pop, then refurbish them every year or two — is unsafe.

Almost every high school, middle school or youth league football team in the country uses the reconditioning process, as do many university teams. Their helmets are inspected for obvious flaws: crumbling pads, dents and dings, cracked shells, chipped paint. They’re then sent off to reconditioning plants to get the worn parts replaced and the helmets power-washed, disinfected, buffed and repainted. Random samplings are drop-tested — literally dropped, then judged by “shock measurements” — to ensure they meet national standards. If they don’t, they’re rejected. The helmets that pass are sent back to the school for the following season.

No direct link

Ferrara has not claimed a direct link between reconditioned helmets and head injuries, and there is no data to suggest one. But in the same way a driver would be wary of buying a once-totaled used car, he suggests, parents should be concerned about letting their children wear helmets that have endured hundreds of hits. Helmet technology changes almost by the year, but in many cases, teams keep them for a decade — an unofficial policy referred to as the “10 years and out” rule.

“When you bring your car in for repairs, you know what it’s been through. When you come out with four used tires, with used safety belts, you don’t,” Ferrara says. “Ninety-nine percent of parents have never even thought about this. … We want to end this paradigm of teams owning helmets, outfitting youth in helmets, that are a decade old in some cases.”

Ferrara’s Xenith helmets are comparable in price and life cycle to other helmets on the market. But they also have interior pads that are labeled with special bar codes and come out in one piece so they can be returned to the right helmet after they’re washed. When traditional helmets are taken apart to be reconditioned, Ferrara says, the pads are taken out and washed in big bags — and are routinely returned to different helmets. Ferrara says he’s seen one-year-old helmets come back with pads that are obviously six or seven years old. He says he’s seen helmets returned that have the wrong size face masks attached, bending the helmet shell to the point of cracking.

Texas high school athletic directors, some who refused to be named for fear of upsetting their vendors, list a range of nerve-wracking experiences, including having a newly reconditioned helmet get rejected the following year — even though it sat unused on a shelf for the entire season.

“I’m not trying to set off a panic,” Ferrara says. “But if you’re a part of a high school freshman team, you’re probably getting a used helmet with parts that have been mixed and matched.”

Profit motive?

Reconditioners counter that Ferrara’s “One Player, One Helmet” initiative is little more than a marketing ploy. With the rise of technology said to reduce concussions and prevent staph infections, they say, helmets — including reconditioned ones — are safer than ever. “It’s how they want to get into the marketplace,” says Ed Fisher, executive director of the National Athletic Equipment Reconditioning Association.

Fisher, whose organization inspects the country’s 30 certified reconditioning facilities, says most kids and school districts don’t have the money for new helmets, making reconditioning a necessity. Reconditioners say they feel an incredible responsibility for the 1.75 million helmets they refurbish for young players every year — and take great care to ensure their top-notch condition. “You take the nature of the game, and it’s going to be impossible to eliminate all of the risk,” Fisher says. “It’s our job, when they show up to play, that the helmet they’re given provides the best protection we can possibly give them.”

It did little to quell critics’ concerns when Riddell — the 70-year-old behemoth football helmet manufacturer that makes NFL helmets — announced it would move its San Antonio reconditioning operations to Mexico. At first, even the reconditioning association had questions, which Fisher says have since been answered. Thad Ide, vice president of research and development for Riddell, says the Mexico move allows the company to provide “enhanced reconditioning services” in a more efficient and technologically advanced setting. “Brand new equipment, machinery and lines havefurther enabled us to provide the highest quality reconditioning services in the industry,” he wrote in a statement.

Riddell is no stranger to the head injury debate. Its Revolution helmet, introduced in 2002, was the first in the country designed to reduce concussion risk.

A deadly blow

Industry wide, helmet manufacturers have been searching for the right design and the right message to withstand mounting concerns about the lifetime effects of football brain injuries on young players.

On the far side of the spectrum are parents like Dick Benson, whose son Will, a 17-year-old star quarterback at St. Stephen’s Episcopal School in Austin, died in 2002 following a traumatic brain injury sustained from helmet-to-helmet hits in two football games. For Benson, who believes his son was wearing a reconditioned helmet when his first injury was sustained, there’s no such thing as “safe” football gear. He has spent the last eight years lobbying Congress and the Texas Legislature for stronger safety standards for what he calls a “modern American gladiatorial sport.” The grief he still feels every day is intense. “There’s no way in hell I would let any kid of mine play football again, period,” he says.

Other parents, like the ones Southlake Carroll ISD athletic director Kevin Ozee hears from, increasingly ask if they can buy Xenith helmets for their kids. His district, which generally retires its reconditioned helmets at the six-year mark, happily obliges. “We’re lucky enough to have a district where parents are comfortable spending the money to put a kid in what they think is the best product,” Ozee says. “But in most districts, because of economics, it’s a different situation all together.”

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at http://trib.it/cG9jB9.

We at Oak Ridge Now asked Oak Ridge High School football coach and athletic director Bob Barrett about his thoughts on helmet safety. Here’s what he has to say:

“This is a very hotly debated topic right now.  As a district, we discuss this frequently at our weekly AD meetings to try to stay up with the most current information and data. Right now, I cannot say for certain what is the best helmet on the market.  We have several different helmets that we fit our players into based on the best fit for each player.

I have two sons playing football right now, one in college and one in high school, and they are both wearing different helmets because of the fit for each of them.  My oldest son sustained a minor concussion this season, but I do not think any of the current helmets would have prevented the injury.

I have not seen it proven that any one helmet will prevent all head injuries.  If we do see one that does, I assure you that is what we will get for our kids.”

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War Eagles a Stones Throw Away from Playoffs

November 5, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Jamal CandleyAfter defeating the Kingwood Mustangs 21-20 in a hard fought, albeit confusing victory, the Oak Ridge War Eagles are a stones throw away from a Division 1, 5-A playoff berth.

Driving to the game, Oak Ridge fans must have been wondering what type of Oak Ridge team would show up to play. Last season, the War Eagles finished the regular season with an abysmal showing against Lufkin where one sportswriter (not me) seemed to think that only a few War Eagles were trying. Then, against Klein Collins in the first round of the playoffs the wheels completely came off sending Oak Ridge into the off-season. What followed was a mass exodus of the coaching staff.

Good news! Coach Barrett with whom will be forever known from this moment forward as “Ballsy Bob” (not Big Game Bob…that’s just too cliche) went out and recruited a coaching staff that had a pulse far above the barely alive level of some of those coaches that are long gone.

The result? An Oak Ridge team that has given an honest 110% effort ever since the start of the second game of the season. Now, at times that effort has gone wasted due to mistakes but all the fans should be concerned about is the effort in hopes that results would follow. This almost full season effort culminated in a playoff berth (assuming College Park loses to Lufkin) earned on the last day of the regular season. There was no lying down against Kingwood so the players, coaches and fans should be one happy community.

This game could be described as a see-saw battle with Oak Ridge scoring on their first possession on a well engineered drive made possible by two first down passes from Chris Grett to both Cade Cyr and Brady Simon with some successful runs mixed in by Michael Handy and Chris Grett. Handy closed the deal with a five yard TD run and with Martin Gonzalez’s extra point being good, it was 7-0 Oak Ridge at 8:09 of the first quarter.

After a couple unsuccessful drives by both teams, Kingwood struck paydirt when Andrew Bratsman scored on a one yard plunge. Kicker Glander’s extra point try was good and the game was tied with 1:59 left in the first quarter.

Kingwood owned the second quarter as they held Oak Ridge scoreless. Meanwhile, the Mustang’s Kade Harrington took off on a 25 yard touchdown scamper at 7:12 of the second quarter. With Glander complying, Kingwood was up 14-7, which is what the halftime score would eventually read.

As has usually been the case, Oak Ridge came out more ready to play football in the second half. Where the defense did a real good job in the first half, Paige, Candley and company came out in the second half playing defense like the Packers did against the Jets this past weekend. However, where the War Eagles and Packers defenses differ is the War Eagles didn’t surprise anyone. They’ve been playing consistent, ridiculous defense all year long. NO ONE can point to one game where the defense played bad except the first game of the season and everyone gets a pass that day.

While the defense was holding Kingwood to squat yardage, the offense came through with a Grett four yard TD plunge up the middle at 5:12 in the third quarter. Mr Automatic Martin Gonzalez made the extra point and the game was tied at 14.

What was encouraging to see all day long was the offensive line excelling. Where at times during the season the O-line looked like they may have a serious future in the pancake business, against Kingwood they were the spatula’s moving the Mustang line at will. Let’s hope a trend is developing here.

The fourth quarter brought more Oak Ridge domination and Grett put the War Eagles ahead with a 12 yard TD run up the gut at 10:09. Mr Automatic was successful and Oak Ridge went up for the first time since the first quarter, 21-14.

All was good in War Eagle land. This was one game the War Eagle fans could enjoy as time wore down.

WAIT!!!! Oops! Fumble by the offense at about the 6 minute mark. Kingwood recovers. Dang it! Here we go again. Freaking turnovers!

Have no fear though. The Oak Ridge defense held the Mustangs no problem. Oak Ridge regained possession with a couple minutes left and it all was just about over. Phew! That was close.

WAIT!!!! Another fumble. Are you kidding me? Kingwood gets the ball deep in Oak Ridge’s end. They score on a five yard pass from Greg Williamson to Grant Davis. It almost didn’t happen as Chase Daniels D’d up perfectly and swatted the ball only to have it fall in Davis’s hands in the back of the end zone.

The extra point would surely tie things up and overtime would ensue.

Whoops! By this time, no one at Woodforest was surprised by anything with all the insanity that had been going on of late. So when Kingwood lined up to go for two it was like “whatever”. People were a bit confused who were not completely aware of the playoff scenario but you just knew the defense was going to make the stop. Sure enough, the Kingwood QB Williamson rolled to his right to throw his fourth pass of the evening and 21st of the year and Oak Ridge Now’s Player of the Game Jamal Candley swatted it down ensuring the victory for the drained War Eagles.

For anyone who is still confused as to the whole playoff scenario, here it goes:

Oak Ridge had to win no matter what. The War Eagles were not getting in if they lost. They still need help as Lufkin must beat College Park in order to get in. Kingwood was “in” no matter what if they won. However, they could lose by two or less and still get in. So they are IN. If they decided to kick the extra point and gamble with overtime, they risked losing by three or more points. So if you look at it like Coach MacDougald was looking at it, you would go for the win on the two point try. If you fail, you are still in the playoffs. If you win, you look like a genius when in actuality, you are a genius any way you look at it. However, by losing to Oak Ridge, Kingwood is off the hook and doesn’t have to play Klein Collins in the playoffs like Oak Ridge has to now. They will play a much weaker team. Excellent move! What would you do?

Coach Barrett’s take on MacDougald’s decision: “To be honest, throwing the ball in that situation is a great call because it is extremely tough to cover defensively. When we ran that offense, our two point plays always included a pass play. Trust me, he was not throwing the game. He just played it smart. Many coaches believe that in being on the road at the end of a game, you do exactly what they did. Then  if you couple in the playoff situation, it was an extremely smart choice.”

That all being written, I have now lost a good friend who is a parent of a CP player. She is also a former D-1 athlete who believes that you play the game with the intention of winning and you give yourself the best chance at winning the particular game you are playing. If you go by that logic, you kick the extra point and go into overtime. Lots of different ways to look at this. I’ll tell you what Mam, beat Lufkin and you totally screw up this whole article.

WORTHY OF NOTE:

DEFENSE: Enough can’t be said about the defense and to not mention every name is almost criminal. All in all, this was the best defensive game for Oak Ridge all season. Quick, Daniels, Paige, Candley, Brown and Adams were all over the place making sure tackle after sure tackle. That’s pretty good for a team that hardly does any tackling in practice for fear of injuries. Well, I can’t be sure but I think some parents complain about the tackling at practices so it’s not just the coaches fault. There was only one dumb personal foul on the D and that’s above average this year. Once the offense fell apart in the fourth quarter, the defense bailed them out. That’s what good teams do. Opposite sides of the ball bail each other out all season long. That’s playoff material right there.

OFFENSE: I’m no offensive coordinator but I know games are won and lost on turnovers. This is redundant but look at the turnovers of all games and you won’t need to look at the score. This game is an exception. However, against a team like Klein Collins losing two fumbles spells off-season real quick.  The O-Line is on. Handy is Handy – a star! Wide-outs are making catches but can not miss any catchable balls against KC.

CHRIS GRETT: Grett is still awesome and I don’t care about the fumbles. This offense lives and dies with Grett and he has come through way more than he hasn’t. When you are down on the field close to the action, you can see how much of a beating he takes. Yet, he is right back up. The key is for Chris to keep his head and to lead like he has done all season and be able to suck up missed catches and blocks and keep moving forward. QB Coach Michael McDonald thinks the world of Chris; “Chris is a super young man and a joy to work with. He is a gifted and highly intelligent person and has taken the role of QB in a one back-no huddle offense and performed quite well. Chris also achieves at a high level in the classroom. The accolades he has received this year are deserved.”

BALLSY BOB explanation: How many times has Coach Barrett gone for it on 4th down with not necessarily being concerned with field position? I can’t remember one instance where the team has failed in these situations. Let’s not paint too rosy of a picture here. If you talk to all the big college coaches like Paterno, former long time Florida State coach Bobby Bowden and whoever else, they will tell you although they are in on the strategy, they give free reign to their coordinators. Head coaches are listening on the phones for anything stupid his underlings might do so he can quash it but a good coach lets his coaches coach. One exception, on 4th downs it’s the head coach’s call at all times. Therefore, “Ballsy Bob”. This Big Game Bob stuff that CSS came up with? NOT. Ballsy Bob it is.

POOCH KICK: Mixed reviews again. It works sometimes and doesn’t on others. Lots of eye-rolling during kickoffs. One positive is Oak Ridge is not giving up long kickoff returns.

JAMAL CANDLEY: Jamal is Oak Ridge Now’s Player of the Game. The whole team did great and several kids were considered but Jamal plays a glamour position and is highly visible. The dude was in the backfield faster than the QB was. It’s like he knew the plays. I guess Principal Johnson’s investment in that helicopter has paid dividends for the coaches and players. Candley’s thoughts on the game; “The win felt great because we worked so hard for the last two weeks and the pressure of not winning and missing the playoffs when we know we deserve to go. I love playing for this team. We have become so close and we’re always pushing each other to do better. This year’s team is way smaller than last year’s team but we’ll get after it with anybody. You know, maybe we aren’t that intimidating but we’re still around. Lots of bigger teams aren’t.”

COACH BARRETT’s quote on the game: “I am extremely proud of our kids and coaches. It was an extremely physical and emotional game with a lot riding on the outcome and our players handled it extremely well. I am most proud of the way we battled for the entire game and were able to make a play after Kingwood had scored. We talk all the time about “winning the next play” regardless of the previous play. In that situation, our players stepped up and won the next play after facing a heartbreaking play before it. On the part of our coaches, they did another outstanding job of game planning and play calling that gave our players the opportunity to be successful and the kids ran with it and executed. Now, we will wait and see how it works out for us.”

Assuming the War Eagles get help from Lufkin, Oak Ridge will have made the playoffs in four of the six years Coach Bob Barrett has been at the helm. Not bad at all in 5-A football. Right up there with baseball and many other sports at this now athletic bastion of a high school.

The Oak Ridge High School Band put on their usual awesome performance, and were joined at the end by the York 8th graders, who got a taste of what War Eagle halftime is all about.

The better half, Mr Sheranko, Mr Butler, Mr Barlow, and others were working the concession stand for Operation Graduation under the Kingwood stands and all mentioned how not one Kingwood fan was rude all night long. Every one of them nice, polite, grateful acting with complete class. I bet that’s what people say about us when we travel.

All of us are thankful the boys won. With some assistance, we’ll live for at least another day. Oak Ridge Cheerleader Serena Bufton was almost in happy tears after the game knowing their chances of cheering at another football game are good.

GO LUFKIN! I think this is the only time I am in total support of Coach John Outlaw. I think I’m going to be ill.

Comments to Doug Sarant at doug@oakridgenow.com

STATS:

1  2  3  4  total

OaK Ridge   7  0  7  7- 21
Kingwood   7  7  0  6-  20

Scoring summary

First quarter

Oak Ridge: Michael Handy 5 run (Martin Gonzalez kick), 8:09

Kingwood: Andrew Bratsman 1 run (Mitch Glander kick), 1:59

Second quarter

Kingwood: Kade Harrington 25 run (Glander kick), 7:12

Third quarter

Oak Ridge: Chris Grett 4 run (Gonzalez kick), 5:12

Fourth quarter

Oak Ridge: Grett 12 run (Gonzalez kick), 10:09

Kingwood: Grant Davis 5 pass from Greg Williamson (pass failed), 0:08

Team statistics

Kingwood

Oak Ridge

First Downs

8

21

Rushes-Yards

43-113

44-205

C-A-I

1-3-0

22-31-0

Passing Yards

5

218

Punts-Avg.

5-40.4

2-48.5

Fum.-Lost

0-0

3-2

Pen.-Yards

0-0

6-55

Individual Statistics

Rushing: Kingwood: Greg Williamson 14-94, Andrew Bratsman 15-59, Kade Harrington 5-42, Van Ross 1-0. Oak Ridge: Chris Grett 20-101, Michael Handy 21-93, Macklin Thomas 2-7, Bernard Pierre 1-4.

Passing: Kingwood: Williamson 1-3-0-5. Oak Ridge: Grett 22-31-0-218.

Receiving: Kingwood: Grant Davis 1-5. Oak Ridge: Thomas 6-76, Cade Cyr 5-57, Handy 6-55, Brady Simon 2-24, Pierre 1-7, Jonathan Vargas 1-5, Kyle Adams 1-4

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ORHS Football Coaches Celebrate Stachtober

October 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The temperatures are dropping, the leaves are falling, and the World Series is underway. That can only mean one thing: it must be Stachtober! What is Stachtober? We spoke with Coach David Curington of the Oak Ridge High School football team to find out more about why many of the football coaches have been sporting more facial hair of late.

“The origin of Stachtober can be credited to Coach Dustin Altom, who  started it last year with several of the football coaches. It even made the  school newspaper. It was initially started as a way for the coaches to have  fun as a show of support for their fellow coaches. When I found out about  Stachtober this year, I was eager to participate.”, said Coach Curington.

“Then, I had the idea to use  Stachtober for more than just fun. Why not use it for a charity? With all of  the much needed breast cancer awareness going on, which is great, I thought  ’What about men?’ I decided to have all funds generated by Stachtober towards a subject important to all men, prostate cancer.”

Coach Brian Venghaus

Coach Henry Grosch

Coach Dustin Altom

Coach Philip Sanders

Trainer Philip Scott

Coach Andy Einhaus

“I am currently talking to the M.D. Anderson research department to find  out how to earmark the money specifically towards prostate cancer. The  domain name www.stachtober.com has been purchased and I already have a server. Coach Mlcak is creating the site. Our slogan is,  ’If you can grow it show it’.”

The War Eagle coaches have come up with several ideas for fundraisers next October:

  • Sponsor a Stache.
  • Stache of the Week – for a nominal fee, people will be able to send in  pictures of their mustache with winners receiving a gift certificate from a  local restaurant.
  • “Stachetoberfest” – we would meet at a local restaurant that would be  willing to donate part of their profits to prostate cancer research.
  • T-Shirts – we want to sell t-shirts with our logo on it to promote  awareness for prostate cancer.

Coaches participating in Stachtober this year included Coach Altom, Coach Ron Mlcak, Coach DJ Lucas, Coach Andy Einhaus, Coach Phillip Sanders, Coach Henry Grosch and Coach Brian Venghaus. Two ORHS trainers are participating as well: Casey Baillio and Philip Scott.

Coach Curington and his band of mustachioed men are summoning other men in  the community to join this effort as well.

It’s a breath of fresh air to see these coaches involve themselves in such a  creative effort that will benefit the community and hopefully grow to reach  out even further. The site is not up yet but will be soon and mustaches will  be popping up everywhere come next October.

Be ready to throw away your razor’s next October to get on board with these great guys.

Doug Sarant can be reached at doug@oakridgenow.com

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War Eagles Drop One to Lufkin 49-28

October 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Kyle Adams catching a passLufkin High School proudly displays their State Championship heritage atop their Diamond Vision scoreboard at Abe Martin Stadium in Lufkin. Though the Panthers last won a State Chanpionship in 2001, they haven’t lost more than four games in a season in the past 15 years. A video replay of every one of their games dating back to 2002 is available on the Internet. Each varsity player is sponsored by a different business in and around Lufkin. They are serious about their high school football here.

Lufkin came into Friday’s game with a 6-1 record, their only loss coming at the hands of The Woodlands, 49-33 two weeks before. They had a bye week before the Oak Ridge game, and had two full weeks to prepare for the War Eagles. It showed, as the Panthers racked up nearly 500 yards of offense, rolling to a 49-28 victory.

The War Eagle offense was good for 436 yards themselves, but a bad pitch that resulted in a defensive touchdown, a couple of goal-line interceptions, a blocked punt, and a few other key mistakes did the team in on a night when they really needed to play error-free football.

There were some high points, with the Oak Ridge receiving corps making some terrific clutch catches, and Coach Barrett showing the confidence in his offensive unit to take a field goal off the board and the team responding by successfully turning it into a touchdown. Of course, the band, cheerleaders, Liberty Belles and color guard did their usual bang-up job. But when you’re playing a perennial football powerhouse, you really would prefer that the Liberty Belles are not among the night’s top highlights.

Oak Ridge fell to 5-4 on the season with the loss, and have a bye week to nurse nagging injuries before they face Kingwood in two weeks in their final regular season game.

Here are more photos from the game, courtesy of Jim Eastin:

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Oak Ridge JV Blasted by Lufkin 63-7

October 22, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The Oak Ridge High School JV football team was overmatched Thursday night at Woodforest Stadium, losing to Lufkin 63-7. It was truly a forgettable evening, but here are a few photos to verify that it did indeed happen:

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Closer Than the Score Indicates

October 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Leading up to the Oak Ridge/The Woodlands football game on Thursday night, the general consensus was such that Oak Ridge would be able to score points with their Chris Grett-led high flying offense. The concern was whether the defense could keep The Woodlands offense under control enough to keep Oak Ridge in the game.

Don’t be fooled by the score. The story of the game for Oak Ridge was how good the defense played. When you hold two (Max Ward and Blake Webb) of the best receivers in the area to three total catches and contain Cal signee Daniel Lasco and QB Joseph Schneider to a combined total of 143 yards rushing, you wouldn’t understand how The Woodlands scored 52 points. Unfortunately, The Woodlands has an army of players who can produce when the big guns aren’t getting it done. Wide-out Matt Lee, who is generously listed at 5’7″ in the program, caught three balls for 43 yards. Jackson LaPlant caught four for 98 and dual sport star Jeremy Dueitt had a pair for 34.

Lasco’s 96 yards on 13 carries are deceiving. One of those runs went for 51 yards so on the other 12 carries he averaged less than four yards. That’s impressive considering how the Lasco/Schneider tandem ran roughshod through Lufkin’s defense like it was margarine.

So what’s the problem? Well, although the offense showed signs of excellence, when you play a team like The Woodlands you can not make any mistakes (three INT’s). Meanwhile, you must take advantage of theirs. With 5:58 left in the first half, Oak Ridge was proving this by being up 13-10 after a flubbed Woodlands punt resulting in an Oak Ridge possession deep in Highlander territory. Grett made The Woodlands pay with a 10 yard touchdown run making everyone wonder if an upset was in the making.

Shortly thereafter, Highlanders QB Schneider then took his team on a scoring drive culminating with his 17 yard touchdown scamper. This was the start of a 42 point run that saw several Oak Ridge “three and outs” combined with some interceptions that drained the War Eagle defense and it was all Highlanders for the rest of the evening.

Oak Ridge made just 10 first downs and, although every one of them was hard earned against an excellent Woodlands defense, 10 first downs means your defense is living on the field most of the game. When you don’t have an army of subs on the sidelines like the Highlanders, it will come back and bite you in the butt.

Once again, the score does not indicate how well Oak Ridge played. The War Eagles proved they can hang with one of the best teams in the state. The difference between making it to that next level is mistakes. Yeah, Oak Ridge has speed, has some size and has a quite a bit of athleticism. When going up against a juggernaut like The Woodlands who have a whole sideline of speed, size and athleticism, zero mistakes can be made.

As upwards of 10,000 people can attest, sometimes you just run into a team with more firepower. The Woodlands not only has more firepower than Oak Ridge, they just may be the best team in the state. Unfortunately, they have had a problem proving that in the past underachieving by losing in the early rounds of the playoffs. Yeah, they made it to the Super Bowl in 2003 but that doesn’t count. At least in my book it doesn’t. With 5000 students enrolled at TWHS at that time, they could have beaten most small colleges.

For us fans, lets give these War Eagles some credit. They are showing us they can make quite a bit of noise in the playoffs should they continue to improve every week like they have been. I would consider this game a measure of improvement because they showed themselves and all of us they belong on the field with a big time program. They went all out against The Woodlands and, minus a few mistakes, they can hang with ANYONE in the state. Lets be honest here, the schedule leading up to this game did not include any powerhouses. We wanted to see what this team was (is) made of.

What are they made of? The team is made up of some tough sons o’ guns that are making us believe how they are the best Oak Ridge 5-A team Coach Barrett has had in his 6 years here.

Lets look at it this way. Katy came into Woodforest a couple years ago and got bludgeoned by The Woodlands 44-0. I mean it was a total humiliation. If you watched the game, you thought there was no way Katy was going to have a winning record. So how did they finish up? They won the freaking State for gosh sakes! Do this, our DB Scottie Corbett was in the Katy program back then. Go ask him about that Katy team. I guarantee you he will tell you that team was not as talented as other Katy teams but they played together and made few mistakes. They gradually got better and better and the reward was the Throne room. Oak Ridge is so close. Just a few mistakes from glory. You gotta believe it!

WORTHY OF NOTE:

Chris Grett went down in the 4th quarter and was seen on crutches after the game. As of noon on Friday, the severity of the injury is unknown and so is Grett’s playing status. Filling in late in the game was Michael Handy who got some good reps in. Also, sophomore Dawson Little got some much needed field time and completed a nice pass to Nick Gula for 16 yards.

Andrew Paige had a big night with a sack, three tackles for losses and a forced fumble. Paul Brown and the rest of the line should be commended as well.

Once again, the Linebacker corp of Daniels, Quick, Adams, and Sanders were awesome.

Jamal Candley had a great game on defense and his returns, albeit scary were impressive. I don’t know how many times he caught a kickoff deep in the end zone that I was hoping he’d just take a knee on. Not Jamal, he made chicken salad out of chicken excrement resulting in good returns.

Although Chris Grett had a rough night going 5-25 with three INT’s, he still had 65 bruising yards on the ground and two TD’s. I guess you could say he made a couple of bad decisions on throws but he was running for his life all night long.

Cornerbacks Corbett and Sneed continue to impress. They are on their opponents like glue.

Michael Handy was called on several times and gained 28 tough yards. You gotta like this guy. He is a true sportsman. After every hit he takes, he’s always tapping the opponent as if to say, “nice play”. He knows about the rivalry and how bad he wants to beat The Woodlands but it’s never enough to make him act like an idiot. It’s just cool to see guys playing with sportsmanship. Handy’s a “character” guy.

Kyle Adams caught a 20 yard pass and always seems to make big catches.

This was a big time physical game and the players needed a ton of attention. It was hard not to notice those Oak Ridge trainers scrambling around taking care of everyone.

Kudo’s to the cheerleaders and mascots. They had some help tonight with the York Cheer crew in attendance as well. Quick note: Freshman Cheerleader Emma Burgess took a hard fall during the freshman game at Woodforest earlier in the week on a pyramid mishap. She was taken to the hospital for precautionary measures and has since returned and is just fine and ready to perform real quick.

The band did their weekly ridiculous job. What a performance! Expect a ton of articles about this crew as well as the Guard real quick.

The Liberty Belles did an awesome job and were up to the challenge of the also excellent Highsteppers from The Woodlands.

I don’t know what you call the crew in charge of the big War Eagle balloon deal the players run through but they put in a lot of time. It still amazes me how they wrap that big thing up and put it in a small box. They should be working for UPS. These guys also operate the smoke machine. Oh, and they also send tee shirts up into the stands via a slingshot……..sometimes better than others though. Hey fellas, the idea is to shoot the socks where people are. Kidding guys! Great job!!! Thank you to Mr Paige, Mr Ezernack, Mr Webb and Mr Kuhlenschmidt.

Lufkin is next. The trainers will be patching up the players and will have them ready for another battle. These guys are even more ready now. Lufkin’s going down! Everyone needs to drive to Siberia next week to support the War Eagles for this huge game. Besides, I get sick of seeing Lufkin fans occupying space in our stands. Lets get a big crowd there.

Comments to Doug Sarant at doug@oakridgenow.com
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STATS:

1  2   3   4  -

Oak Ridge  0  13  0   0  -  13

TWHS       10 21 7  14 – 52

First quarter

TWHS: Ben Pruitt 32 field goal, 6:08

TWHS: Daniel Lasco 51 run (Pruitt kick), 3:29

Second quarter

ORHS: Chris Grett 4 run (kick blocked), 9:46

ORHS: Grett 12 run (Martin Gonzalez kick), 5:58

TWHS: Joseph Schneider 17 run (Pruitt kick), 4:02

TWHS: Justin Estep 26 interception return (Pruitt kick), 3:39

TWHS: Lasco 14 pass from Schneider (Pruitt kick), 0:07

Third quarter

TWHS: Max Ward 39 pass from Schneider (Pruitt kick), 2:59

Fourth quarter

TWHS: Jackson LaPlant 4 pass from Schneider (Pruitt kick), 11:59

TWHS: Lance Miles 1 run (Meya Bizer kick), 5:03

Individual Statistics

Rushing: TWHS: Daniel Lasco 13-96, Joseph Schneider 10-47, Randy Cooper 6-19, Max Ward 1-8, Matt Lee 1-6, Jackson LaPlant 1-2, Lance Miles 3-2. ORHS: Chris Grett 13-65, Michael Handy 10-28, Bernard Pierre 9-24, Armonte Sneed 2-21, Dillon Dye 4-7.

Passing: TWHS: Schneider 15-28-0-220, Miles 1-2-0-22. ORHS: Grett 5-25-3-52, Dawson Little 1-2-0-16, Handy 1-1-0-4.

Receiving: TWHS: LaPlant 4-98, Lee 3-43, Ward 2-37, Jeremy Dueitt 2-34, Blake Webb 1-22, Lasco 3-9.

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War Eagle Freshmen Go Down Fighting

October 14, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The Oak Ridge War Eagle freshman football red and blue teams both posted losses to superior squads from The Woodlands on Thursday. Both of our teams showed a great deal of fight and determination, but in the end were outmanned. Here are some photos from those games:

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Photos From Friday’s 51-24 Blowout Win

October 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Courtesy of Jim Eastin, here are photos of the football and surrounding action from last Friday’s big 51-24 victory over Atascosita at Turner Field. After the last two impressive victories, the War Eagles take on The Woodlands Thursday Night at Woodforest Stadium.

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