In an expected Friday night cat fight set for Blankenship Field, the Campbell County Cougars visit the Oak Ridge Wildcats in a Region 3 match-up.  It’s the first region game of the season for both teams.  Oak Ridge comes in with wins at Hardin Valley over the Hawks (23-7) and a win last Friday night at home.  OR outscored Dobyns-Bennett 41-12 at Armstrong Stadium.

Campbell won on the road at Cherokee 49-28 to open the season and lost at home a few days ago to Crockett 28 to 7.

Cougar Head Coach Justin Price explained, “Oak Ridge has a lot of small, quick backs to go along with a new quarterback.  He points out that his team did a great job of containing those speedy backs last year in Oak Ridge’s come from behind 17-15 win over CCHS at Dossett Stadium.  They run a little bit more option with the quarterback they have this year.  So, that dive-quarterback pitch responsibility is going to be important defensively.”

From an offensive standpoint, Price said, “They (Oak Ridge) are a bend but not break defense, but they swarm to the football.  They’ve kinda played us the same the last couple of years.   We’ve been able to move the ball on them.  We’ve just not been able to score a whole lot of points on them.  We created some explosive plays to get the ball in the end zone a little quicker at times.   But at the same time, we’ll take what they give us.  If it takes a 16-play drive, that’s what we’re going to do.”

Campbell County matched up well with the Wildcats a season ago.  Price notes, “They are younger up front this year.  We’re more experienced upfront.  So, hopefully, we’ll control the line of scrimmage.  In the secondary, they have some guys who are fresh just like we do.”

Price thinks it comes down to the team that handles the atmosphere the best.  He said, “We feel like if we can take our positives and capitalize on them and make OR defend what we do best,  then we’ll be OK.”

Coverage of Cougar Football from Oak Ridge begins Friday at 7 pm on the WLAF – B & M Tires Sports Network. Hear the game over WLAF-FM 100.9 and WLAF-AM 1450. Watch the game on WLAF-TV 12 and 1450wlaf.com. The Cougars on WLAF are brought to you by these outstanding corporate partners: Terry’s Pharmacy, United Cumberland Bank, Senator Ken Yager, PCUD, Tracy Lobertini and Alco Builders and Realty, Lace to Pearls, Community Trust Bank, B & M Tires, Lace to Pearls, Charley’s Pizza, State Farm Agent Tabatha Smith, First National Bank, Doyle’s Tire Shop, Cumberland Gap Medical, Rice Oil-Marathon, TCAT, Fazoli’s, Norris Lake Insurance, Riggs Drug Jacksboro, LUB, Valley Roofing, Byrge Screen Printing, State Representative Dennis Powers, Gray Insurance Agency and Peoples Bank of the South. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED – 08/30/2018-6AM)