During Friday night's battle versus Oak Ridge, the Falcons refused to lie down and showed resilence and guts as they continuously battled back, despite giving up three special teams returns for touchdowns. Fulton led in almost every statistical category; including total yardage (210 yds to 120 yds), time of possession (29:21 to 18:39), passing yards (88 yds to 10 yds), first downs (12 to 9), and turnovers (1 to 3), but in the end could not overcome a kickoff return and two punt returns for touchdowns by the Wildcats. The Falcons could have easily rolled over and quit after giving up an 82 yard touchdown on the opening kickoff to Wildcat standout senior Demarcus Rogers, but instead, they continually bounced back, but ran out of time as they had a chance to tie the game with the ball inside the Oak Ridge 30 with one minute remaining in the game.
Special teams huge as Oak Ridge tops Fulton (KNS Article):
The Falcons battled to the end and had a long pass attempt at the Oak Ridge 10 fall just incomplete in the final minute.
"It (the kicking game) killed us," said Fulton coach Buck Coatney, whose Falcons had 195 yards in total offense to Oak Ridge's 115.
"No. 4 (Rogers) is the player of the week. You take away those three scores (in the kicking game) and it's a different game," Coatney said.
Rogers, who showed toughness by fighting through numerous spells with cramps, was the difference-maker according to his coach.
"He played like a senior is supposed to play - he made plays," Stevens said.
Fulton, the state 3-A runnerup a year ago, got a 10-yard touchdown run by junior Marco Golliday in the second quarter to cut the deficit to 14-7.
Rogers' punt return gave the 'Cats a two-touchdown cushion with 10 minutes to go in the third quarter, but Fulton answered at the 5:28 mark as fullback Jerron Brown tallied after grabbing a 22-yard middle-screen toss from quarterback Ben Winters.
Winters was 8-of-18 through the air for 87 yards and Golliday ran for 45 yards on 16 totes as both teams had trouble moving the ball.
Wildcats 'cramp' Fulton's style (The Oak Ridger):
Oak Ridge had many battles on their hands in Friday night's opening game of the 2008 football season.
From a very determined Fulton opponent, to a severe case of cramps forcing most of the lineup to suffer at times, it was a tough way to start the year.
But Oak Ridge overcame, got some sensational play from the special teams, and defeated the Falcons, 21-13.
And those special teams were indeed special.
Demarcus Rogers opened the game with an 86-yard kickoff return. The senior would add another return to extend the lead early in the second half. LeMichael Gibson also returned a punt for a score giving the 'Cats all of their 21 points through special teams play.
SCORING AND GAME STATS
Fulton 0 7 6 0 - 13
Oak Ridge 7 7 7 0 - 21
Scoring:
OR – D Rogers 81 yd Kickoff Return (Phillips kick)
OR – L Gibson 42 yd Punt Return (Phillips kick)
FUL – M Golliday 10 yd Run (Haun kick)
OR – D Rogers 54 yd Punt Return (Phillips kick)
FUL – J Brown 21 yd pass from B Winter (kick failed)
FULTON OAK RIDGE
1st Downs 12 9
Rush-yds 33-112 27-110
Passing 88 10
Comp-Att 8-19-0 1-12-0
Punts 7-34.5 4-43.5
Fumbles-lost 3-1 3-3
Penalties-yds 9-85 9-77
FULTON STATISTICAL LEADERS:
Rushing --Golliday 16-47
Receiving --J Williams 3-57
Passing --Winters 8-18-88 yds
Tackles --J Williams 5 total
Tackles for loss --Blasco 1 total
Points --Golliday/Brown 6 points
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