When the Friday Night Lights Go Out

Oakdale Football Season comes to an Early End

By Terry Futrell – October 8, 2018

It is truly a sad day for sports fans across all of Morgan County! With insufficient players on the roster to safely and competitively field a football team, Oakdale High School found it necessary to forfeit the remainder of the 2018 football season. With only 11 healthy players remaining on the roster at the end of the Lookout Valley game, concerns for player safety led Oakdale school administrators to make this heart-breaking decision. The Eagles had three very tough games remaining on their schedule with Oliver Springs, Harriman, and Greenback.

Sadness filled the faces and tears trickled down the cheeks of the Oakdale players as Coach J.R. Voyles informed them of the decision after the Lookout Valley game. Coach Voyles expressed his love for the players, told them that he considered them to be part of his family, and assured the seniors that the school would recognize them in some other way since the scheduled senior night would not be held. These are young men whose vocabularies do not include the word “quit” – they would literally march into a wall of flame at their coaches command. But, desire and commitment are not sufficient to safely field a competitive team, and the risk of additional serious player injuries simply became too great.

Coach Voyles said that Oakdale administrators have confirmed with the Tennessee Secondary Schools Athletic Association that there will be no penalty to other Oakdale sports programs as a result of forfeiture of the remaining football games due to having an insufficient number of players.

The struggles of a small school – Oakdale is perhaps now the smallest in the state – to sustain a viable football program in a highly competitive environment are sometimes overwhelming. The Oakdale enrollment dropped to less than 150 for this academic year, and the freshmen and sophomore classes combined are reported to include only about 25 boys. The high school enrollment is expected to remain down for the next couple of years.

The impact of this decision on Oakdale School and the entire Oakdale community can perhaps best be understood through the words posted on Facebook at the end of Spirit Week by teacher Jen Hendricks.

The last pep rally of Spirit Week today was amazing. All of the skits were great and the Sophomores finally won the stick and every other high school class cheered and chanted for them because they recognized how hard those students worked this week. The seniors cried and hugged each other as they realized they just finished their last day of Spirit Week ever. Then, the whole high school student body joined in the middle of the floor dancing, chanting, hugging each other and crying (I may have gotten emotional….shocker.) I know outsiders may not understand but #OneOakdale is a real thing. I love my school and today I was reminded of why!!!

What will the future hold for the Oakdale Eagles football program? Only time will tell.