Windermere High football continues dominant form, tops Oak Ridge 52-6

The Windermere High football team could do anything it wanted on the field Monday night, in its 52-6 win over a powerless Oak Ridge Pioneers squad. 

Simply put, the Wolverines physically dominated the game to claim its seventh consecutive victory of the season. This type of play makes sense for this Windermere team, given that's exactly what its coach, Riki Smith, wants his football program to be about. 

"Our philosophy is all about being physical," Smith said. "Whether that's when we're running the football or throwing the ball, we want everyone to play with toughness. We want our receivers to block with aggression and our O-Line to be physical when they're run blocking or pass protecting. That's how games are won."

Windermere's physicality showed on almost every down of the game, regardless of the side of the ball.

On offense, that manifested itself in a lot of different ways, as the Wolverines took advantage of everything the Pioneers' defense gave them throughout the night.

"I'm a big believer in attacking the opponent's weakness and taking what they give you," Smith said. "I try not to overthink it. If they want to give you something, just keep attacking it until they adjust. A lot of times, we tend to out-coach ourselves because we try to do too much. So we just keep it simple here, play physically and take what the defense gives you."

Senior quarterback Jack Reilly was the biggest beneficiary of the Wolverines' physical dominance, throwing for three touchdowns and rushing for a fourth. From his vantage point, this type of performance — both individually and as a team — is a direct consequence of the group's commitment to improving.

"I think altogether, we have been gelling really well, and as an offense, we've come really far over the course of the season," Reilly said. "The O-Line has been doing a great job up front blocking. And even though we've been having some guys get banged up, the next guys who are coming up behind them have been ready to work, so props to them. My receivers have been the same way; they're working hard to get to their spots in games. During the week, they're coming out to throw with me and get in that extra work so they can get open for me during the game. This sort of win is all a credit to my teammates. They're doing a great job preparing and executing and it showed tonight. This is just a great football team."

This isn't just a great football team, though. This is the best team in Windermere history, and with only three regular-season games left to play, the Wolverines have a legitimate shot at running the table and finishing the year 10-0. 

Don't tell Smith that, though, because the first and only thing that'll come out of the mouth of the winningest coach in program history would be reminiscent of former NFL coach Bill Belichick and his famous line about moving on to Cincinnati.

"Not at all," Smith said when asked if he's considered the possibility of finishing the season undefeated. "1-0. That is our focus, that is the mission, that is the goal, that is the standard each and every week. We take each day, one at a time. Each lift, one at a time. Every practice, one at a time and every game, one at a time. There's no looking past the opponent in front of us here; that's not what we're about. This week showed that. We tried to keep our preparation as close to our usual routine in a regular week to keep the kids engaged, so we practiced on Saturday, and we got after it. We had a walk-through on Sunday and the kids and coaches were locked in. We showed that on the field tonight."