CLEVELAND, Tenn. — For all the plays that Bradley Central quarterback Kaleb Martin made while running and passing the ball against rival Cleveland, his key moment may have been on special teams.
Martin secured an onside kick with 3:11 remaining in a three-point game, then helped drive TSSAA Class 6A's top-ranked Bears downfield for a game-sealing score in a 36-26 victory over the host Blue Raiders on Friday night at Benny Monroe Stadium.
Bradley (9-0, 4-0 Region 2-6A) will have a winner-take-all battle for the region championship next week at home against Bearden, while the Blue Raiders (5-4, 2-2) have to defeat Hardin Valley to secure the fourth seed and the league's last playoff spot.
Martin rushed for 152 yards and three touchdowns on 17 carries, and he threw for 133 yards and another score as the Bears had to match the standout performance of Cleveland's Mycah Jordan. A standout athlete who is committed to Virginia Tech in baseball, Jordan rushed for 106 yards and a score, made an 88-yard touchdown catch in which he zagged through the Bears secondary, and also threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to tight end Sam Sartin.
On a Bradley roster stocked with college prospects — Martin is committed to Miami of Ohio, defensive backs Boo Carter and Marcus Goree have pledged to Tennessee, safety Tito Williams has picked Northwestern and junior J'Alan Terry is a highly regarded prospect for the next signing cycle — it was Martin's turn to shine.
"That's why you win games like this, because of players like him," veteran Bradley coach Damon Floyd said. "We've been kind of holding him on running the ball and, yeah, he's run it some, but we knew coming into this one that they were going to have to tackle 12 (Martin) a lot, and that's why he did what he did.
"Then they started creeping up, and he had a chance to hit Boo (Carter), so it's nice to have guys like that on your team."
Cleveland pulled out all the stops, with multiple onside kicks — including one the Blue Raiders recovered — and a new alignment that Bradley hadn't seen before, causing seven offside penalties throughout the course of the game, including six in the first half. The Blue Raiders held the ball for twice as long as the visitors and ran 64 plays to Bradley's 36, but the Bears took advantage of two short fields for scores in building a 15-7 lead.
(READ MORE: Final scores and photos from Friday night's Chattanooga-area prep football games)
Jordan found Sartin on the first drive of the third quarter, but Bradley answered with a 1-yard run by Martin, set up by a 69-yard pitch-and-catch between the quarterback and Carter.
Bradley built a nine-point fourth-quarter lead on Martin's final score, but Cleveland answered with a 14-play, 75-yard drive, with Lucas Szymborski scoring from a yard out to cut the deficit to three with 3:18 to play.
Martin recovered the onside kick, though, and now the Bears — who have won nine straight in the rivalry with Cleveland to cut the Blue Raiders' series lead to 27-22 — have a chance to win a region title at Bear Stadium next week.
"We've had the right approach all year. I mean, we have so many looks and so many options," Martin said. "We're just taking advantage of what we've got. We're going to get back in the lab and keep working, just keep doing what we do on offense and defense."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.