Cleveland High School football coach E.K. Slaughter and Bradley Central coach Damon Floyd couldn't have imagined putting any more pressure on the crosstown rivalry, but it turns out they're not getting much of a choice.
Their game Friday night at Cleveland's Raider Field has been picked up by ESPNU and will be televised live at 7:30. It also is the ThisTV area game of the week but will be the first matchup of two Tennessee teams on the nation's largest family of sports networks.
Cleveland athletic director Mike Collier said the preparations and process of getting the field prepared has lasted the past six weeks.
"We've had production managers here off and on," Collier said. "It hasn't been an overly difficult process, but since you're dealing with people that have never been here before, they've had to tie stuff together and make sure all of the information is correct.
"This is already a big game, because it's Cleveland and Bradley, but the ESPN part takes it up a notch, and with the playoff implications it's huge on a lot of levels."
Cleveland leads the overall series 25-11. The Bears come into the game 6-2 and ranked eighth in Class 6A, while the Blue Raiders have won four of their last five games and sit 4-4. Bradley is 4-0 in District 5-AAA and tied for first, while Cleveland is 2-2.
Slaughter forbade any use of the word "Bradley" -- or as he called it after Cleveland's 44-20 dispatching of Soddy-Daisy last Friday, the "B" word -- in the locker room until after the game against the Trojans.
"It's impossible to make this game any more tension-filled," Slaughter said. "It could definitely be a madhouse, so I doubt that we're going to be able to keep the team from not getting too excited."
Floyd said before the season that he hoped the game would have playoff implications. At this point, the Bears control their own destiny, following the Cleveland contest with a home game against McMinn County -- also 4-0 in the district -- on Oct. 28.
"We just have to execute and do our job," Floyd said. "Typically in this rivalry, the team that makes the least amount of mistakes is the team that wins. It's a heated rivalry, so I've told the guys that it shouldn't matter if ESPNU was there. These guys know each other and have grown up together; that, plus the fact it's Cleveland-Bradley, should be enough."
The Bradley offense, averaging 409.1 yards per game, has been spearheaded by quarterback Bryce Copeland, who has completed nearly 66 percent of his passes for 1,479 yards and 17 touchdowns. Forty-one of his 99 completions have gone to all-state receiver James Stovall, who has 653 yards and nine scores. Four receivers have at least nine catches, while Justin Houston has 760 yards rushing and 282 receiving and 14 total scores.
Copeland is second on the team in rushing with 492 yards and six scores.
The quick-strike offense actually has made things tougher on the Bears defense, which has had to spend extended time on the field. Rue Goldston has 46 tackles (six for loss), four sacks and an interception that he returned for a touchdown. He was the 2010 District 5-AAA defensive back of the year but has been used in a variety of ways for the Bears this season.
Sophomore Eduardo Trevino has six sacks to lead the team, while L.J. Goodridge has 51 total tackles --- nine for loss.
Jesse Jones is the Raiders' tackles leader, while Henry McClendon and Camden Bell have six sacks each. The Raiders held Soddy-Daisy's Cedric Edwards, the area's leading rusher last season and second this year, to 12 yards last week.
"I think that there will be a lot of emotion leading up to the game, but once the game starts nobody will think about the cameras and stuff," Floyd said. "It's just going to be an awesome environment and gives these kids an opportunity to play on television."
Cleveland's offense, which has been inconsistent at times while alternating between a spread formation and the I-formation, is led by University of Pittsburgh commitment Chad Voytik, who is ranked as one of the top quarterbacks in the nation. He has 1,071 yards passing and 429 yards rushing. Backs C.J. Bryant and David Morgan have combined for 816 rushing yards and eight scores with Bryant's 514 yards leading the team.
Sophomore receiver D.J. Jones has 30 catches for 444 yards and five scores.
"It's really big for our community to have this game," Collier said. "The perception nationally is that Tennessee doesn't have good high school football, but I think they're going to see a great atmosphere on Friday night.
"People are going to get a chance to see we play pretty good football here, too."
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6311. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/gh3sports.