CLEVELAND, Tenn. - Bradley Central quarterback and University of Tennessee at Chattanooga commitment Cole Copeland wasn't going to let his senior year include a loss to archrival Cleveland.
He made that obvious to everyone Friday night, when Bradley's Bears won 34-5 in the crosstown rivalry.
Copeland had 264 passing yards, 83 on the ground and four total touchdowns as Bradley won for the fourth time in the last six years in the series.
"There was no way I was going to let us lose this one," Copeland said. "I can't praise the defense enough for the way they played to set us up in great positions.. If it wasn't for all the fouls and little things I'd say it was a great game for us, but those things just give us more to improve on."
"Our guys deserve all the credit. They're the ones who go out and play the game," Bradley coach Damon Floyd said. "For a long time we looked at Cleveland needing to get to their level. So beating Cleveland is always an accomplishment and a goal we set before every season."
Three critical Bradley penalties allowed Cleveland to put the first points on the board in the first quarter thanks to a couple of catches from Skyler Davis and Micaleous Elder and a short field goal by Seth Garcia.
From there, the Bears beared down on both sides of the ball to answer back. Copeland led Bradley on an 11-play drive on the ensuing possession, but an interception by Logan Strickland cut the drive short.
Three plays later, Cleveland's third fumble of the game turned into its first turnover, which flipped into a 23-yard Bradley touchdown from Copeland to Dylan Standifer on a screen pass.
About five minutes later, a snap over the head of Cleveland quarterback Dallas McCrary erased a nice Davis catch the play before and set up another Bradley scoring drive - this one finished with a 5-yard run from Copeland.
"The defense played great. We were recognizing a lot of formations and were communicating very well," Floyd said. "It was an ugly game at times, but it's hard for me to be more pleased with how our defense performed."
The Bears struck again on their opening possession of the second half, as a 61-yard screen pass to Tucker set up another Copeland TD run, again from 5 yards out.
From there, the game was firmly in the hands of the visiting Bears. The end of a two unproductive Cleveland possessions saw the exit of McCrary due to a lower leg injury. He totaled 81 yards on 5-of-18 passing with an interception before he was taken out of action.
Bradley added two touchdowns in a relaxed second half with the offense accounting for an eye-opening 428 total yards for the game.
The Class 6A No. 4 ranked Bears will put their unbeaten record on the line at home next Friday against Region 1 opponent Jefferson County, while Cleveland will look to bounce back from its first loss in hosting Region 4-5A foe McMinn County.
Contact John Mitchell at sports@timesfreepress.com