CLEVELAND, Tenn. - Cleveland made a concerted effort to take away Bradley Central's play-making wide receiver Lameric Tucker in Friday's Region 2-6A high school football teams between the Bradley County archrivals. And for the most part, the Blue Raiders were successful.
But when it came down to crunch time, and with a timeout to think about it, the Bears went with a play that moved Tucker into the backfield. Taking a pitch from quarterback Dylan Standifer, Tucker went around the right side of the line on third-and-goal from the 7, cut back to his left and skipped into the end zone for the tiebreaking score that lifted Bradley to a 27-21 victory.
"That's something we practice every day," Bradley coach Damon Floyd said of the winning play with 1:16 remaining. "We like to get the ball in his hands. That was Lameric Tucker and 10 people blocking for him."
Tucker, a recent commitment to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, was limited to two catches on the night. The first went for 1 yard.
He also had a drop on a long pass that not only would've picked up the third-and-27 but would've changed field position drastically as the midway point of the fourth quarter neared with the game tied.
But after a punt, the Bears' defense held the Blue Raiders to a three-and-out and got the ball back with 5:16 to play. On the second play, from their own 18, Standifer again went long to Tucker down the same right sideline as before, but this time he came down with it for a 43-yard gain during the winning 85-yard drive.
"It happens," Floyd said of the drop. "He's our man. We want to get the ball to him, and we saw that as a great chance with single coverage. We had to take advantage and try to make a play."
Cleveland (3-2, 1-1) was out of timeouts when it got the ball back with 1:11 left but couldn't muster a first down. Bradley (3-1, 2-0) then ran off the final nine seconds.
With Tucker held in check, fellow receiver Stephen Muhonen came through with 144 yards on seven receptions, including the last one of the first half that covered 30 yards and took the ball inches from the goal line, where Standifer scored on a sneak with no time left to put the Bears up 21-7. They had first-and-goal at the 3, but an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty and a sack backed them up.
The Blue Raiders got back in it with scoring drives of 80 and 89 yards in the second half - the first coming after Bradley missed a 25-yard field goal.
Floyd praised the effort by Bradley's offensive line, which helped Nick Howell rush for 140 yards on 21 carries. Adam Mullis added 12 rushes for 74 yards. That set up Standifer's 17-for-20 passing night for 269 yards.
Cleveland welcomed back running back Keegan Jones to the lineup, and he ran for 133 yards on 16 carries.
The game was marred by two power outages on the visitors' side in the first half. It was also marred by 29 penalties with the teams assessed more than 100 yards each.
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him on Twitter @KelleySmiddie.