CLEVELAND, Tenn. – Bradley Central’s Bears appeared to win the cat-and-mouse game between them and Ooltewah on Friday, but that may not have been that huge of a factor in their 28-12 District 5-AAA high school football victory anyway.
Maybe it was more that the Bears were in the role of the cat, because they were bigger anyway.
The way things went through a scoreless first quarter, it was evident the Owls were making a concentrated effort to hold down any rushing attack. The Bears were limited to 13 rushing yards, but late in the period they changed field position with a 40-yard pass from quarterback Bryce Copeland to wide receiver James Stovall.
Bradley Central (7-2, 4-1) led 14-0 at halftime with the first of two touchdowns coming when Bradley Colbaugh blocked a punt in the end zone, then recovered it. The other came after a muffed punt set up a 32-yard drive, which was comprised of three Copeland completions – the last covering 8 yards to Justin Houstin 13 seconds before halftime.
Although he was intercepted twice, Copeland ended up throwing for 88 yards in the first half. His only carry before halftime was a sack for a 3-yard loss by Tyler Shelton, who later had to leave the game with an injury, but Copeland ended up running for 118 yards on eight carries.
Fullback Dewaun Massengill went from three carries for 10 yards at halftime to totaling 121 yards on 16 carries.
“They were more spread out in the second half because we had started out throwing a lot,” Bradley Central coach Damon Floyd said. “If they’re going to go with a three-man front; then we’re going to run it more. The defense dictates what we do.”
If there was a down side for the Bears, it was that they had 11 penalties, eight in the first half.
“That’s something we’ll work on during the week,” Floyd said. “We were very sloppy. That’s the first game we’ve had that situation. It was senior night. Maybe that had something to do with it.”
Neither was Ooltewah coach Shannon Williams pleased with his team’s seven penalties and five turnovers.
“Penalties and turnovers in the red zone cost us,” Williams said. “They’re bigger and stronger than us anyway. They came out in the second half and leaned on us.
“If we could’ve got one in there early, I’m not saying we would’ve won the game, but who knows? We’re just a young football team. We’re eventually going to start executing better.”
Ooltewah (3-5, 1-3) made a concerted effort to get Randall Freeman more carries than the six he had last week. Running hard to the end, he finished with 184 yards on 23 carries and scored both Owls touchdowns.
“Guts and effort are not our kids’ problems,” Williams said.
The game was Bradley’s last at home, but now it looks like the Bears may host in the first round of the state playoffs.
“The big thing is we were just trying to take care of home field,” Floyd said. “We’ll worry about the playoffs when they get here.”