CLEVELAND, Tenn. – Late in its District 5-AAA football game against Rhea County, Bradley Central needed a big play.
James Stovall gave them two.
The receiver and safety had the go-ahead 33-yard touchdown reception with 2:32 to play, then had the game-sealing interception with 1:02 to go as Bradley held off the Golden Eagles 28-24 on homecoming night at Bear Stadium.
Stovall finished with six catches for 103 yards for the Bears (4-1, 1-1).
“James just makes big plays,” Bradley coach Damon Floyd said. “No offense to Rhea, but there’s no one who can guard James; it’s just so hard to cover him.”
The Golden Eagles jumped to a 14-0 edge in the first quarter, as Cameron Tallent threw touchdown passes to Isaac Roddy and Tim Loden. Bradley came back with a 51-yard touchdown run from Justin Houston.
“We knew there was a lot of time left, but we didn’t lose our composure,” Floyd said. “The guys felt like they were going to come back and win, and that’s a credit to our seniors.”
The Golden Eagles responded by driving down the field, but penalties – which killed them all night – pushed them from the Bradley 5 back to the 10, where they had to settle for a 40-yard field goal by Nick Ricker.
Bradley cut the lead to 17-14 on a 14-yard run by Dewaun Massengill with 2:58 to go in the first half, then took the lead on a double-reverse pass. Bradley executed it perfectly and Chandler Bennett passed to a wide-open A.J. Shelton for a 24-yard score for a 21-17 edge at halftime.
Rhea’s first possession of the second half resulted in a 14-yard touchdown pass from Tallent to Desmond Sharp, and the score settled there until Stovall’s late-game heroics.
Tallent had 187 yards passing in the first half and finished with 316 through the air.
“He might have had a couple of incompletions, but he played great tonight,” Rhea coach Jason Fitzgerald said. “I hate it for him – I hate it for all of these kids. They played their hearts out, but we just made some mental mistakes that we can’t make.”
Said Floyd: “You have to give Rhea credit. They came in and fought, and I hate to see them lose. They deserved it, but we did too.
“I was just glad to see us overcome some adversity tonight.”
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6311.