CLEVELAND, Tenn. – Wide receiver Lameric Tucker may have made the most noise, but Bradley Central’s defense was king on homecoming night.
The Bears flooded the Rhea County backfield and held the potent Eagles rushing attack to 76 yards in taking a 21-7 nonregion win Friday night. Both teams came in with three-game winning streaks.
“Our defense played really, really well,” Bradley coach Damon Floyd said. “It’s tough to play defense against that kind of offense, and it’s not something you can really simulate in practice.”
The Bears (4-1) clamped down on the running game but did most of their damage on passing plays. Bradley ended up with eight sacks, including three from Jay Person and two from Henley Headric, and kept Rhea County (3-3) scoreless until there was 1:33 left in the game.
“We have to do a better job of pass protecting, and we have to do a better job of sustaining drives,” Eagles coach Mark Pemberton said. “We didn’t sustain drives for one reason or another, and we had some mistakes that cost us. I put that on my shoulders. Our kids work hard and play hard.”