For all the special individual talent Bradley Central’s football team can send onto the field, it’s the collective group in charge of getting off the field — the defense — that has been most impressive this season.
Class 6A’s top-ranked Bears mauled host Red Bank’s offense for much of their matchup Friday night on the way to a 35-0 nonregion win at Tom Weathers Stadium. It was the second shutout of the season for Bradley, which has allowed an average of just 10 points per game.
“We’re just playing really well on that side of the ball right now, which is good because our offense hasn’t gotten untracked yet. Not like it’s capable,” Bradley coach Damon Floyd said. “We’ll get that part figured out, but until we do, we’ve got a lot of confidence in our defense.”
The Bears improved to 8-0 overall for only the third time since 1976 — their state championship season — by limiting Red Bank (5-3) to just 144 yards of total offense (61 in the first half, 83 in the second) and forcing two turnovers as Damarius Ballard had a pair of interceptions in the second half.
(READ MORE: Final scores and photos from Friday night’s Chattanooga-area prep football games)