CLEVELAND, Tenn. — After his on-field career ended, Damon Floyd wasn’t necessarily locked into becoming a coach.
But the urge to stay around the game remained for the former Bradley Central and University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football player, so he joined his high school alma mater’s staff in 2003 and served as an assistant until taking over as the leader in 2006.
Two decades later, he has turned out to be pretty good at something he initially had no interest doing.
It wasn’t pretty by any means, but Floyd’s Bears withstood a slow start on offense Friday night at home with a pair of scores before halftime, holding on to defeat Tyner 14-6 for the team’s first win of the season. It was also Floyd’s 125th career victory as head coach, making him the program’s all-time leader.
The Bears (1-1) leaned on their rushing attack, gaining 163 yards on 46 carries, which helped senior Cash Bandy — who transferred from rival Cleveland earlier in the week and had only one practice prior to Friday’s game — ease into his new role as Bradley’s starting quarterback.
“Cash is a guy that’s played a lot of football, so he’s got experience,” Floyd said. “He gives us the ability to be multiple, because he can run the ball, he can throw it, so now we have to open up the playbook a little bit. He did a good job running all he could.”
Bandy threw for 162 yards, completing 16 of 27 passes with a pair of interceptions. Bra’Shaun Beard led the Bears in rushing with 93 yards on 25 attempts, scoring their first touchdown, while Kenyon Phelps had a 6-yard run for the other score.
Tyner fell to 0-2.
The makeup of this Bradley team is vastly different than last season, which ended in the TSSAA Class 6A state semifinals. Gone are four players who signed with Football Bowl Subdivision programs, another who walked on at UTC and a sixth at an NAIA program. These Bears are young and inexperienced at a lot of positions, so Floyd was far more relieved by Friday’s result than what it meant for his win tally.
“There’s still a lot of frustration because we’re just making so many mistakes,” he said. “I think the good thing is they rallied and found a way to win. Tyner’s a good football team, so to find a way to win, I’m happy for our guys because they’ve heard all year that Bradley’s done, so for them to get a win, they deserve it.
“They’ve worked hard for this. Our guys are fighters, and they’re going to show up every game and give everything they’ve got.”
Tyner’s Karontae Cunningham rushed for 101 yards, with 70 of that coming on a run to set up the Rams’ lone score, a 2-yard run by quarterback Quiante Price with 5:23 to go in the second quarter. Price and Tyler Anderson combined for 108 passing yards.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com.