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Tuesday, November 10, 2026Nov 10

Cleveland beats McMinn County to continue strong start to season

Staff File Photo by Matt Hamilton / Cleveland quarterback Kason McGowan (2) helped lead the Blue Raiders to a 28-21 home win Friday night against McMinn County.
Staff File Photo by Matt Hamilton / Cleveland quarterback Kason McGowan (2) helped lead the Blue Raiders to a 28-21 home win Friday night against McMinn County. Staff File Photo by Matt Hamilton / Cleveland quarterback Kason McGowan (2) helped lead the Blue Raiders to a 28-21 home win Friday night against McMinn County.

CLEVELAND, Tenn. — In the aftermath of Cleveland’s 28-21 home win over McMinn County on Friday night, senior quarterback Kason McGowan was asked what his team learned from last year’s 1-9 season.

His answer? Resilience.

“You can tell everybody on the team is so tight together,” he said. “We started off slow, we were beating ourselves, and we ended up getting the dub — and that’s what we wanted to do.”

Cleveland coach Chris Brown watched his players celebrate their 2-0 start a year after the Blue Raiders lost to rivals Walker Valley, McMinn County and Bradley Central by a combined 110-35.

(READ MORE: Cleveland cruises past Walker Valley after facing early deficit on road)