Bradley Central’s Defense Dominates Red Bank Once Again, Securing Second Shutout Victory of the Season – Top

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)

Bradley’s offense moved the ball well on its first two possessions but came away with no points on either one. The Bears turned the ball over on downs after their first drive stalled, and the second series ended in a lost fumble at the Lions’ 4-yard line.

The only scoring in the first half was a 6-yard touchdown toss from Kaleb Martin to Jarrius Rogers, who slipped on the play and bobbled the ball in the air before corralling it as he laid on his back.

The Bears opened the second half with a pair of special teams scores to pull away. Marcus Goree took the second-half kickoff 89 yards for a touchdown, and after the defense forced a three-and-out, Boo Carter returned a punt 73 yards for another touchdown and a 21-0 lead.

“Before the play even started, I had already looked to see where I would return it in case they kicked it to me,” Goree said. “It felt like that got us going a little bit.

“Our defense practices hard every week, and on Fridays hard work pays off.”

Bradley, which travels to intracounty and Region 2-6A rival Cleveland (5-3, 1-2) next week, rounded out a 21-point outburst in the third quarter when Carter collected a screen pass and weaved his way through the defense 14 yards before losing control of the ball at the Red Bank 2. However teammate Tito Williams, who was trailing on the play, caught the ball in midair and covered the final yardage to the end zone.

“I was blocking for Boo, but he got ahead of me and it just happened,” Williams said. “The ball came up, and I caught it for the easiest touchdown I’ve ever had.”

Martin added the final scoring touch with a 15-yard run midway through the fourth quarter. He was 17-of-26 passing for 202 yards and two touchdowns, and he added 44 yards on the ground, including his rushing score. Rogers had a team-high 97 receiving yards on seven catches, and Carter caught eight passes for 70 yards.

“They popped us twice on special teams, and that just shows the caliber of players they have on the field at all times,” said Red Bank coach Ted Gatewood, whose team received votes in this week’s Class 4A poll. “The reason we play teams as good as Bradley is to help us see what we need to work on before the playoffs. They exposed some areas where we definitely need to get better.”

Contact Stephen Hargis at [email protected].