Playoff Football: Bradley Hosts Riverdale At Finley On Thursday

CLEVELAND, Tenn. – The new TSSAA football playoff plan didn’t change Bradley Central’s approach to the 2015 football season one iota.

Under the first-year postseason blueprint, all 32 Class 6A teams were assured a spot in the playoffs. They didn’t have to play their way in, so that pressure, which the other Division I and Division II schools still had to deal with, was taken off the table.

Bears coach Damon Floyd, however, saw no reason to assess the season in any manner than he had in previous years.

“Nothing changed for us,” said Floyd, the school’s 19^th head coach and second-longest tenured in 99 years of Bradley football.

“This is the sixth straight season for us in the playoffs. We pretty much anticipated being here, but knowing all along that we would be in the playoffs didn’t affect us at all during the season.”

So, the Bears (7-3) will host Riverdale (5-5) in the opening round of the playoffs on Thursday night at 7 p.m.

(Also, Ooltewah, Soddy-Daisy, McCallie and South Pittsburg have joined the list of teams switching to Thursday. The Owls host Clinton, the Trojans travel to Oak Ridge, the Blue Tornado entertain Pope John Paul and the Pirates are at home against Mt. Pleasant.)

The Bears and Owls decided to try and take the weather out of the formula by working out an agreement to play the Warriors at Finley Stadium.

“It’s about field conditions and player safety,” Floyd said. “With the rain we’ve had, and more rain expected Friday, our field at Bear Stadium is like a pond. So, we decided to see if we could get another site and play Thursday. The Finley Stadium folks were really cooperative and it only took us 15-20 minutes to work things out.”

The rest comes down to on-field preparation and that’s something that’s a continuation of the Bears’ entire season.

The Bears opened with non-region wins over Walker Valley and McMinn County before losing to Science Hill.

They beat bitter rival Cleveland and Jefferson County, lost to Bearden and defeated Dobyns-Bennett and Hardin Valley and lost to perennial state title contender Maryville before thrashing William Blount in the regular-season finale.

“We only had two returning starters on offense this year, but those two guys are pretty dang good football players,” Floyd said. “Tyler Carpenter is probably an all-state wide receiver and Cole Copeland will probably end up being a candidate for Mr. Football.

“We’ve got other talent, but they were just young and hadn’t played much on Friday night. We definitely improved on defense and offense during the season and for the first time we two-platooned. Nobody played both ways because we thought depth would be a key if we kept people fresh. I think that really helped.”

Of their three losses, only Maryville really whipped the Bears (38-7). They lost to Science Hill, 29-24, and Bearden 28-27.

“We lost the Bearden game when we went for a two-point conversion and didn’t make it,” said Floyd, who has led the Bears’ program for 10 years. “We have high expectations and they are high goals. We’re still trying to reach higher than where we are right now. We’re 7-3, but looking back we should have been 9-1.”

Region 1-6A turned out to be a league scoring points in bunches was sometimes necessary, but teams needed defenses quite often to secure wins.

William Blount went 0-7 in region play and allowed an average of 31.7 points – the opponent’s offensive production ranged from 38 to 59 points. William Blount averaged scoring 10.9 points, never more than 34 – that was in a 10-point loss to Bearden – and was held to single digits three times, including one shutout.

In Bradley’s seven region games, the average margin of victory by either team was 14.9 points.

“The defense carried us in some games and vice versa,” said junior quarterback Cole Copeland, who accounted for 3,031 of Bradley’s 3,600 total offensive yards this season. “You have to put together a full team effort to win, but I don’t think we’ve done that yet this season. We need a game like the defense had against Hardin Valley (an 18-8 win) and an offensive game like we had against Dobyns-Bennett (56-42 win) or William Blount (59-21 win).

“On Friday, we just have to play Bradley football. Play hard-nosed, establish the run, throw in some play-action things and have the defense play strong. We’re excited about Friday’s game against Riverdale. This should be a pretty good opportunity for us.”

The 6-foot-3-inch, 195-pound Copeland passed for 2,244 yards and 24 touchdowns – he threw only five interceptions – and rushed for 787 yards and 12 scores this season. Copeland led the Bears in both offensive categories and also accounted for 30 touchdowns in 2014.

Considering Copeland had 261 passing attempts, he was sacked only seven times.

“I’ve really worked on my pocket presence,” he said. “I used to rush to get out of the pocket too soon, but I’ve gotten a lot better going through my progressions. And the offensive line has really come through pass blocking and run blocking all season.”

Copeland’s favorite target clearly is Carpenter, a 6-1 senior who caught 59 passes for 1,054 yards and 13 touchdowns in 10 regular-season games.

“We have great chemistry,” said Copeland, who doubles as one of the top basketball players in District 5-3A. “We throw every day before practice and on Sunday evenings. We’ve done that for years. I know I can count on him, but all the other receivers are doing well, too.”

When it comes to defense, the Bears’ two outside linebackers – Jay Person and Ryan Still – anchor the unit. They have combined for 161 tackles, 10 sacks 21 tackles for loss and three interceptions. Person has two picks and returned both for touchdowns.

“I think we’re playing pretty good defense right now,” said Still, a 5-11, 180-pound senior. “We have to clean up a few things and get everybody focused on exactly what we have to do against Riverdale, but I’m pretty confident that we have a good shot at winning the game.”

Riverdale’s Warriors, who claimed state Class 5A titles in 1994, 1997, 2001 and 2004, all under coach Gary Rankin, are limping into the playoffs, having lost their final three regular season games to Oakland, Smyrna and Cookeville by a combined score of 106-49.

Prior to the season-ending skid, the Warriors won four straight games.

“If you’ve been around high school football at all, you know about Riverdale,” Floyd said. “Traditionally, they’re one of the best programs in Tennessee. They probably didn’t win as many games as they’re used to winning, but they shutdown Ooltewah. If you beat Ooltewah, that’s means something pretty good.

“Offensively, they can run and throw it. Defensively, they’ve got size and speed and they’ll come after you. It’s going to be a battle.”

Riverdale is prepping for its 89^th postseason game and has a 64-24 all-time record.

The Bears, 8-10 in the playoffs, won the 1976 state championship with a remarkable 50-48 victory in three overtimes against Jackson Central-Merry. They finished that season 13-0. But Bradley hasn’t won a first-round game since 2010 when it beat Coffee County, 34-7.

2015 TSSAA Football Playoffs

First-Round Matchups, Area Teams

Friday, All Games 7 p.m. Local Time

Thursday

Class 6A

Riverdale (5-5) vs. Bradley Central (7-3), Finley Stadium

Class 5A

Clinton (4-6) at Ooltewah (8-2)

Class 1A

Mt. Pleasant (6-4) at South Pittsburg (7-3)

Division II-AA

Pope John Paul (2-8) at McCallie (5-5)

Friday

Class 1A

Grace Baptist (5-5) at Fayetteville (8-2)

Moore County (6-4) at Whitwell (5-5)

Copper Basin (3-7) at Columbia Academy (9-1)

Class 2A

Eagleville (5-5) at Boyd-Buchanan (10-0)

Tyner (7-3) at Watertown (8-2)

Westmoreland (5-5) at Marion County (9-1)

Bledsoe County (5-5) at Forrest (9-1)

Class 3A

Smith County (6-4) at East Ridge (10-0)

Chattanooga Christian (7-3) at DeKalb County (7-3)

Sequatchie County (7-3) at Notre Dame (7-3), Finley Stadium

Red Bank (3-7) at Upperman (8-2)

Class 4A

Giles County (3-7) at Stone Memorial (10-0)

East Hamilton (6-4) at Page (7-3)

Class 5A

Cleveland (5-5) at Farragut (9-1)

Campbell County (5-5) at Rhea County (7-3)

Soddy-Daisy (7-3) at Oak Ridge (9-1)

Division II-AA

Baylor (8-2) bye

(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gamil.com and follow him on Twitter @larryfleming44)