CLEVELAND -- It’s probably a pretty good bet that Soddy Daisy isn’t as bad as folks originally thought and the same could be said for Cleveland not being as good as predicted.
At least, not after the third week of the high school football season.
Whatever the case, the Trojans are still unbeaten after three games and 1-0 in region play while Cleveland falls to 1-2 overall and 0-1 in the region following Soddy Daisy’s 39-21 victory at Benny Monroe Stadium Friday night.
It was one of those games that could have gone either way, but once the momentum started swinging Soddy Daisy’s way, the Blue Raiders had a tough time getting it back on their side.
“It got a little sloppy on both sides and it couldn’t have started out any worse for us, but what an exciting region win for us,” said Soddy Daisy coach Justin Barnes afterward.
“We just had to buckle down and get going, but we didn’t panic and I’m proud of the way we responded. That first long pass to Tre Carter sort of loosened things up.
“And I can’t say enough good things about Christian Bell. He put the load on his shoulders and carried us tonight,” Barnes said about his number-one running back, who finished with 247 yards rushing on just 24 carries.
It didn’t take long for Cleveland to take the lead as Skyler Davis intercepted Justin Cooke’s second pass and raced 70 yards for a touchdown with only 78 seconds elapsed off the clock. Torian Beck’s extra point kick made it 7-0 and that was the score when the first quarter ended.
Soddy Daisy evened things when Cooke hooked up with Tre Carter on a 36-yard fly pattern down the left side and the score was knotted following the kick by Tyler Killingsworth with 8:06 left in the second.
Cooke’s next throw covered 18 yards and a touchdown to Ty Boeck at the 5:24 mark while a 30-yard run by Christian Bell made it 20-7 with 3:44 before the half after Killingsworth’s kick was blocked.
The Blue Raiders shifted the momentum right before the break as they marched 90 yards in five plays, Keegan Jones covering the final 40 yards on a run down the left side with 1:42 showing.
Jones had gotten Cleveland moving with a 34-yard run on the first play of the drive.
Beck’s kick closed the gap to 20-14 at intermission.
Cleveland received the second-half kickoff and could have turned things around, but Soddy Daisy’s defense stood tall and force a three-and-out.
Tre Carter, who is as fast as anyone in the open field, zipped 72 yards with the punt as Soddy Daisy’s lead stretched to 27-14 and the momentum that the Blue Raiders had created quickly disappeared.
Jashawn Hill hooked up with Davis on a 17-yard TD play with 7:49 remaining in the third, but that was as close as it would get as Soddy Daisy added another TD at the end of the quarter on a 21-yard pass from Cooke to Jaden Holcombe.
And then to add a little icing on the cake, Bell scored on a 56-yard run at the 10:32 mark of the fourth to conclude the scoring.
Cleveland coach Scott Cummings wasn’t the happiest guy when the final horn sounded, but he was more frustrated than anything as his young team had plenty of chances. They just weren’t able to execute at the most critical times.
“We’re so young an inexperienced, but it’s all about us at this point and not about the team we’re playing. We have kids who have to make plays, but it seemed like for every positive play we made, we had three negative ones.
“Our offense was terrible in the first half, our special teams imploded at times and the defense couldn’t make a tackle. We just aren’t a very good football team right now, but it has nothing to do with our work ethic because these guys are busting their tails every day to get better.
“But between the defense, the offense and the special teams, they all made plays I wish I didn’t have to watch on film,” the first-year coach expressed.
Soddy Daisy won the battle of the yard sticks with 356 total yards compared to 335 for Cleveland.
With Bell leading the way with his 247 yards, the Trojans had 259 total on the ground and 97 through the air.
Carter had two catches for 41 yards while Holcombe had two for 28.
Jones was the rushing leader for Cleveland with 142 yards on 14 carries as the Blue Raiders totaled 190 yards on the ground.
Hill completed 10 of 22 passes in the second half for 139 as his team finished with 145 through the air.
Robert Anderson only had one catch, but it was a 38-yarder in the third quarter that set up the 17-yarder to Davis.
Davis had the most catches with five for 37 yards.
Both teams were penalized excessively with Soddy Daisy flagged 10 times for 103 yards and Cleveland 13 times for 130. Both teams finished with 17 first downs.
Cleveland is now 1-2 and will play at Bradley next week while Soddy Daisy is now 3-0 and has a bye next Friday.
SODDY DAISY 0 20 13 6 -0- 39
CLEVELAND 7 7 7 0 -- 21
CLE – Skyler Davis 70 interception return (Torian Beck kick), 10:42 left in first;
SD – Tre Carter 36 pass from Justin Cooke (Tyler Killingsworth kick), 8:06 left in second;
SD – Ty Boeck 18 pass from Cooke (Killingsworth kick), 5:24 left in second;
SD – Christian Bell 30 run (kick blocked), 3:44 left in second;
CLE – Keegan Jones 40 run (Beck kick), 1:42 left in second;
SD – Carter 72 punt return (Killingsworth kick), 10:39 left in third;
CLE – Davis 17 pass from Jashawn Hill (Beck kick), 7:49 left in third;
SD – Jaden Holcombe 21 pass from Cooke (pass failed), 0:19 left in third;
SD – Bell 56 run (kick failed), 10:32 left in fourth.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)