Bradley Beats Walker Valley, 40-28, In Mistake-Filled Opener

CLEVELAND – Walker Valley’s Kolten Gibson may have won the battle, but the Bradley Bears won the war here at Bear Stadium Thursday night.

In a cross-town rivalry involving two teams ranked in the top 10 of their respective classifications, there was enough hype for three or four games.

Gibson proved his worth as the Mustang quarterback as he completed 27 of 40 passes for a whopping 379 yards, but counterpart Cole Copeland led his Bear teammates to the mistake and penalty filled contest by a 40-28 final in a game that took almost three hours to complete.

The Mustangs have one of their best teams in recent years and they came to the Bradley campus with victory in their game plan.  And even though Walker Valley had a 425-314 advantage in total yards, it was the Bears who took advantage of mistake after mistake to claim the non-region win.

Bad things started happening for the Mustangs right away as they fumbled the opening kickoff before Bradley’s Tyler Pruitt recovered on the Walker Valley 24.

It took six plays and just over two minutes before Adam Mullis bulled into the end zone from the 4 and the difference was 6-0 when the Bradley kick sailed wide.

Things went from bad to worse on Walker Valley’s next possession as a snap over the punter’s head gave the Bears first down on the Mustang 15. 

It took three plays and just over a minute this time before Devin Moore hooked up with Nick Howell on an option pass that covered 19 yards.  Cole Copeland’s conversion run gave the hosts a 14-0 lead with 7:10 left in the first quarter.

The Mustangs never quit playing and Gibson put on quite an aerial display, but those two early scores were basically the difference in the game.

Bradley head coach Damon Floyd wasn’t very pleased with the quality of play, but he liked the final result.

“That was without a doubt the ugliest win I’ve ever been a part of,” he said following his radio interview in the quiet of the Bradley field house.

“We played hard and I liked the effort as it was an emotional game on both sides, but we have to be smarter and we still have a lot of work to do.  There was a lot at stake for both schools and it takes a lot for both teams to recover from a game like this, but we could have put them away and didn’t.

“We gave up two long touchdown plays and we just weren’t in sync offensively, but we have to fix that stuff as that’s the kind of thing that will get you beat. But it was a fun game in a great atmosphere.  If you can’t enjoy a contest like this, then you’re in the wrong business,” Floyd added.

Walker Valley coach Glen Ryan echoed similar feelings.

“We played as bad as we could possibly play and only lost by 12 points,” he began his post-game talk to his team.

“It was a game of pride for sure, but we have to shore a lot of things up.  We let what I thought was a winnable game get away tonight.  Everything that could have gone wrong did and our special teams were just awful.

“We didn’t finish plays on defense, but the good news is that we didn’t quit.  We could have rolled over early, but we didn’t.  I thought we were ready to play by the way we warmed up, but I guess not.  We have to be ready to go when we step on the field and we just have to be mentally and physically tougher than we were tonight,” Ryan concluded.

While Bradley grabbed the early lead, the Mustangs never quit attacking.

Alex King picked up 23 yards on the first play following the Bears second TD before Gibson hooked up with Cooper Melton on a 51-yard TD play.

And before anybody in the overflow crowd could catch their breath, Lameric Tucker returned the kickoff 86 yards for a touchdown and the difference was once again 14 points.

And again, the Mustangs refused to back down.

With Gibson completing passes of 41 yards to Bryce Nunnelly and later 28 yards to Melton, the Mustangs marched 82 yards in 11 plays with King getting the final four yards with 2:19 left in the first stanza as Walker Valley stayed within striking distance at 21-14.

That was the score when the first quarter finally ended.

Bradley added another short run by Mullis from the 2 on the third play of the second quarter for a 28-14 Bradley lead and that was the difference at the break.

The Mustangs added touchdowns in the third and fourth quarters while the Bears did the same, but that early two touchdown deficit was simply impossible for Walker Valley to overcome.

Bradley finished with 314 total yards, including 193 on the ground and 121 through the air.  That was good enough for 20 first downs.

Moore was the rushing leader for Bradley with 85 yards on 15 carries while Mullis had 48 yards on 11 attempts.

Tucker was the leading receiver for Bradley with 40 yards on three catches while Nick Howell and Stephen Muhonen both had two grabs for 39 and 17 yards, respectively. Moore also had one grab for another 27 yards.

Gibson was the man for Walker Valley as he completed 27 of 40 passes for 379 yards and a pair of touchdowns.

Melton was the leading receiver for the Mustangs with 114 yards on six catches, all in the first half.  Nunnelly had 99 yards on five grabs while Zach Eslinger had 10 catches for 76 yards.

Dylan Towers only had three catches, but they were good for 79 yards including one play in the second half with a most unusual ending.

He caught a pass in the right flat from Gibson and was streaking down the sideline with the end zone in site when he took a vicious hit inside the 10 and fumbled.  Teammate Eslinger alertly picked up the loose ball and went the remaining five yards for the touchdown.

King was the leading rusher for the Mustangs as he finished with 67 yards on 18 carries and the one touchdown.

Walker Valley finished with 46 yards rushing and 379 passing for 425 total and 18 first downs.

As far as turnovers were concerned, Walker Valley lost two fumbles and an interception while Bradley lost one fumble.  Pruitt and Dalton Taylor had the fumble recoveries for Bradley while Jay Person had the late interception.  Walker Valley’s King had a fumble recovery.

As far as the penalties were concerned, Bradley was flagged 11 times for 117 yards while Walker Valley was tagged a dozen times for 90 yards.

Bradley will be at home again next week to host another non-region foe in McMinn County while Walker Valley will be at home to host non-region foe Hixson.

WALKER VALLEY  14  0  7  7  --  28

BRADLEY 21  7  6  6  --  40

BC – Adam Mullis 4 run (kick wide right), 9:59 left in first;

BC – Nick Howell 19 pass from Devin Moore (Cole Copeland run), 7:10 left in first;

WV – Cooper Melton 51 pass from Kolten Gibson (Sam Gibson kick), 6:48 left in first;

BC – Lameric Tucker 86 kickoff return (Clay Shoemaker kick), 6:26 left in first;

WV – Alex King 4 run (S. Gibson kick), 2:19 left in first;

BC – Adam Mullis 2 run (Shoemaker kick), 10:50 left in second;

BC – Moore 2 run (kick wide right); 2:40 left in third;

WV – Zach Eslinger 5 run with recovered fumble (S. Gibson kick), 1:49 left in third;

BC – Howell 2 run (run failed), 11:59 left in fourth;

WV – Eslinger 7 pass from K. Gibson (S. Gibson kick), 1:39 left in fourth.

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)