CLEVELAND, Tenn. – Bradley Central quarterback Dylan Standifer had a hand in all three touchdowns Friday night and led the once-beaten Bears to an impressive 21-7 non-region football victory over Rhea County at Bear Stadium.
And Bradley’s defense came close to getting a rare shutout of the visiting Golden Eagles.
Standifer threw two touchdown passes to Lameric Tucker covering 69 and 60 yards and ran 3 yards for a third score as the Bears improved to 4-1 on the season. Standifer completed 7 of 13 passes.
Tucker had four receptions for 155 yards and the two scores. He rushed for 42 yards on five carries. Adam Mullis was Bradley’s leading rusher with 56 yards on 13 carries.
Bradley’s scoring drives covered 78, 80 and 62 yards.
It was Bradley’s seventh straight win over Rhea County and the Bears now lead the overall series 15-13.
The Golden Eagles (3-3) averted a shutout when A.J. Velasco caught a 28-yard touchdown pass from Zack Pemberton with 1:33 left in the game. Rhea has been shutout just three times in its last 78 contests – the last coming in the 2016 season opener when Baylor won 35-0.
Ooltewah blanked the Golden Eagles in 2015 (16-0) and 2011 (38-0).
In Friday’s game, the Bears rushed for 121 yards, passed for 173 and finished with 294 total yards. Rhea had 76 on the ground, 51 passing for a total of 127.
The Golden Eagles got 76 yards on 15 carries from Christian Simon. Ironically, that was Rhea’s team total at game’s end due to Pemberton and the team combining for minus-35 yards on the ground.
Jake Pressley paced the Bears’ defense with 8 ½ tackles. Jay Person had six tackles, including three sacks, 3 ½ tackles for loss and two quarterback hurries. In all, Bradley was credited with eight sacks on Pemberton for minus-47 yards.
SCORING
Rhea County 0 0 0 7 – 7
Bradley Central 7 0 0 14 – 21
First Quarter
BC – Lameric Tucker 69 pass from Dylan Standifer (Clay Shoemaker kick), 7:48
Fourth Quarter
BC – Standifer 3 run (Shoemaker kick), 10:08
BC – Tucker 60 pass from Standifer (Shoemaker kick), 7:23
RC – A.J. Velasco 28 pass from Zack Pemberton (Haden Frashier kick), 1:33
YARDSTICK
RC BC
First Downs 11 12
Rushes-Yds 39-76 32-121
Passing Yards 51 173
Comp-Att-Int 4-7-0 7-14-0
Total Yards 46-127 46-294
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 1-0
Punts-Avg 5-29.0 3-26.3
Penalties-Yds 7-145 6-79
INDIVIDUALS
RUSHING – Rhea County: Christian Simon 115-76, Brandon Hunt 5-27, Gavin Morrison 2-5, A.J. Velasco 1-3, Team 2-minus 10, Zack Pemberton 14-minus 25; Bradley Central: Adam Mullis 13-56, Lameric Tucker 5-42, Devon Moore 6-29, Dylan Standifer 6-4, Team 2-minus 10.
PASSING – Rhea County: Pemberton 4-7-0-51; Bradley Central: Standifer 7-13-0-173, Tucker 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING – Rhea County: Velasco 2-35, Simon 1-13, Hunt 1-3; Bradley Central: Tucker 4-155, Moore 2-8, Stephen Muhonen 1-10.
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)