ATHENS (Tenn) -- There have been some pretty special players who have played their part in the 100 meetings between the storied prep football programs of Bradley Central and McMinn County over the past century. Etch Boo Carter's name to the list.
The state's second rated player and Tennessee Vol commit caught three of Kaleb Martin's five TD passes and the Bears fought off a gallant Cherokees team in 41-21 fashion before an overflow crowd in the season opener between the squads. Carter caught seven passes for 138 yards, including two scores in the second half as Bradley held off a never-say-die McMinn team which had rallied to make it close after falling behind 27-0 in the first half.
"When I get the ball, it's my job to score. The coaches put us in great spots and when they called my number, I did what I'm here for," said Carter, who wears the number 6 for a reason. "We have so many weapons on this team, we expect to find the end zone. I don't mind being a decoy because if that's the route you want to take, watch what these other guys do."
Those other guys included Jarrius Roger, who caught six passes for 71 yards in the first half while McMinn wisely chose to double up on Carter in coverage as the speedster played the role of decoy. Until he didn't.
"We know a lot of folks will game plan that way, but we have plenty of others, and our staff does a great job putting kids in position to make plays. We'll move Boo around and see what the defense gives us, but I thought (QB) Kaleb (Martin) did a fantastic job of going to the right places," said Bradley coach Damon Floyd afterwards.
Martin, a transfer from Rhea County, hit five different receivers and notched scores of 16, 34, 4, 40 and 46 as he completed 17 of 25 passes for 270 yards in the opener.
"It was fun tonight. It's fun to have those kind of weapons out there and that's why I came here. It's all about being a leader out there and finding the guys in situations," said Martin.
There were two things every fan in the stadium knew coming in: McMinn was going to run the football and Bradley was going to be hard to slow down. Both came to fruition. Unfortunately for the Cherokees and their new Wing-T offense, things started slow for them and the Bears came out on fire.
McMinn went 3-and-out on its first two possessions, and Bradley needed just seven plays to score a pair of touchdowns in the opening sis minutes. The Bears took a short punt after the first possession, and needed just three plays to go 45 yards with J'Alan Terry catching a Martin laser across the middle for a 16-yards strike. Terry twisted his ankle fighting for the end zone and didn't return, but Bradley had plenty of other bullets. A 28-yard punt return by Carter set up the second score, and it was Carter running deep for a 34-yard hookup to make it 13-0 with 5:23 left in the opening quarter. McMinn managed to get a first down on its third possession but that was it, and Martin found Rogers on four passes, including a four-yard score, in a 63-yard drive to make it 20-0 to open the second period. Another 3-and-out gave the ball the Bears at midfield and Martin methodically marched them down the field, hitting Rogers on a great third down toss for 26 yards before Jackson Wilson burst in from the 5 for a 27-0 lead.
"I thought our defense set the tempo early, and our offense took advantage of it. I'm not complaining but we scored so fast early on that it just kept putting the defense back on the field. It got a little ugly late, but I thought their guys played with a lot of heart and that's a credit to them," said Floyd after the Cherokees scored on their final possession of the half and took advantage of the game's lone turnover to score again to start the third period to get back in it.
McMinn used a short field after the Bradley score to march 44 yards in seven running plays with Jakaryn Dyer scoring on a from the 8 with just 47 seconds left before the half.
"We needed to control the clock and keep it away from them, and everyone knew that, but this is a brand new offense for these kids, and it took some time. I thought we fought hard till the end. Everyone plays the Wing-T differently on defense and it took us some time to get it figured out. Unfortunately, we looked up and it was 27-0, but the kids did a nice job not looking at the scoreboard," said McMinn coach Bo Cagle.
The Bears fumbled on their first play of the second half and McMinn took it 35 yards with Brady Mullins keeping it from the one on a fourth down call and suddenly it was 27-14 with lots of time left. Bradley responded by going back to Carter, though, on an 80-yard drive that took just four plays. Martin hit Jackson Wilson on big 27-yard strike and then found the streaking Carter alone for a 40-yard score to push it back to 34-14.
Ethan Faulkner immediately countered that, though, with a 69-yard run for the Cherokees and two teams who have met every year for the last 97 seasons entered the final period at 33-21. Faulkner wound up with a smooth 129 yards on 10 totes as McMinn ran the ball 46 times without attempting a single pass.
After McMin n forced Bradley to punt for the first time, the Bear defense rose up again and stopped the Cherokees and Carter put it away with another signature sprint pass the defense to haul in a 46-yarder for the closing score with just 3:53 left in the game.
"It was a typical Bradley-McMinn outing. Very physical game. It's what you expect," added Floyd of the win, his third straight in the series and eighth in the last 10.
AJ Williams had a big defensive outing for the Bears, while Landon Feggins was the leader of the Cherokee defensive unit.
SUMMARY
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BRADLEY CENTRAL
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13
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14
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7
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7
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-- 41
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MCMINN COUNTY
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0
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7
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14
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0
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-- 21
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BC -- J'Alan Terry 16 pass from Kaleb Martin (Kick failed) (9:05, 1st)
BC -- Boo Carter 34 pass from Kaleb Martin (Skyler Pirkle kick) (5:23, 1st)
BC -- Jarrius Rogers 4 pass from Kaleb Martin (Skyler Pirkle kick) (9:05, 2nd)
BC -- Jackson Wilson 5 run (Skyler Pirkle kick) (3:34, 2nd)
MC -- Jakaryn Dyer 8 run (Spencer Sullins kick) (0:47, 2nd)
MC -- Brady Mullins 1 run (Spencer Sullins kick) (4:15, 3rd)
BC -- Boo Carter 40 pass from Kaleb Martin (Skyler Pirkle kick) (2:22, 3rd)
MC -- Ethan Faulkner 69 run (Spencer Sullins kick) (0:05, 3rd)
BC -- Boo Carter 46 pass from Kaleb Martin (Skyler Pirkle) (3:53, 4th)
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STATS
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BC
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MC
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First Downs
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17
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11
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Rushes-Yards
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16-84
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46-233
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Passing Yards
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270
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0
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Total yards
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354
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233
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Passing (Comp-Att-Int)
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17-25-0
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0-0-0
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Penalties-Yards
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8-67
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15-120
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Punts-Avg.
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1-27.0
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4-36.8
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Fumbles-Lost
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1-1
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0-0
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INDIVIDUAL STATS
RUSHING: Jackson Wilson 4-37, Kaleb Martin 6-26, Simon Mullis 3-10, J'Alan Terry 1-7, Boo Carter 2-2, Landon Scott 1-2 (BC); Ethan Faulkner 10-129, Jakaryn Dyer 11-51, Taylon White 13-30, Jacob Sharp 5-15 (MC).
PASSING: Kaleb Martin 17-25-0 270 yards (BC); Brady Mullins 0-0-0 (MC).
RECEIVING: Boo Carter 7-138, Jarrius Rogers 7-86, Jackson Wilson 1-27, J'Alan Terry 1-16, Marcus Goree, Jr. 1-2. (BC).
RECORDS: Bradley Central 1-0, McMinn County 0-1.
NEXT UP: Bradley hosts Tyner and McMinn travels to Cleveland.
(Contact James Beach at 1134james@gmail.com)