Walker Valley's Cason Cunningham (6) scores in the Mustangs 28-3 win over Cleveland.
photo by Gerald Parham
CLEVELAND, Tenn. -- Cleveland and Walker Valley wasted no time jumping into the battle for county supremacy as the 2025 high school football season opened with the inter-county rivals battling at Cleveland High School Thursday.
The Mustangs, led by head coach Drew Akins, in his seventh year, had little trouble this time around against first-year head coach Chris Brown and the Blue Raiders.
The Herd rolled up 356 yards of total offense on their way to a 28-3 win against a scrappy, but young group of Raiders.
“I'm really proud of our guys. They absolutely bought in to what we preached. They absolutely bought in to everything we've said. Our culture kind of showed through tonight. I'm really proud of that. That's what I'm really most proud of, the culture we've been trying to build showed through in a bug way, from the jump,” said Akins. “We played with incredible effort. We played with incredible discipline throughout the night Our leaders stepped up and were great teammates first and foremost then showed everybody how we pay this game. I'm really proud of that.”
The Mustangs took advantage of a Cleveland gift on the second play from scrimmage as Braylon Beard recovered a fumble for Walker Valley at the Blue Raiders' 21-yard line.
Four plays later Roman Eulo pushed his way into the end zone for the first score of the night. Christopher Malick's extra point made it 7-0 with 9:59 left in the first quarter.
The Raiders pushed their way 69 yards on their next possession using the legs of Bra'Shaun Beard to reach the 11-yard. The Herd defense held Cleveland to no gain on three plays and the Raiders settled for a 29-yard field goal by Sloan Bolanos to make it a 7-3 game with 3:51 left in the first.
Walker Valley countered with a second march, helped by a fake punt on fourth-and-10 as the first quarter clock wound down. Two plays into the second, the Mustangs were faced with a second fourth down situation needing three yards for a first. Quarterback Chase Stephens called on Eulo for the needed yards and the senior Mustang came through for five yards to the Cleveland 8-yard line. Eulo closed out the drive scoring from two yards out and the Mustangs led 14-3 after the PAT.
“We've got to take advantage of opportunities when we create them. We've just got to continue grow and get better,” said Brown.
The Mustangs tacked on one more score before the half as they moved 58 yards to the Cleveland 10. From there, Stephens found Eulo open for his first TD pass as a Mustang and Eulo's third score of the first half.
Walker Valley took a 21-3 lead into the break.
Emilio Greene ended the Mustangs' first possession of the second half with an interception that set the Raiders up first-and-10 at their own 33. A strong stand by the Walker Valley defense forced a three-and-out punt that gave the Mustangs the ball at their own 20.
The Herd took advantage of a tiring Blue Raiders defense and methodically marched to the Cleveland 1-yard line where once again Eulo bulled his way across the goal line for his fourth touchdown of the night.
Malick's kicks made it a 28-3 game ending the scoring for the night.
“I don't think it was a lack of conditioning from them, I think it was more that we had prepared our guys,” Akins said. “When you lean on somebody the way we leaned on them to start the third quarter and into the fourth it's easier to be the ones leaning on them than the ones getting leaned on. I think after so much of it, it just kind of caught up with them.”
The road stays tough for the Raiders as they take to the road to face always tough McMinn County Aug. 29.
“They played hard, that's the biggest thing. They came out and played hard and competed,” Brown said of his young Blue Raiders. “We're disappointed because we had some opportunities to take advantage of some third-and-longs and potential turnovers. That's just the name of the game right now, learning how to do that. We'll see if we take a big step in the growth department from Week 1 to Week 2 like we're supposed to.”
The schedule also will be tough once again for the Mustangs as they host Bradley Central with a shot at the unofficial county championship on the line.
“It was an emotional win. It meant a lot to our guys, absolutely. Our kids wanted to win that, but now we've got to turn the page and have another emotional game. We've go to go play really well to have a chance,” Akins acknowledged. “We're going to have to really buy in to the culture again and have a great week. If we do those things we'll give ourselves and opportunity.”
GAME SUMMARY
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WALKER VALLEY
|
7
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14
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7
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0
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--28
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|
CLEVELAND
|
3
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
-- 3
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SCORING SUMMARY:
First Quarter
WV — Roman Eulo 7 run (Christopher Malick kick), 9:59
CLE — Sloan Boanos 29 field goal, 3:57
Second Quarter
WV — Eulo 2 run (Malick kick), 10:23
WV — Chase Stephens 10 pass to Eulo (Malick kick), 1:16
Third Quarter
WV — Eulo 1 run (Malick kick), 3:26
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STATS
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WV
|
CLE
|
|
First Downs
|
21`
|
9
|
|
Rushes-Yards
|
45-224
|
23-64
|
|
Passing Yards
|
132
|
101
|
|
Total yards
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356
|
165
|
|
Passing (Comp-Att-Int)
|
10-20-1
|
11-18-1
|
|
Penalties-Yards
|
7-78
|
4-28
|
|
Punts-Average
|
1-32.0
|
2-45.0
|
|
Fumbles-Lost
|
1-0
|
3-2
|
Highlights
Rushing: Cason Cunningham 24-146, Zack Rains 6-33, Eulo 11-57 4TD (WV); Bra'Shaun Beard 11-56 (C).
Passing: Chase Stephens 10-20-132 (WV); Kason McGowan 11-18-101 (C).
Receiving: Eulo 4-50, Sawyer Boyd 6-82 (WV); Kyreese Westfield 4-33, Kyree Scott 3-41 (C).
Records: Walker Valley 1-0; Cleveland 0-1.
Next up: Walker Valley hosts Bradley Central; Cleveland travels to McMinn Co.
(Contact Richard Roberts at richardvol55@yahoo.com)