CHARLESTON, Tenn. -- A dominating night by the Bradley Central offensive line and a stellar running performance by Kenyon Phelps lifted the Bears to a 28-14 win over Walker Valley inside “The MAC” Friday.
Phelps piled up 219 yards of the Bears' 296 rushing yards on 24 carries with a trio of touchdowns as he slid past would be tacklers all night.
“We told them going in, we're not going to make this game very pretty. We're going to make it ugly. It was all on the offensive line,” said winning coach Damon Floyd. “Kenyon ran the ball hard, but our offensive line deserves a lot of credit. We didn't throw it around a whole lot tonight, we'll do that more in the future. We wanted to play a little smash mouth.”
The Bear (1-1) defensive line held the Mustangs (1-1) to just 13 yards on the ground, but Walker Valley made up for the shortfall with 305 passing yards and a late TD toss from Chase Stephens to Luke Hayden.
“That was a coaching staff loss. There is no doubt about it. We didn't do a good enough job in preparation. I think we made adjustments that gave us a chance. But, in the end we did not prepare well as coaches,” said Mustangs head wrangler Drew Akins. “We did not put our kids in great situations. Period. End of discussion. It just all comes down to we just did not do a good enough job putting our guys in good situations so be successful. When you do that against a really good team, a really talented team they find ways to get you.”
The Bears hobbled the Mustangs early with a defensive stand on fourth-and-5 drove from their own 38-yard line to the Walker Valley one. Brayden Carroll covered the short distance for the first Bradley score of the night.
From there it was all Phelps.
The Mustangs did little to help their own cause on there second possession as a snap sailed over the head of punter Roman Eulo setting Bradley up at the 15-yard line. Phelps covered the distance in three plays to make it 14-0.
Walker Valley's next touch resulted in a fumble on the first play from scrimmage, but the Bears were unable to make headway and punted the ball back to the Mustangs. Another defensive stand by Bradley forced another punt attempt that set the Bears up at the Walker Valley 48. Phelps put the visitors out front 21-0 with a score from 21 yards out with 5:12 left in the first half.
The Mustangs missed a field goal try late in the quarter, a decision Akins said he would like to have back.
“We had two situations. We had a fourth-and-1 on our end of the field and we punted. Then we had a fourth-and-3 or 4 and we tried to kick a field goal. That's not who I am,” he admitted. “When you go against who you are as a coach a lot of times it backfires. That's just being real. Awe went against who we are as coaches. Literally, when I say it's a coaching staff loss it comes back to our decisions, our preparation as coaches.
The Bears picked up right where they left off to open the second half as Phelps showed out with three carries for 47 yards. He finished with a fourth touch good for 15 yards and his third TD of the game.
Walker Valley fought back on its next possession starting from its own 38. Stephens hit Cason Cunningham for 38 and again minutes later connected with Cunningham again for 16. Eulo put the Mustangs on the board with a 1-yard plunge to make it a 28-7 game.
“They've got really good receivers and we gave them a light box just trying not to give up the big play. It shows you the type of players they are at receiver because they still completed some on us. We had them double covered all night,” said Floyd. “They're a good football team. They're very scary to go against. I'm just happy for our guys.”
The Mustangs fought back one more time from their own 9-yard line following a Bradly punt. Stephens found Sawyer Boyd for 31 and completed passes to Cunningham, Boyd and Eulo to reach the Bears' 12. From there Stephens found Hayden open for the score with 1:04 left in the game to make it a 28-14 final.
“Our kids did an unbelievable job of staying together. When you're down 21-0 as quick as we were with the mistakes we made our kids could easily have charged this up as a loss, gotten run-ruled and we would have been out of here an hour earlier. Instead, our kids decided they were going to keep fighting and went down and scored a couple of times,” said Akins.
“We were inside the Red Zone two or three times. I had a horrible Red Zone plan. It's just coaching things we just have to make sure we do a better job of preparing as coaches.”
Floyd said afterward the loss to McMinn County in Week 1 served as a learning tool that helped the Bears prepare for the win over Walker Valley. Bradley opens region play Friday at home against Hardin Valley.
GAME SUMMARY
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BRADLEY CENTRAL
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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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WALKER VALLEY
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0
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0
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7
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7
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-- 14
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SCORING SUMMARY:
First Quarter
BC — Brayden Carroll 2 run (Noah Canales kick), 4:59
Second Quarter
BC — Kenyon Phelps 2 run (Canales kick), 2:28
BC — Phelps 21 run (Canales kick), 5:12
Third Quarter
BC — Phelps 15 run (Canales kick), 9:58
WV — Roman Eulo 1 run (Chris Malik kick), 6:45
Fourth Quarter
WV — Luke Hayden 12 pass from Chase Stephens (Malik kick), 1:04
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TEAM STATS
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BC
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WV
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|
First Downs
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16
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19
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Rushes-Yards
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42-296
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14-13
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|
Passing Yards
|
6
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305
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Total yards
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302
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318
|
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Passing (Comp-Att-Int)
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6-3-0
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9-29-1
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|
Penalties-Yards
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14-88
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6-35
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Punts-Average
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2-31.5
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1-35.0
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|
Fumbles-Lost
|
0-0
|
1-1
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Highlights
Rushing: Phelps 24-219 3TD, Carroll 12-38 TD, Spencer Makuch 4-26, Tucker Cook 2-13 (BC); Cunningham 6-27 (WV).
Passing: Tucker Cook 3-6-6 (BC); Stephens 19-29-305 (WV).
Receiving: Phelps 1-8 (BC); Sawyer Boyd 5-120, Hayden 6-87 TD, Eulo 4-57, Cunninghamm 4-33.
Records: Bradley Central 1-1; Walker Valley 1-1..
Next up: Bradley Central hosts Hardin Valley (2-0); Walker Valley hosts McMinn Co. (2-0).
(Contact Richard Roberts at richardvol55@yahoo.com)
“Our guys were a little bit more focused I think. Maybe last week, you never want to lose, but I think we learned from it,” he said. “The kids deserve all the credit.”
The Mustangs will host McMinn County Friday looking to rebound and pick up a region victory over the Cherokees.
“It all boils down to how we play in the region,” Akins said. “Hopefully, we've learned a little bit about ourselves these first two games and we take that into next week against McMinn and see what we can do against them.”