CLEVELAND 10, CLINTON 7Star: T.J. Parker gained 107 yards on 25 carries for the Blue Raiders.Up next: Cleveland (6-5) will travel to Oak Ridge (11-0) next Friday; Clinton ends the season at 7-4.
CLEVELAND, Tenn. - Even as the amount of talent walking the Cleveland sideline in street clothes due to injuries rivaled the talent on the field during the 2014 season, the Blue Raiders have found ways to be competitive.
Friday night was no different.
The Blue Raiders relied on their defense and received some timely plays from their offense in earning a hard-fought 10-7 win over Clinton in the first round of the Class 5A state playoffs at Raider Field.
The win earns Cleveland (6-5) a date next Friday at 11-0 Oak Ridge, which defeated Soddy-Daisy 53-28.
Cleveland played Friday night without quarterback and linebacker Austin Massey and second-leading rusher Raekwon Bunion, plus three other starters. Running back T.J. Parker finished with 107 yards on 25 carries but admitted that nothing came easy for the Cleveland offense.
"Clinton definitely prepared for the run. They knew every play we were running," Parker said. "They knew it was coming, but we kept running the same plays and the offensive line finally was able to overpower them. This was a fight the whole way. We had to work the whole game to get this win, and that makes it much sweeter because we worked for it."
Jake Gibson, who started in place of Massey at quarterback, completed 70 percent of his 20 passes for 114 yards. His best throw of the night came on the team's first possession, as he hit Isaiah Beaty in stride for a 19-yard touchdown after an 11-yard punt by Clinton.
The Raiders added a 23-yard field goal by Brandon Romero in the final minute of the first half, but the Dragons (7-4) answered on the second possession of the second half, with quarterback Tyler Thackerson completing a 25-yard pass to J'Quan Thomas to cut the lead to 10-7.
An interception by Isaiah Vibbert with 7:09 remaining gave the Dragons the ball, but after an 11-yard run by Thackerson gave them a first down, a false start pushed them back and they didn't recover, punting back to the Raiders.
"I thought we'd get one more shot," Clinton coach Josh Kerr said. "Our defense had been playing well, but Cleveland made a couple of big plays when they needed them."
The biggest play of the drive was a 7-yard completion on a third-and-6 from Gibson to Beaty, who wiggled his way to the Clinton 29-yard line. Parker gained another first down, and Cleveland held on despite some tempers flaring in the game's final moments.
The Dragons, who came into the game averaging 409.4 yards per game, were limited to 62 yards rushing and 197 total. Cleveland was credited with three sacks -- two by Zack Brammer and the third by Rod Dennard.
"It was good to see our defense be consistent tonight," Cleveland coach Ron Crawford said. "I'm super proud of the guys; the expectation was for them to play well. This was a real team win."
The Dragons lose 22 seniors from a team that improved from a winless 2011 to a seven-win season this year.
"Our kids fought," Kerr said. "We hadn't seen that type of speed this year. Cleveland's record doesn't show the quality of football team they have. We were a little shell-shocked early, and we left some points on the field."
Beaty had four catches for 62 yards for the Raiders, while Thomas was the leading receiver for the Dragons with seven grabs for 57 yards.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.