Bears do the final celebrating on Trojans' field

Arkansas-SEMO Live Blog

Soddy-Daisy honored its seniors and retiring half-century public-address announcer John Rawlston, but it was Bradley Central that was left celebrating after Friday's football game.

The Bears used a balanced, clock-munching offense to take a 42-28 District 5-AAA win Friday night at Soddy-Daisy.

The first quarter proved to be a poor indication of how the night would progress for both teams, with the Trojans scoring the only touchdown, a 22-yard pass to Blake Smith from Hunter Maynor. It turned out to be the only touchdown of the half for the potent Soddy-Daisy offense.

"They're so tough to stop, but our kids battled against adversity," Bradley coach Damon Floyd said. "Maynor is one of the best quarterbacks I've seen in my time coaching, so I was really happy we could hold them to seven points in the first half."

Bradley scored twice in the second quarter to take a 14-7 lead. Tyler Carpenter had a hand in both, catching a 48-yard pass from Cole Copeland and then throwing a 29-yard touchdown to Daniel Clark on a trick play.

Fittingly, the firework-like cracks of party poppers set off by the Soddy-Daisy student section filled the air as halftime came to a close -- and it was fireworks they got.

The Bears seemed to carry momentum from their score with eight seconds to go in the first half and scored again in their first possession of the third quarter. This time, Copeland found Tanner Cox for 20 yards. The drive took up nearly half the quarter, and at 21-7 it looked like a tough road for the Trojans.

Soddy-Daisy, however, dug its heels in.

"Our kids are hard-nosed, hard workers," Trojans coach Justin Barnes said.

The running game came alive, racking up 90 yards in the quarter after only 12 in the first half. Christian Bell led the way with 96 in the game, and his 30-yard touchdown run knotted the game at 21 after Maynor threw to Tre Carter for an 8-yard score.

Then came trouble.

"Interceptions, personal fouls -- you just can't do that and expect to beat any team, especially a good one," Barnes said. "We just kind of shot ourselves in the foot and killed two drives."

Christian Hamilton dodged defenders for a 19-yard rushing score, and with a chance to respond on their ensuing possession, the Trojans suffered an interception. The Bradley Central offense, which ran effectively to complement the passing game, continued to eat the clock.

Carpenter caught another pas from Copeland, and the Bears had their two-touchdown lead back.

"We've gotten better running the ball lately," Floyd said. "It really helps when you can be balanced like that. We were able to keep their offense off the field."

Maynor threw another touchdown to Smith, but Copeland ran one in for Bradley to seal the win.

"We just can't give them gifts like we did," Barnes said. "We have to find a way to give up the field, and we gave up too many deep balls."

Carpenter caught nine passes for 139 yards from Copeland, who threw for 259 yards in going 20-for-23. The versatile quarterback also rushed for 129 yards.

Maynor was 22-of-33 for 202 yards. His leading receiver was Levi Thornton, who caught eight passes for 68 yards.

Contact Idris Garcia at sports@timesfreepress.com

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