PIKEVILLE, Tenn. | The stat sheet suggested a much closer game than the scoreboard indicated.
The scoreboard said that Bledsoe County (2-1) defeated Oneida (2-1) by a 35-13 count on a muggy Friday evening.
The stat sheet, meanwhile, showed that Oneida rolled up 300 yards of offense on 43 snaps — identical to Bledsoe County’s 300 yards on 41 snaps.
The Indians rushed for 180 yards and, despite playing without injured junior quarterback Connor Mays, completed eight of 10 passes for 120 yards.
Time of possession and penalties were even between the two teams, as well, and neither the Indians nor the Warriors had a turnover.
So where did the difference come from? Bledsoe County did not have to punt the football, turning five possessions into five touchdowns, while its defense made stops at opportune times to force Oneida into a pair of punts and also a failed fourth down try.
That allowed the Warriors to build a 21-0 lead at the half and extend it to 35-7 before Oneida scored a touchdown in the game’s waning seconds.
Bledsoe County, always tough, scored on touchdown runs of seven yards, four yards, and two yards to build the 21-0 lead, underscoring its grind-it-out approach that was typical of Bledsoe County teams the Indians have faced in years past.
Oneida was able to edge back into the game with a 12-play, 80-yard drive to start the third quarter, which ended with a 17-yard touchdown run by Waylon Hill.
But Bledsoe answered with back-to-back touchdowns by Noah Shrum to put the game out of reach.
Shrum finished with 66 yards on six carries, including three touchdowns. Bledsoe quarterback Luke Morris completed all four of his passes for 79 yards.
Gage Duncan led Oneida’s ground attack with 89 yards on 16 carries.
In Mays’ absence, senior Cannon McDowell completed five of seven passes for 77 yards, including a 51-yard connection with Kannon Gazay. Waylon Hill completed three of three passes for 43 yards, and added 59 rushing yards on eight carries.
Hill added 10 tackles on defense, and was named the IH Sports Network’s First National Bank Player of the Game.
Sophomore Tate Shepard led the Oneida defense, with 11 stops.
Bledsoe County took the game’s opening possession after a big kickoff return to midfield. Despite digging a deep hole with back-to-back penalties, the Warriors converted a third-and-15 play and eventually scored on a seven-yard run by Cade Swafford.
Oneida’s first possession started with a McDowell-to-Drayton Wade pass for a first down, but stalled immediately after that. Bledsoe was impressive in its response, reeling off four first downs in five plays to get deep into the Indian red zone. Oneida stiffened its back inside the 10-yard-line, but Bledsoe County was able to convert a fourth down play, then score on a short run by Marcos Ramirez to build a 14-0 lead.
Oneida got into Bledsoe County territory on its next possession, but found itself behind the sticks after a third down penalty, and was forced to punt.
Bledsoe’s third and final possession of the first half led to another Warrior touchdown, as they covered 64 yards in nine plays, scoring on a two-yard run by Shrum with less than a minute remaining in the half.
Oneida nearly got into the end zone to end the first half, when McDowell and Gazay connected on the 51-yard pass play to the goal line. But Bledsoe’s defense came up with a big stop, as Shrum made the tackle at the two-yard-line to keep the Indians off the board.
That stop loomed even larger when Oneida started the second half by marching 80 yards in 12 plays to score on a 17-yard run by Hill.
But even if the first half had ended with a score, Bledsoe County’s offense was too dominant against an always-stout Oneida defense. The Warriors responded to the Indians’ score by swiftly marching 73 yards in six plays. On third down, Shrum broke free for a 38-yard touchdown run, making any comeback by Oneida seem impossible.
With the game growing late and the three-touchdown deficit on the board, Oneida was forced to attempt to convert a fourth-and-one play at its own 27-yard-line on the ensuing possession. Bledsoe County got a stop at the line of scrimmage, and quickly tacked on an insurance score for a 35-7 lead early in the fourth quarter.
Oneida took possession with 7:58 left on the clock and put together a 14-play, 80-yard drive that ended on a two-yard touchdown run by Gage Duncan with 11 seconds remaining.
The road won’t get any easier for Oneida in the short-term, as the Indians get set for a Friday night trip to CAK, one of the state’s top-ranked private schools. That will be Oneida’s final tune-up before beginning region play.
