OAKWOOD — After a 60-minute lightning delay, Cherokee Bluff continued its rout of Johnson, 57-7, at Billy Ellis Memorial Stadium on the opening night of the high school football season.
Mother Nature decided to alter the game with 9:57 left in the second quarter, leaving the stadium wondering how many more strikes would add 30 more minutes.
Thankfully, only a couple of flashes led to the 60-minute delay. Once the game resumed, so did Bluff's offense.
They scored early and often with Marlion Jackson accounting for two, Jayquan Smith had three touchdowns, and Max Eubanks had two touchdowns, one on the ground and the other off of a punt return.
But it wasn't all good for Bluff, they coughed up the ball once and tossed one interception. As for the Knights, they committed three fumbles and muffed two punts.
The young Johnson offense struggled against the veteran Bears' defense. just wasn't able to get anything going with the suffocating Purple Bear defense all over them.
Bluff coach Tommy Jones was pleased with his defense.
"Defensively, I thought we played very well," he said. "We had a real big emphasis all week long on tackling and just preparing for both the spread and wing-T look, and I thought our boys adjusted and did a good job with that."
In the second half, Bluff sophomore Jaylon Carroll added another touchdown, and Michael Arbour kicked a 35-yard field goal. Ramon Aguilar was able to end the shutout for Johnson as he scampered for a 61-yard touchdown.
Overall, Cherokee Bluff rushed for more than 200 yards as a team, while the defense held Johnson to less than 50 total yards.
