HARRISON, TN - The Cleveland Blue Raiders hit the road for the third straight week on Friday night and took care of business with a 48-7 pounding of the Chattanooga Central Purple Pounders at Etter Farmer Field.
   
     Although the final score was lopsided, it did not start that way as the home team threatened to make a game of it in the first half. After a couple of punts, Cleveland finally put the first points on the board with a 32 yd touchdown pass from Tucker Tipton to Jamial King for a 7-0 lead with one minute to play in the first quarter. The Raiders doubled their lead on the first play of the second frame on a 10-yard TD dash by Monte Scotton for a 14-0 advantage.

     Central then mounted a very impressive drive that took up a huge chunk of the second quarter. Quarterback Patrick Moore found Robert Vipond on three separate third down plays for big pass plays as the Pounders marched over 80 yards down to the Cleveland six yard line. The Raider defense stiffened though and was equal to the task on a fourth down try to deny Central and turn the ball over on downs,

     On the next play, Isaiah Nichols waded into the line, but a big hit from the Pounders knocked the ball backward into the end zone where Clinton Bailey fell on it for a touchdown and just like that with 2:36 to go in the first half, Cleveland led by only 7 points, 14-7.

     But then, the game took a bizarre turn as the wheels, not just one wheel all four of them, came off the Pounder's Purple wagon. The Cleveland offense suddenly came to life and needed only about a minute and a half to score as Tipton found Terrell Parks for a 31 yard catch and run to move the score to 21-7.

     On the ensuing kickoff a fumble resulted in a scoop and 25 yard TD return by Mitchell Chance to push the score to 28-7. A secon straight fumbled kickoff put the Raiders in business one more time as Tipton found King again in the open field as Jamial took it to the house for a 25 yard TD catch and run and amazingly the lead had gome from 14-7 with just over 2 minutes to go, to 35-7 by the halftime buzzer.

     The second half was just a formality as the game had been decided at the end of the first half as Cleveland rained on Central's homecoming game. Scotton and Parks tacked on a touchdown each to account for the final count of 48-7 as the Blue Raiders got back into the win column after suffering their first setback last week at Cookeville.

     Cleveland (5-1, 3-0) remains unbeaten in Region play and will host Red Bank (4-2, 3-0) next week in a first place showdown.

     By BRYAN GRISHAM
     VSB Sports Writer