Cloudland rolls past Jellico for conference title
Published 12:39 am Saturday, October 13, 2018
JELLICO—The Cloudland Highlanders are the Region 1-A Champions following a 54-12 rout of the Blue Devils at Jellico Friday night.
The win allows the ‘Landers to finish conference play with an untouched 3-0 record and a No. 1 seed spot heading into the playoffs in a couple weeks.
The Highlanders got started quick as senior Jordan Coffey ran in a touchdown at the 10:22 mark of the first quarter. Cloudland’s Conner Birchfield ran in the 2-point conversion to give Cloudland an 8-0 lead.
Jellico answered with a touchdown before Cloudland’s Malachi Benfield found teammate Triston Lacy on a 55-yard TD pass that was followed with Josh Blair running in the 2-point conversion. Cloudland regained the lead 16-6 with 9:21 left in the first.
Cloudland’s K.J. Arnold helped stop a Jellico drive as he landed a sack for an 11-yard loss.
Still, in the first quarter, Benfield connected for back-to-back TD passes of 20 and 28 yards to Lacy and Blair, respectively.
The final touchdown of the first would be set up by a 49-yard interception return by Lacy to the Jellico 11-yard line. Coffey followed up with a TD run to give Cloudland a 38-6 lead after Benfield hit Hunter Blair on a 2-point conversion pass.
In the second quarter, a 38-yard TD run from Coffey and a 5-yard TD pass from Benfield to Dillion Johnson gave the Highlanders a 54-6 lead heading into intermission.
Jellico had the only touchdown in the fourth quarter.
The Highlanders (7-1, 3-0) will host Johnson County next Friday.
