It was a tale of two halves in Roan Mountain Friday night.
The ‘Landers reeled off 20 second-half points to take a 20-7 victory over West Greene in nonconference action at Orr Field.
With the win, Cloudland improves to 5-1 on the year.
On the opening drive, the Buffs converted a fake punt and then had a 53-yard touchdown pass to take a 7-0 lead with 8:37 left in the first.
Cloudland was stopped on fourth down in the closing seconds of the opening quarter, and the teams traded possessions in the opening minutes of the second quarter.
CHS got into the striking distance in the closing seconds of the half but was unable to break into the endzone as they trailed 7-0.
The ‘Landers took control in the second half.
Seth Birchfield scored on a 17-yard run and the ‘Landers tacked on the two-point conversion as CHS took an 8-7 lead just over two minutes into the half.
After the ‘Lander defense forced a punt, Birchfield raced 79 yards for a touchdown as Cloudland took a 14-7 lead into the final quarter.
The teams traded possessions and Cloudland added a 19-yard score from Birchfield in the closing minutes to secure the win.
Birchfield finished with 34 carries for 321 yards. Shell was 4-of-8 passing for 96 yards, while Caleb Sluder had 82 yards on eight carries.
As a team, Cloudland had 493 yards of total offense.
The ‘Landers are set to return to action next Friday with a trip to Unicoi County to take on the undefeated Blue Devils.
