It wasn’t the best football weather, but Cloudland’s Jordan Coffey didn’t care.
Coffey scored five touchdowns and ran for 273 yards to propel Cloudland to a 36-22 victory past Midway in Friday’s Class A first round contest at a drenched Orr Field.
Cloudland advances to host Coalfield next Friday in the second round. The Yellow Jackets dispatched Jellico 56-14 in their first round contest.
On Friday night, both teams dealt with a persistent rain and cold from the opening kickoff.
The ‘Landers acclimated first as Coffey put CHS on the board first with a 55-yard touchdown run. After Midway used a long run of their own, a short Coffey touchdown in the final minute of the first quarter gave Cloudland a 14-6 advantage going to the second.
In the second quarter, neither team was able to get anything going as a lengthy Cloudland drive stalled out inside Midway territory and the ‘Landers maintained the 14-6 lead at the half.
Coffey and company kept trucking in the second half.
Behind an offensive line that was controlling the battle in the trenches, Coffey added another touchdown to push the CHS lead to 22-6 with 6:56 left in the third quarter.
Midway, however, wasn’t going down without a fight.
The Green Wave struck on a 54-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jason Taylor, and then tied the game up with another Taylor touchdown pass to Hunter Mims that covered 82 yards. That tied the game at 22-22 going to the final stanza.
Cloudland kept fighting in the fourth quarter. After another solid drive, the ‘Landers saw Coffey scored on a punishing run that pushed the lead to eight points. The CHS defense came out strong on the ensuing drive limiting Midway to midfield and forcing them to turn the ball over on downs.
Cloudland used the run game to milk nearly five minutes off the clock, and a six-yard touchdown by Coffey gave CHS a 36-22 lead with just under two minutes to play.
Midway moved the ball on the next drive, but a fourth down pass was incomplete as Cloudland thwarted any thoughts of a rally.
Coffey finished the game with 39 carries and 273 yards. Josh Blair added 67 yards on 12 attempts.
Taylor finished the game 12-of-26 for 241 yards passing to lead Midway.
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