Undaunted by an early Shelby County score, the visiting War-riors (6-5), who entered the first round of the 4A playoffs as the region’s number-four team and a decided underdog, roared back for a 31-14 victory and the opportunity to come home for a second-round playoff game against Boaz.
The Warriors’ most recent postseason win was a 31-26 victory over Alexandria in 1991.
The Region 5 champion Wild-cats (8-3) came out fired up with an 11-play, 60-yard opening drive to take the early lead on Derek Harris’s five-yard run.
The Warrior defense, however, buckled down and kept Shelby County at bay for most of the remaining time, allowing the Wildcats only 146 yards total offense.
Cherokee County didn’t get its offense in gear until after intermission. The Warriors had yet to put any points on the board by halftime, but they made up for lost time with 31 second-half points.
The CCHS defense was keeping them in the game as Shelby County was kept off the scoreboard for the remainder of the first half.
The Warriors borrowed a page from Shelby County’s game-opening scenario to start the second half.
Cherokee County needed six plays to cover the 61 yards after the second-half kickoff, with Jeffery Wood completing the drive with a seven-yard run and Tom Braun’s extra point kick tying the game at 7-7.
Cherokee County took advantage of a Wildcat backward punt that gave the Warriors the ball 20 yards closer to the goal line. Cherokee County set up on the Shelby County 22, and a 20-yard third-down pass from Skylar Ray to Maurice Dupree gave the Warriors a 13-7 lead with 4:31 remaining in the third quarter after the extra-point attempt was blocked.
Two minutes later, Dupree added a 79-yard punt return for his second score. Ray’s two-point conversion made it 21-7.
Ray kept from the one for the final touchdown, completing a 49-yard Warrior drive. Braun added a 30-yard field goal 53 seconds to play.
Ray connected on 11 of 20 passes for 188 yards, threading the needle on eight straight aerials in the crucial fourth quarter after coming up empty on his first six passes of the game.
Jason St. Clair was Ray’s favorite target with six receptions for 102 yards.
Dupree snagged three passes for 70 yards
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