The Cleveland Rams will look to defend their home field on Thursday against the New Bern Bears at 7:00 p.m. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
It can be hard to translate regular season success to the playoffs, but Cleveland had no problem doing just that on Friday. They simply couldn't be stopped as they easily beat Leesville Road 49-21 at home. Cleveland's win was nothing new given the team hasn't lost yet this season.
Jackson Byrd was his usual excellent self, throwing for 268 yards and four touchdowns, while also rushing for 90 yards and two touchdowns on only seven carries. Byrd's longest rush was for an incredible 70 yards. The team also got some help courtesy of Tyson Stokes, who rushed for 102 yards and a touchdown on only ten carries.
The team's defense also helped out by holding Leesville Road to a paltry 228 yards. A big part of that defensive dominance came down to Cleveland's ability to keep the quarterback under pressure: the team laid the passer out six times before it was all said and done. Leesville Road's QB won't forget Gage Tremaine anytime soon given Tremaine sacked him twice.
Meanwhile, New Bern came tearing into Friday's match with six straight wins (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 29.4 points) and they left with even more momentum. They put the hurt on New Hanover with a sharp 36-15 victory. New Bern pushed the score to 29-7 by the end of the third, a deficit New Hanover cut but never quite recovered from.
Cleveland has yet to lose a game at home this season, leaving them with a 12-0 record. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 49.4 points per game. As for New Bern, their win bumped their record up to 6-6.
