BOBBY JOE JOHNSON FIELD — No one expected this.

Tiny Cedar Bluff stood toe-to-toe with Class 4A Cherokee County High School Thursday night and didn't blink.

In fact, they almost won the game.

Ultimately, however, the Warriors came out on top, 28-23, in the season opener for both teams.

How is it possible that a gridiron David can stand up to a Goliath two years in a row? (Much of the 2010 game was also close.)

The answer may be “the spread,” a very popular offensive set with multiple receivers. Most teams in the area, including Cedar Bluff and Cherokee County, run variations of it.

Cherokee County coach Tripp Curry said the formation has definitely changed the game.

“Used to, it was just big-boy football,” Curry told The Post. “You just lined up your 300-pounders and blew them away. In this day and time with the spread, everybody starts going with the quicker guy. The quicker guy is really hard to block if you do the right thing with him.”

Cedar Bluff's smaller, quicker guys must have been doing the right thing Thursday night.

Three plays into the game, running back Robert Henderson snuck into the end zone from a yard out. With junior Curtis Abernathy's PAT, Cedar Bluff led 7-0.

With 3:21 left in the first quarter senior Patrick Lowe put the Warriors on the board, blocking Abernathy's end zone punt for a safety.

Despite three Warrior drives into Tiger territory and two Cedar Bluff pushes past midfield, neither team could muster another first half score. The Tigers took a 7-2 lead into halftime.

The defensive struggle quickly turned into an offensive explosion. In the third quarter alone, the two teams combined for five touchdowns and a field goal.

Abernathy's 25-yard field goal with 10 minutes to go in the third stretched Cedar Bluff's lead to 10-2.

Three plays later Cherokee County returned the favor as junior D.J. McAllister scampered 41 yards around left end for the score. Cedar Bluff clung to a slim 10-8 lead.

After forcing a Tiger punt, Ty Green's 55-yard run off right end and sophomore Eric Burgess's PAT put the Warriors up 15-10.

Green finished the game with 166 yards on 11 carries.

After another failed Tiger possession the Warriors were poised to score their third touchdown in less than seven minutes.

That was when Cedar Bluff junior D'Angelo Hardy anticipated and intercepted a Warrior screen pass. Eighty-seven yards later, the Tigers led 17-15.

The Warriors climbed back on top in just one play. With 2:11 remaining in the third quarter Green again sprinted around right end for a touchdown. His 63-yard scamper put the Warriors ahead 22-17.

The Tigers bounced back with a four-play, 58-yard drive capped by a 36-yard Rihied Harris reception in the right corner of the end zone. The Tigers took a 23-22 lead into the fourth.

Then both defenses stiffened and every yard became more precious.

Junior Tanner Young's 47-yard, fourth-down pass to Lucas Whitmire sparked the game's only fourth quarter score. It may have been the play of the game, and a coach didn't even call it.

“We tell Tanner that if there's a receiver that's uncovered in punt formation, then we can throw it to him,” Curry said. “They kind of did that themselves.”

The go-ahead score came six plays later at the hands of sophomore receiver Jonathan Walker. His 13-yard reception put the Warriors up for good.

After failed alternating possessions, the Tigers put together a last-minute drive for what would have been a game-winning touchdown. But the Tigers' dream died with 28 seconds remaining when Warrior sophomore Wade Griffith intercepted a Levi Mintz pass.

Mintz, a junior beginning his second season as the starting quarterback for Cedar Bluff, passed for 239 yards.

Cherokee County plays at Fairview next Friday, while Cedar Bluff entertains Woodville.