Sophomore Eagle running back Mason Ford ran for 207 yards and scored 2 touchdowns against East Hamilton in the Eagles 29-28 win.
Rhea County Wins Comeback Win over East Hamilton to Earn # 3 Seed for Playoffs
10/27/23 Chattanooga, TN
Rhea County traveled to East Hamilton for important end-of-season game against East Hamilton. The winner would earn the # 3 seed and the loser with settle for the # 4 seed for playoff play, beginning on Friday, November 3, 2023. A win would also pull Eagles even for the year with 5-5 record. Eagles pulled off the 29-28 win. Game was tied 3 times and Eagles came back in 4th for the win. With the win, the 5-5 Eagles earned trip to Lenoir City for a 7 pm kickoff against the 6-4 Lenoir City Panthers on Friday, The Panthers have six wins, all over teams with losing record. There are no common opponents played this year. November 3, 2023. With the loss, the 6-4 East Hamilton team received a trip to Oak Ridge to play the 8-2 Oak Ridge team on November 3, 2023 with 7 pm kickoff.
Rhea 29 East Hamilton 28
Opening kickoff went into end zone and Eagles began series at the 20. Hunter Crowe gave Eagles great start with 20-yard run. Later in the drive senior Ethan Davis ran for 25 yards to move Eagles to the 27-yard line. Junior Mason Ford completed the drive with a 15-yard touchdown run and Fugate Kick put the Eagles up 7-0 with 7:59 left in first quarter. Eagles forced a turnover-on-downs at their own 38 on Canes' initial drive.
Aiden Wilkerson had a nice 17-yard run on a reverse in the next drive by the Eagles, but drive ended at the 44 of East Hamilton an Eagle fumble. Canes only needed 4 plays to score, with a couple of big passes, the last a 25-yard touchdown pass to Vanzale Hinton. Hixson had a successful kick to tie game 7-7 with 11:50 left in second quarter.
Eagles stayed on the ground on the next drive, that began at their 20 after kick went into end zone. On the fifth play of the drive, Mason Ford found a nice outside lane, made nice cutback move and motored into the end zone for the 45-yard touchdown. Fugate kick moved Eagles to 14-7 lead with 6:39 left in 2nd quarter.
East Hamilton took short kick and returned to their own 38-yard line. Canes embarked on a 13-play drive with a couple of passes and most runs to move down to the Eagle 1 yard line. Michael Hinton took direct snap for 1 yard run for touchdown with 28.6 seconds left until half. Hixson made the kick and score went to 14-14. Eagles received the kickoff and ran a couple of plays and halftime arrived.
Eagles kicked to Canes to open the second half. East Hamilton stayed on the ground with 9 of the 10 plays being runs as they powered the ball down the field and Vanzale Hinton found a weak spot on the left side for the 5-yard touchdown. Hixson kick gave East Hamilton its first lead of the night, 20-14.
Aiden Wilkerson took the kickoff and returned the ball to the 21-yard line for the Eagles. All 3 running backs, took turns moving the ball down the field, with Ethan Davis breaking a nice 19-yard run to move the ball to the Cane's 34-yard line. Hunter Crowe added a nice 18 yard burst up the middle to setup Eagles at the 15-yard line. Caleb Carr was close to being stopped, but quickly extended the ball to break the plane of the end zone for the touchdown. Fugate made the kick and with 36.9 left in 3rd quarter for the 21-21 tie.
Canes began next drive at their own 20-yard line. A couple of plays later, East Hamilton was at the 43 and Jayden Haywood went up middle, moved to the sidelines and streaked down the sidelines to give Canes the lead at 28-21 after Hixson kick.
Eagles began drive at their 20 after kickoff found the end zone. On second play of the drive Mason Ford found nice lane down the sidelines and defender found a grip on shoulder pads to slow down Ford and a flag was dropped and then picked up after clarification of the "horse collar" rule, but Eagles still had the ball at the Cane's 4-yard line. One play later, Eagles put the ball on the ground and Canes had survived for the moment, but were sitting on their own 3-yard line. After moving the ball out to the five, the snap bounced off the quarterback's hands into the end zone and quarterback was able to recover the ball in the end zone, preventing the touchdown, but surrendering the safety to move Eagles within 28-23.
East Hamilton kicked off from their 20 and Eagles brought ball out the 48-yard line. It was a long drive, lasting almost 7 minutes and consisted of all runs except one screen pass. It was Ethan Davis, who followed a set of blockers who cleared a path, but Davis did find one defender in the way, and he bounced off the defender and walked into the end zone for the go-a-head touchdown. Eagles went for two in order to take a 3-point lead but were unsuccessful and with 1:08, East Hamilton would be short on time for the go-a-head touchdown or field goal.
Canes began their possession at their 28-yard line. After a couple of completed passes put the Canes at the 47-yard line, Canes had a receiver behind the defense, but ball sailed long. On the next play, "Mo" Shirley pressured quarterback Crawford out of the pocket and his ball went over the intended receiver and Aiden Wilkerson went high for the interception to seal the win 29-28.
Most exciting game of the year as lead switched several times. Low penalty game with Eagles getting 1 penalty for 10 yards and Canes being flagged 2 times for 10 yards. Eagles dominated on ground with 52 carries for 394 yards. Mason Ford led the way with 20 carries for 207 yards. East Hamilton had passing advantage 135-6, as Eagles only threw 2 passes. Rhea led the first down battle 17-13. Total yards go to Eagles 400 to 314. Eagles had 3 fumbles, losing 2. Canes had fumble, not lost and the game ending interception. Neither team punted. On defense, Dawson Mickel and Ethan Mosley led Eagles with 10 and 9 respectively. Aiden Wilkerson had the interception for the Eagles.
| Team | Time | Q | PLAY | PTS | XP | SCORE |
| Eagles | 7:59 | 1 | Mason Ford 15-yard run | 6 | Fugate kick | 7-0 |
| Canes | 11:50 | 2 | Crawford to Hinton 25 yard pass | 6 | Hixson Kick | 7-7 |
| Eagles | 6:39 | 2 | Mason Ford 45-yard run | 6 | Fugate kick | 14-7 |
| Canes | 00.28 | 2 | Michael Hinton 1-yard run | 6 | Hixson kick | 14-14 |
| Canes | 7:35 | 3 | Vanzale Hinton 5-yard run | 6 | Hixson kick | 14-21 |
| Eagles | 00:36 | 3 | Caleb Carr 1-yard run | 6 | Fugate kick | 21-21 |
| Canes | 11:20 | 4 | Jayden Haywood 57-yard run | 6 | Hixson kick | 21-28 |
| Eagles | 7:56 | 4 | Safety downed by Trey Crawford | 2 | 23-28 | |
| Eagles | 1:08 | 4 | Ethan Davis 6-yard run | 6 | 2-pt failed | 29-28 |
| # | Rushing - Player | Att | Yards | TD | ||
| 0 | Hunter Crowe | 13 | 69 | |||
| 2 | Aiden Wilkerson | 117 | 17 | |||
| 4 | Caleb Carr | 3 | 8 | 1 | ||
| 5 | Mason Ford | 20 | 207 | 2 | ||
| 32 | Ethan Davis | 14 | 94 | 1 | ||
| Passing - | ||||||
| 4 | Caleb Carr | 1/2 | 6 | |||
| Receiving | ||||||
| 2 | Aiden Wilkerson | 1 | 6 | |||
| Time of Possession | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ||
| Rhea | 28:251 | 6:33 | 5:39 | 6:58 | 9:41 | |
| East Ham | 19:09 | 5:27 | 6:21 | 5:02 | 2:19 | |
| Rushing | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ||
| Eagles | 52.394 | 12/107 | 11/91 | 12/78 | 17/118 | |
| Canes | 32/179 | 8/28 | 10/45 | 11/52 | 3/54 | |
| First Downs | ||||||
| Eagles | 17 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 | |
| Canes | 13 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 2 | |
| Turnovers | ||||||
| Eagles | 3 Fumbles/2 Lost | |||||
| Canes | 1 Fumble/1 Intercept | |||||
| No Punts by Either Team | ||||||
| Penalties | ||||||
| Eagles | 1 for 10 yards | |||||
| Canes | 2 for 10 yards | |||||
| Passing | ||||||
| Eagles | 1/2 6 yards | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
| Canes | 12/20 135 yards | 2/6 -37 | 5/5-47 | 2/2-21 | 3/7-30 | |
| # | Athlete Name | Solo | Asst | Tot Tckls | TFL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Hunter Crowe(Sr) | 5 | 2 | 7 | |
| 2 | Aiden Wilkerson (So) | 1 | 1 | ||
| 5 | Mason Ford (So) | 1 | 1 | ||
| 19 | Ace Robinson (Jr) | 3 | 3 | ||
| 21 | Keshawn Smith (Jr) | 1 | 1 | ||
| 32 | Ethan Davis (Sr) | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| 35 | Dawson Mickel (Sr) | 8 | 2 | 10 | 1.0 |
| 38 | Ethan Mosley (Jr) | 3 | 6 | 9 | |
| 41 | Blake Maynard (Jr) | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1.0 |
| 48 | Zander Yeager (Jr) | 3 | 2 | 5 | |
| 50 | Maurice Shirley (Sr) | 2 | 4 | 6 | |
| 71 | Bencie Rasnake (Sr) | 1 | 3 | 4 | |
| 72 | Chase Wilkey (So) | 2 | 2 |
| Date | Day | Opponent | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug. 18, 2023 | Fri | Soddy Daisy High School | W 34-0 |
| Aug. 25, 2023 | Fri | Red Bank High School | W 28-21 |
| Sep. 1, 2023 | Fri | at Knoxville Central High School | L 7-14 |
| Sep. 8, 2023 | Fri | The Howard School * | W 35-0 |
| Sep. 15, 2023 | Fri | Cleveland High School | L 14-48 |
| Sep. 22, 2023 | Fri | at Walker Valley High School * | L 12-42 |
| Sep. 29, 2023 | Fri | McMinn Co. High School * | L 7-35 |
| Oct. 6, 2023 | Fri | at Ooltewah High School * | W 21-7 |
| Oct. 20, 2023 | Fri | Tyner Academy | L 30-48 |
| Oct. 26, 2023 | Thu | at East Hamilton High School * | W 29-28 |