Eagles Shutdown Red Bank Offense After Opening Touchdown Drive by Red Bank
Red Bank, TN -- Rhea County High School Eagles traveled to Red Bank for game number 2 of the season. After a close 49-42 loss on opening week at Soddy, the Eagles looked to clean up their offense and toughen up their defense in order to win on the road against a 1-0 Red Bank team that dispatched Tyner 24-8. Coach Harvey has expressed optimism that the team came in healthy and ready for redemption.
Red Bank received the opening kickoff and drove down the field for the opening touchdown on a 10 play 60 yard drive that culminated with a 4-yard pass from Logan McGinnis to Cayden Loveless with 4:25 left on the first quarter clock. Obviously, it looked like the Eagles were in for another battle on the road.
Eagles received kickoff and Odum brought the ball up to the 27 for a 22 yard kickoff return. KeShawn Smith made a nice sideline catch for the first down at the Eagle 43 yard line. Carr found Wilkerson on the right side for nice gain and a first down at the Red Bank 25 yardline of Red Bank after officials added another 15 yards for penalty. On fourth down Carr found Fugate for another first down for the Eagles, this one at the Red Bank 10 yard line. This drive extended past the first quarter break. Odum finished strong on a 7-yard run for the touchdown to culminate the 11-play drive, which saw Carr find three different receivers and saw Chauncey Odum do the bulk of the work on the ground with 5 carries in the drive.
Fugate's kick was to the 5 yard line and returned to the 22 by Red Bank. On the first play of their possession, Mcginnis found Chaise Tillman with a perfect pass as Tillman found a gap between 2 defenders to haul down the 33 yard pass play to move Red Bank to the Eagle 45 yard line. After a pass play for 7, it was Merritt with the nice run down to the 23 of Rhea County for the first down. The Eagles held strong and knocked away 2 pass attempts before the 4th day pass from McGinnis was way too long to turn the ball over to the Eagles at the 21 yardline.
Eagles looked to give the ball back to Red Bank as Fugatge went back to punt, but Eagles had something else in mind.and punter Fugate ran the ball, but came up short until penalty gave the Eagles new life. Eagles made the 4th down try and then Carr hit Mason Ford with the 55 yard pass as Ford leaked out of the backfield, caught the ball on the sidelines and motored 55 yards for the touchdown. Fugate added the kick for the 14-0 lead for 14-7 lead with 2:55 left in the 2nd quarter.
The Eagles kicked off and Red Bank moved the ball from their 35 yard line after the Eagles received a penalty for the out of bounds kickoff. The Eagles held the Lions at Red Bank 40 to force a punt that Wilkerson took on the bounce around the 10 and ran the ball to the 13. The Eagles gave the ball back to Red Bank at the Eagle 21 with about a minute left in half. Penalty pushed Red Bank back to 35 and they went for the big play, but it was KeShawn Smith with the intercept to end the half.
The Eagles began the 2nd half at their 23 after kickoff and return. The Eagles stayed mostly on the ground and it was Odum with a nice 16-yard run down to the 20 to put Eagles inside the redzone. A couple of Ford runs and then Carr found Fugate in the flats and he scored Eagle's third touchdown of the night with 5:48 left in the 3rd.
Red Bank began their next series at their own 17, thanks to Kaden Knox, who streaked down the field on kickoff coverage and buried the returner in a big hit. A three-and-out forced punt to Eagles 38 yard line. Ford and Odum had nice runs to get the Eagles down to Red Bank 33. Fugate then slipped behind the defenders and was all alone when Carr spotted him for the 4th touchdown of the night for Rhea County. Fugate then added the kick for the 28-7 lead.
On next possession Red Bank earned a couple of first downs before Zander Yeager put an end to the drive with an interception at 45 of Red Bank. pass. The Eagles punted back to Red Bank and they looked to be deep in Eagle territory after a long run, but the penalty flag took the run away. The interception came back to haunt McGinnis as the receiver got a hand on the ball and it was deflected to KeShawn Smith at the 15 yard line. Smith returned the interception to the 48 of the Eagles. The Eagles took the ball down for the last touchdown of the game with Carr scoring from 7 yards out with 4:42 left in the 4th quarter.
Lions received the ball and were forced to punt to Rhea and Eagles killed the clock as the final showed Rhea County 35 Red Bank 7. Rhea County held Red Bank to 143 yards after Red Bank's initial touchdown drive of 60 yards. The Eagles came up with 3 interceptions on the night. The Eagles had 15 first downs compared to 9 for Red Bank. The Eagles had 307 yards in total offense compared to 203 for Red Bank.
After the game, Coach Taylor Harvey said, "I am proud of this team. The worked hard this week and cut down on the penalties and turnovers that hurt us last week vs Soddy."
| Players of Note | Stats |
| Caleb Car | 11/15 3 TD passing, Rushing TD |
| Chauncey Odum | 18 Runs 104 yards 1 TD |
| Austin Fugate | 3 receptions 47 yards 2 TD, 5/5 PAT |
| Mason Ford | 11 Rushes 53 yards, 1 catch 55 yards 1 TD |
| KeShawn Smith | 3 catches 29 yards, 2 interceptions |
| Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Final |
| Rhea | 0 | 14 | 14 | 7 | 35 |
| Red Bank | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| # | Player | Att | Comp | Yds | TD | Int |
| 4 | Caleb Carr | 15 | 11 | 165 | 3 | 1 |
| # | Player | Catches | Yards | TD |
| 5 | Mason Ford | 1 | 55 | 1 |
| 2 | Aiden Wilkerson | 3 | 27 | |
| 12 | Quintel Massengill | 1 | 7 | |
| 1 | KeShawn Smith | 3 | 29 | |
| 11 | Austin Fugate | 3 | 47 | 2 |
| Team | 11 | 165 | 3 |
| Score Type | Qtr | Time | Score | Team | Ext Pts | Score |
| TD | 1 | 4:25 | McGinnis to Loveless 4y | RB | 1 | 0-7 |
| TD | 2 | 11:52 | Odum 7 yd run | Rhea | 1 | 7-7 |
| TD | 2 | 2:23 | Carr - Ford 55 yds | Rhea | 1 | 14-7 |
| TD | 3 | 5:48 | Carr-Fugate 4 yards | Rhea | 1 | 21-7 |
| TD | 3 | 47.2 | Carr-Fugate 33 yards | Rhea | 1 | 28-7 |
| TD | 4 | 4:42 | Carr run 7 yards | Rhea | 1 | 35-7 |
| Punts | 1 | 2 | Total | Avg |
| Rhea | 20 | 20 | 20 | |
| Red Bank | 50 | 35 | 85 | 42.5 |
| Rush | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | Tot | Tot |
| RC | 7 | 12 | 7 | 17 | 13 | 79 | 11 | 34 | 38 | 142 |
| RB | 7 | 25 | 5 | 27 | 4 | 12 | 7 | 34 | 23 | 98 |
| 1st Downs | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Rhea | 4 | 2 | 7 | 5 | 15 |
| RB | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 9 |
Turnovers = Rhea 1 interception Red Bank 13 interceptions
| Team | 3rd 1H | 3rd 2H | 4th 1H | 4th 2H | Total Yards |
| Rhea | 3/6 | 4/6 | 2/2 | 0/0 | 307 |
| Red Bank | 2/5 | 1/3 | 0/2 | 0/1 | 203 |
| Pen | 1 | Yds | 2 | yYds | 3 | Yds | 4 | Tot | Tot | Yds |
| Rhea | - | 0 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 15 | 2 | 20 | 5 | 40 |
| Red Bank | 1 | 15 | 1 | 15 | 2 | 19 | 1 | 15 | 5 | 64 |