Aiden Wilkerson in action, returning the kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown against Cleveland on 9/15/22.(Photo:BillynthiaHill/RheaCountyMagazine)
After Cleveland Loss, Eagles Need Improvement vs Mustangs
9/22/23 Cleveland, TN
Rhea County High School football travels to Cleveland for 5A Region 4 game with Walker Valley Mustangs. Rhea comes into the game tied with Walker Valley with 1-0 Region 4 records as does McMinn County, an Eagle opponent later this season. Eagles are looking to take control of their post season with a win over Walker Valley. Eagles' overall record is 3-2, while Walker Valley's overall record is 4-1.
One of those wins was a 20-14 win over the Cleveland team(first win over Blue Raiders since 2016) that handed Eagles a 48-14 drubbing last week. Interestingly Cleveland trailed 14-7 at the half after putting up 200 yards in offense, but also accumulating 100 yards in penalty yardage. Cleveland played better in second half, and cut Mustang's lead to 17-14 late. Mustangs recovered onside kick added a field goal with second remaining and Walker Valley made interception to essentially end the game.
Walker has put up some good offensive numbers when going against Notre Dame, Polk County and Ooltewah with 45-8, 47-0 and 35-0 wins against the trio, but they were soundly beaten by the 4-0 and Top Ranked 6A Bradley Central team 35-0.
Cleveland 48 Rhea 14
Rhea County hosted Cleveland on 9/15/23. Eagles received ball and went 3 and out. Cleveland began play on the Egle 42-yardline and Cleveland quarterback Adams found Szymborski for 42-yard touchdown pass with 10:06 on the clock.. Bolanos missed the kick for Cleveland.
Eagles received the kick and Mosley returned ball to 28-yardline. Eagles picked up a couple of first downs before punting to Cleveland. Cleveland began their next series inside their own 30. A nice run by Beard, put the ball on the Eagle 40 and Adams found Carroll for a 40-year pass on the sidelines. Eagles missed a tackle and he raced down sideline for 2nd Cleveland touchdown. Stephens found Szymborski for the two-point conversion to push the Raider lead to 14-0 with 2:41 left in first quarter.
Cleveland tried a surprise onside-kick but Eagle recovered in good field position, just past midfield. Fugate had nice punt to pin Cleveland inside their own 10. Eagle defense forced a 3-and-out and setup at the 33 after the punt. Carr found Mosley for the 33-yard touchdown reception. Fugate added the successful kick and Eagles only trailed 14-7 with 28 seconds left in first quarter.
On the kickoff, Isaiah Davis almost went the distance on the return and the Eagle kicker Fugate made the saving tackle around the Eagle 45. Adams found Jordan for the Raider touchdown from 13 yards out. Bolanos muffed on the kick and score stood at 20-7 with 10;14 left in the half. After the kickoff gave the Eagles the ball at the 20, they fumbled on first play from scrimmage and Szymborski picked up the loose ball at the 11-yardline and found the endzone for the touchdown. Bolanos made the kick and Cleveland had a 27-7 lead with 10:08 left in first half.
Later in the half the teams traded interceptions with a Cleveland interception at the Eagle 33. On very next play a pass into the endzone was intercepted by Aiden Wilkerson to give the Eagles the ball at the 33-yard line with 6:33 left until halftime. Eagles put a nice drive together and moved ball down the field. Mason Ford's 9-yard run gave Eagles a first down at the 27 with 1:47 left in the half. Carr hit Potts inside the 10 for first-an-goal. Cleveland defense held forcing a turnover-on-downs at the 11 with 17 seconds left in the half. Half ends with Cleveland leading 27-7.
Eagles kicked off to begin second half. Cleveland took less than 2 minutes to march down the field for the first score of second half on a Jordan 6-yard run. balanos kick made the score 34-7 with 10:24 left in 3rd quarter. Eagles next drive ended in a punt and Cleveland moved the ball down for a touchdown with 5:33 let in the 3rd-quarter as Adams threw his 4th touchdown pass of the night to Szymborski for 11 yards and with Bolanos kick the score went to 41 to 7.
Eagles picked up their only touchdown of the second half when Aiden Wilkerson took the kickoff in the middle of the field on the goalline and moved to the sidelines, avoiding an attempted tackle and raced down the sideline for a 99-yard touchdown and with the Fugate kick, Eagles trailed 41-14.
With 1:44 left in the 3rd-quarter, Cleveland used a pick-6 interception to score the last points of the night. Kick made the final margin 48-14.
Hunter Crowe led the defense against Cleveland with 11 total tackles. More stats below, compliments of Rhea County Football Staff.
Coach Mark Pemberton said, "You cannot give up big plays and turnovers to a good team and expect to win."
At the after the game huddle, he told the team, "They out-physicalled us and that's on me."
| Score | Team | Player(s) | Q | Time | Points | Xp |
| TD | Cleveland | Adams 42y pass Szymborski | 1 | 10:06 | 6 | Bolanos Miss |
| TD | Cleveland | Adams 40y pass Carroll | 1 | 2:41 | 6 | Stephens to Szymborski 2 |
| TD | Rhea | Carr 33y pass Mosley | 1 | 28.2 | 6 | Fugate kick |
| TD | Cleveland | Adams 13y pass Jordan | 2 | 10:14 | 6 | Bolanos Miss |
| TD | Cleveland | Szymborski 11 yard fumble ret | 2 | 10:08 | 6 | Bolanos kick |
| TD | Cleveland | Jordan 6y run | 3 | 10:24 | 6 | Bolanoa kick |
| TD | Cleveland | Adams 11y pass Szymborski | 3 | 5:33 | 6 | Bolanos kick |
| TD | Rhea | Wilkerson 99y KO Return | 3 | 5:09 | 6 | Fugate kick |
| TD | Cleveland | Jordan 14y interception return | 3 | 1:44 | 6 | Bolanos kick |
| # | Player | Att/Carr | Yards |
| 5 | Mason Ford | 21 | 76 |
| 4 | Caleb Carr | 5 | 4 |
| 0 | Hunter Crowe | 5 | 18 |
| 1 | Cam Potts | 6 | 11 |
| 22 | Ezekiel Romero | 3 | 2 |
| 27 | Kamron Sharp | 1 | 3 |
| 41 | 114 | ||
| 4 | Carr | 3/14/ 1 TD 2 Int. | |
| 0 | Crowe | 1/11 | |
| 38 | Ethan Mosley | 1/33 | |
| 1 | Potts | 1/12 |
| Rushing Att | yards | yards | |
| Rhea | 41 | 114 | |
| Cleveland | 27 | 156 | 156 |
| Pass Att. | Comp | ||
| Rhea | 14 | 3 | 56 |
| Cleveland | 15 | 12 | 208 |
| Penalties | Turnovers | Punts | |
| Rhea | 3/25 | 2 int/1 fum | 6/190/31.7 |
| Cleveland | 11/90 | 1 int | 3/103/34/3 |
| 1st Downs | 3rd Downs | 4th Down | |
| Rhea | 9 | 3/13 | 3/4 |
| Cleveland | 9 | 2/7 | 0/1 |
| Total yards | |||
| Rhea | 170 | ||
| Cleveland | 364 |
| # | Cl | Player | Solo | Assist | total | TFL/SACKS/Interceptions |
| 0 | 12 | Hunter Crowe | 7 | 4 | 11 | 3 TFL |
| 2 | 10 | Aiden Wilkerson | 1 | 1 | 1 Interception | |
| 10 | 10 | Kaiden Rector | 2 | 2 | ||
| 11 | 9 | Austin Fugate | 1 | 1 | ||
| 19 | 11 | Ace Robinson | 3 | 1 | 4 | |
| 21 | 11 | Keshawn Smith | 5 | 5 | ||
| 27 | 11 | Kamron Sharp | 1 | 1 | ||
| 31 | 9 | Eli Kelly | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| 38 | 11 | Ethan Mosley | 1 | 1 | ||
| 45 | 10 | Eli Evans | 4 | 4 | ||
| 48 | 44 | Zander yeager | 1 | 1 | ||
| 50 | 12 | Maurice Shirley | 2 | 2 | 4 | |
| 52 | 11 | Ty Masters | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 TFL |
| 55 | 10 | Max Daughtrey | 1 | 1 | ||
| 62 | 11 | Andrew King | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| 72 | 10 | Chase Wilkey | 1 | 1 |