Ethan Davis passed the 5000 yard milestone in the Rhea vs Tyner game on 10/20/23(Photo:GaryBolden/RheaCountyMagazine)
Hurricanes Spoil Senior Night For Eagles: Eagles Finish Season at East Hamilton
10/20/23 -- Evensville, TN
Rhea County hosted Tyner on Senior night and Tyner jumped on top of Eagles 20-0 early in 2nd quarter before Eagles cut lead to 20-14 at the half and that was as close as Rhea County could get. Tyner added two more touchdowns to start the second half for 36-14 lead with 4:28 left in 3rd quarter. Each team added a couple of touchdowns to give a final score of 48-30. Eagles ran for 267 yards on 39 carries for a good 6.7 average per carry. Tyner had 3 plays of 40 yards plus on the night, that accounted for 175 yards of offense on 3 plays. On defense, it was another stellar night of defense for Senior Hunter Crowe with 15 tackles, 2 for a loss. Eagles had 6 tackles for a loss on the night. Ethan Davis had another 100 yard-plus night on the ground and passed the 5000-yard mark for his career. An impressive feat, considering he has missed games due to injury along the way. Hunter Crowe had 2 touchdowns and Ethan Davis and Ethan Mosley had a touchdown each, Austin Fugate added 2 kicks and Mason Ford tacked on a pair of two-point conversion runs.
Seven Seniors were recognized before the game as well as several band members, JROTC personnel and cheer squad members. Hunter Crowe, Ethan Davis, Emilio Hernandez, Dawson Mickel, Bencie Rasnake, Ethan Robinson and Maurice Shirley played their last home game for the Eagles. Rhea County travels to East Hamilton to finish the season with the #3 seed going to the winner of the game going into the post-season.
The Eagles crowd also cheered on John Boynton, the first coach for the Rhea County High School. John began coaching Eagles in 1974.
Tyner 48 Rhea 30
Rhea received the opening kickoff. Frist play there was a bad exchange and the Rams pounced on loose ball to setup Tyner at the Eagle 38-yard line. Rams used a combination of runs and passes to move into the end zone with senior quarterback Jamarie Ballard scoring from 1 yard out with 6:53 left in first quarter. Disaster struck for the Eagles on the next series. After Tyner defense forced a punt from the Eagle as a bad snap on the punt attempt by Fugate gifted the Rams the ball at the 1-yardline. Jaden Isabell scored on the 1-yard run before the Rams were unsuccessful on the 2-point conversion. Eagles went three-and-out next series and Rams began next drive at their own 44. The drive resulted in a couple of first downs before quarterback Jamarie Ballard faked a handoff and ran 40 yards for the third touchdown of the night for the Rams and Ballard found Nashawn Keel for 2-point conversion. Tyner had a 20-0 lead with 10:15 left in second quarter.
Eagles proceeded to stage a comeback with two touchdowns and two Fugate kicks to pull Eagles within 20-14 with 2:31 left before the halftime juncture. The Rams recovered the onside kick, but Dawson Mickel jumped on the fumble on first play after that to give Eagles ball at the at the 49. KeShawn Smith had the big hit, causing the fumble. On second play of drive, Hunter Crowe bolted up the middle for 46 yards to the end zone with 9:52 left in second quarter. Eagles forced Rams to punt on next drive and Aiden Wilkerson had nice punt return for touchdown that unfortunately was erased by penalty, but still Eagles began drive at Eagles 48-yard line. There was a lot of Ethan Davis in this drive with a couple of 10 yard runs mixed with a couple of 5 yard runs as Rhea moved the ball down 6to the 15. Hunter Crowe then put the Eagles on doorstep of goal with nice 12-yard burst. Caleb Carr finished the drive with a 2-yard run for touchdown. Extra point pulled Eagles within 20-14 with 2:31 left in the half.
Tyner had a short drive going when Ethan Mosley put a stop to the drive when he stepped in front of receiver at the 3-yard line for the interception. Eagles had a couple of first downs before time expired on the first half.
Tyner received the second half kickoff and nice kick by Fugate and good coverage gave Tyner their worst field position of the day at their 15-yard line. Things were looking positive for the Eagles. Rams then proceeded to put together 3 long plays to flip field and as a result of the 32-yard run, 30-yard pass and 25-yard pass, they were on the 3-yard line. Jaden Isbell scored from 2 yards out and Ballard found Keel for the 2-point conversion to give Rams a 28-14 lead with 9:27 left in the third quarter.
Eagles began next drive at their own 38. Ethan Davis had nice run across midfield. The drive bogged down and Rhea punted and Rams began drive at their own 25. Adrian McKinley had a 25-yard run to move the Rams across midfield. After a couple of short runs, Ballard found Holloway open in the middle of the field for a big gain down to the 20-yard line. Ballard found Sharkem Wells for the 8-yard touchdown pass. Ballard found Isbell for the 2-point conversion to push lead to 36-14 with 4:28 left in quarter. Eagles sandwiched a Caleb Carr 26-yard touchdown pass to Ethan Mosely around a couple of Tyner touchdowns for the final 48-30 score.
Eagles had 238 yards rushing vs 246 for Tyner. Tyner dominated the passing with 200 yards vs 66 yards for the Eagles. Penalty yards showed Eagles with 75 yards on 11 penalties and Tyner with 61 yards on 7 penalties. Each team had 13 first downs, which showed the game was much more even without the big plays by Tyner. Eagles won the turnover battle with 2 vs 1 for Rams. Eagles punted twice, for 35 and 39 yards and Rams punted once for 24 yards. Ethan Davis (116 yards on 17 carries) and Hunter Crowe(109 yards on 11 carries) bore the brunt of the rushing load for Rhea. Aiden Wilkerson was the leading receiver with 3 catches for 40 yards. On defense, Hunter Crowe led the team with 15 total tackles and "Mo" Shirley added 11 total tackles. Each had one tackle-for-loss. Ethan Mosley had an interception and Dawson Mickel had a fumble recovery for the Eagles.
Jamarie Ballard had 200 yards passing and 11 carries for 71 yards. Dominique Edwards had 3 catches for 105 yards and Roshawn Holloway had 9 carries for 96 yards as well as 3 catches for 37 yards to lead Tyner.
Eagle now travel to East Hamilton for a Thursday night game vs East Hamilton. For the Eagles, it will be a battle for the third seed in district. Win gives Eagles on paper a better opponent in playoffs, with loser getting the four seed. Game time is 7 pm.
East Hamilton is currently tied for 2nd place in Region 5A-District 4. McMinn leads distict with 4-0 record and East Hamilton is tied with Walker Valley with 3-1 district record. Rhea County is alone in 4th place at 2-2, while Ooltewah and Howard Tech are at bottom of district with 0-4 records. This weeks schedule also includes Ooltewah at Howard(Thursday) and Walker Valley at McMinn(Friday night)
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| Team | Time | Q | PLAY | PTS | XP | SCORE |
| Tyner | 6;53 | 1 | JAMARIE BALLARD 1 YD RUN | 6 | 2 PT FAIL | 6-0 |
| Tyner | 4;04 | 1 | JADEN ISBELL 1 YD RUN | 6 | 2 PT FAIL | 12-0 |
| Tyner | 10;15 | 2 | JAMARIE BALLARD 40 YD RUN 2 PT BALLARD TO KEEL | 6 | 2 PT GOOD | 20-0 |
| Rhea | 9;52 | 2 | HUNTER CROWE 46 YD RUN | 6 | FUGATE KICK | 20-7 |
| Rhea | 2;31 | 2 | CALEB CARR 2 YD RUN | 6 | FUGATE KICK | 20-14 |
| Tyner | 9;27 | 3 | JADEN ISBELL 2 YD RUN BALLARD TO KEEL FOR 2 | 6 | 2 PT GOOD | 28-14 |
| Tyner | 4;28 | 3 | JAMIE BALLARD 8 YD TO SHARKEN WELLS BALLARD TO ISBELL FOR 2 | 6 | 2 PT GOOD | 36-14 |
| Rhea | 6.2 | 3 | CALEB CARR 26 YD PASS TO ETHAN MOSLEY MASON FORDD 2 PT RUN | 6 | 2 PT GOOD | 36-22 |
| Tyner | 11;48 | 4 | ROBERT WILSON 50 YARD RUN | 6 | 2 PT FAILED | 42-22 |
| Tyner | 8;24 | 4 | JAMARIE BALLARD 85 YD TO EDWARDS | 6 | 2 PT FAILED | 48-22 |
| Rhea | 4;43 | 4 | HUNTER CROWE 19 YARD RUN MASON FORD 2 YARD RUN | 6 | 2 PT GOOD | 48-30 |
| # | Athlete Name | Solo | Asst | Tot Tckls | TFL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Hunter Crowe (Sr) | 9 | 6 | 15 | 2.0 |
| 2 | Aiden Wilkerson (So) | 2 | 2 | ||
| 4 | Caleb Carr (Jr) | 1 | 1 | ||
| 10 | Kaiden Rector (So) | 4 | 4 | ||
| 16 | Bryce Garrison (So) | 1 | 1 | ||
| 19 | Ace Robinson (Jr) | 1 | 1 | ||
| 21 | Keshawn Smith (Jr) | 3 | 3 | ||
| 35 | Dawson Mickel (Sr) | 4 | 4 | 8 | |
| 38 | Ethan Mosley (Jr) | 4 | 1 | 5 | |
| 41 | Blake Maynard (Jr) | 1 | 1 | ||
| 48 | Zander Yeager (Jr) | 4 | 4 | ||
| 50 | Maurice Shirley (Sr) | 7 | 4 | 11 | 1.0 |
| 52 | Ty Masters (Jr) | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1.0 |
| 71 | Bencie Rasnake (Sr) | 4 | 1 | 5 | 2.0 |
| 72 | Chase Wilkey (So) | 1 | 1 | ||
| Team Totals | 40 | 24 | 64 | 6.0 |
| # | Athlete Name | Car | Yds | Avg | 100+ | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Hunter Crowe (Sr) | 11 | 109 | 9.9 | 1 | 2 |
| 4 | Caleb Carr (Jr) | 3 | 2 | 0.7 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 | Mason Ford (So) | 8 | 36 | 4.5 | 0 | |
| 32 | Ethan Davis (Sr) | 17 | 116 | 6.8 | 1 | |
| Team Totals | 39 | 263 | 6.7 | 2 | 3 |
| # | Athlete Name | Rec | Yds | Avg | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Aiden Wilkerson (So) | 3 | 40 | 13.3 | |
| 38 | Ethan Mosley (Jr) | 1 | 26 | 26.0 | 1 |
| Team Totals | 4 | 66 | 16.5 | 1 |
| # | Athlete Name | Rush | Pass | Rec | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Hunter Crowe (Sr) | 109 | 109 | ||
| 2 | Aiden Wilkerson (So) | 40 | 40 | ||
| 4 | Caleb Carr (Jr) | 2 | 66 | 68 | |
| 5 | Mason Ford (So) | 36 | 36 | ||
| 32 | Ethan Davis (Sr) | 116 | 116 | ||
| 38 | Ethan Mosley (Jr) | 26 | 26 | ||
| Team Totals | 263 | 66 | 66 | 329 |
