The 2024 Boys Soccer Team.(Photo:GaryBolden)
Eagles Ready For a Successful 2024; Begins with 2-1 Exciting Win Over Silverdale
Evensville, TN - 3/7/24 -- The future is looking bright for RCHS Eagles, despite graduating 11 seniors last season. Pre-season scrimmages started at home on Tuesday, February 27th, vs. Cookeville, a well-known, bitter rivalry that has been battled over the years, with the last big battle happening in 2021 when the Eagles knocked the Cavaliers out of the district playoff to advance to the District Championship game, resulting in the first ever Eagles District Championship hardware being brought home! Eagles senior Sean Norman scored back in 2021 of his freshman year and again in 2024, he added the 1 lone goal that was counted for Rhea County. The Eagles came out and were first to score in the chippy game, but the Cavaliers answered before halftime to tie the game 1-1. Going into the second half, the Eagles fought relentlessly and believed the score to be wrong, with 2 other goals by Sean Norman being recalled by questionable referee calls. Emotions and physicality ran high the entire game, with one Cookeville player being given a yellow card and benched for the remainder of the game after he slammed his foot down into an Eagle player who was laying on the ground. The score remained tied as both teams battled aggressively for the win; in the last moments of the game, a PK was awarded to the opposing team in the penalty area, which the Cavaliers managed to bury despite a heroic diving save by goalkeeper Wes Robinson. The game was hard fought on both ends, but ended up with the Eagles loss of 2-1. Our defensive line is held down by Wes Robinson in goal with Malik Cooper, Levi Toliver, and Adrian Moreno helping support the back end. The midfield consists of strong players to help offensively and defensively between Elijah Anderson, Cooper Brackett, Christian Bautista, Garrett Sullivan, Trey Eldridge, Andrew Morgan, and Koelar Smith. The attacking strikers consist of returning seniors Sean Norman and Levi Walton with help from Luke Parker and newcomer, Steven Henriquez. The JV squad also played vs. Cookevill but ended in a loss of 6-0.
The second scrimmage of the week was on Thursday, February 29th, vs. Cumberland County. The game was well fought, with both teams being scoreless at halftime. In the second half, Levi Walton managed to win a ball batted around off an Eagle corner kick and buried it beautifully in the far right corner of the net. Wes Robinson gave a stellar performance in net, with several saves that the opposing Jets thought for sure were going into the back of the net, including in the last second of the game, with a diving bump to keep it out of the net. Eagles came away with the victory of 1-0.
The annual intersquad scrimmage of Black vs. Green on Saturday, March 2nd, let the boys play in a relaxed environment with bragging rights on the line. Koelar Smith scored in the first half for the Black team, with the Green team responding in the second half with a goal by Christian Bautisto, resulting in a 1-1 tie at the end of regulation. PK’s were given with a 3-3 draw, so sudden death PK’s were awarded with the Green team coming away as victors with a final score of 5-4.
The regular season opener was Thursday, March 7th, vs. Silverdale with the JV game at 5:30pm and Varsity following at 7pm underneath the lights at the Bill Horton Field. JV lost a hard fought game 1-0, with both teams battling back and forth, but the Seahawks managed to squeak one by a diving save by Angel Belchor in the first half, which the Eagles could never recoup, despite having good looks and runs onto the opposing goal. Varsity followed with both teams setting the fast-paced game with quick runs to goal. The ball was battled back and forth with a halftime score of 0-0. Going into the second half, the Eagles came out hard with a few runs up into the Seahawks’ 18 box, where a handball was called. Luke Parker buried the PK shot into the back of the net, finally giving the Eagles a 1-0 lead. The Seahawks kept rallying back with runs until a questionable 50/50 ball was called on a Seahawks flop inside the Eagles’ box, so they were awarded a PK as well, tying it up 1-1. The Eagles struggled a bit to find their stride for a little bit after that but the mental toughness and will to grind kept our boys pushing through and keeping the ball onto the Seahawks side of the field for most of the 2nd half. A direct kick was awarded to the Eagles off a shove from behind with about 4 minutes left in the game, setting Levi Toliver up near the midfield line. Toliver nuclear-launched the ball, landing in a hard bounce inside the 18, bouncing over defenders, strikers, and the goalie to land its second bounce into the back of the goal! An incredible strike, an incredible goal, Toliver gave the lead 2-1 back to the Eagles!! The Seahawks did not give up, pushing the ball forward and attacking with 2 corner kicks in the last 30 seconds, where Wes Robinson had another last second save to keep the Eagles victory, final score of 2-1!
The Eagles are already setting the tone for this season with a well-earned win and record of 1-0. Eagles will travel to Gulf Shores, AL, over spring break to play 2 JV and 2 Varsity games each.
by Audrey Norman