Rhea County Lady Eagles Pose For Team Pic After Winning District Championship at Cleveland.(Photo:GaryBolden/RheaCountyMagazine)

Lady Eagles Win 3-1 to Earn Region Home Game vs Ooltewah

Cleveland, TN -- Rhea County traveled to Cleveland to play Walker Valley on 10/10/24 in a game to crown district champ. This would be a revenge game for Rhea after the Walker Valley win a week earlier had given them the regular season first and the home advantage in the postseason. Walker was also the team that had won the district and region championship games over Rhea in 23 seasons. So it was not hard to motivate the team for this game. The Eagles were competitive in all those games and fans from both sides were expecting another highly competitive hard hitting game.

It was Laurel Butt who put the Eagles on the board first with her goal with only two minutes gone in the first half. The Lady Eagles would have to wait a few minutes for the next goal, but at 22:10 mark of the half Cammie Ruehling was all alone against the Walker goalkeeper and she won with the driving shot for 2-0 lead which stood at halftime.

Game was a battle in the second half and Lady Eagles earned a 3-0 lead when Emerson White punched the ball off a defender in the corner of the net for the goal with 34:39 left in the second half. With 14:29 on the clock, Walker Valley got their first and only goal of the game and Eagle defense stepped up and the 3-1 lead held and Rhea County Girls Soccer had secured their first District Championship and advanced to play Ooltewah on Monday, October 14, 2024.

After the game the Eagles accepted their first place trophy and Walker Valley received their 2nd place trophy. Walker moved on to play at East Hamilton to open region play. All District teams were announced after the game and Lady Eagles were well represented on the team. Earning second team honors were Bekah Horton and Katie Ryan. Earning first team were Cammie Ruehling, Laurel Butt and Kiera Graham. Kloe Reeves earned Co-offensive MVP and Lillie Gardner earned Midfield and Overall MVP.

Coach Katherine Bradley said, "It felt really good to get the early lead. I was very confident we would win. Everything came together for the season. Lillie Gardner repeated as Defensive MVP and that was great."

When asked to name a player who improved the most over the year, coach Bradley said, "Kloe Reeves, a junior, I saw a lot of talent and hard work in previous seasons, She really stepped it up and got to the top level this year. She was our top goal scorer, our second place assist leader and made a big impact."