Eagles Put Up 33 point First Half On Way to 46-0 Win

10/3/25 - Evensville, TN -- Rhea County High School Football hosted Lenoir City on Senior Night on Friday 10/3/25 in its last home game of the season. Eagles were looking for another Region win as they wanted to remain in the hunt for Region Title and seeding. Eagles won 46-0 with several big plays and a three touchdown first quarter and five touchdown first half for the 40-0 lead at halftime. Eagles added two more touchdowns in last two quarters for the 46-0 win. Eagles moved their Region record to 3-1 and overall record to 6-1. Lenoir City's record drops to 1-6 and 0-3 in Region.

Jaxton Schmitt and Austun Fugate had the longest play of the game, with 80-yard touchdown pass connection for a touchdown. Fugate ended the game with three touchdowns and Wilkerson with two touchdowns for the Eagles. On defense, it was a very good team effort as five Eagles had 9 or more tackles, led by Wyatt Mangefrida with 13, followed by Austun Fugate 11, L.T. Donegan 10, Zeke Romero 10, and Rorak Moody with 9.

Aiden Wilkerson returned the opening kickoff to the 40 yard-line. On first play of drive Wilkerson went 40 yards down to the 20 yard-line of Lenoir City. Quarterback Jaxton Schmitt found Austun Fugate in the flats and he made nice cut on his way to endzone for the opening touchdown. The extra point kick sailed wide and score remained 5-0 with 11:07 remaining in quarter.

Lenoir City returned the Fugate kickoff to the 18 yard-line. Lenoir moved the ball to the 30 for first down, but had to punt from their own 35, with Christian Yearwood tackle for loss putting Panthers in a hole. The punt was fielded by Wilkerson at the Eagles' 20 yard-line.

Eagles began their second drive with 6:42 on the clock. Mason Ford moved the ball from the 19 up to the 34 of Lenoir City on 39 yards rushing on 4 carries. With 4:01 left in first quarter, Schmitt found Wilkerson for the touchdown pass, with Wilkerson dragging the defender into the endzone. Fugate's kick put Eagles up 13-0. Fugate then put the kickoff into the endzone to start the Panthers at their own 20 yard-line.

Lenoir's offense managed to move the ball up-field earning a couple of first downs along the way, but bogged down and were forced to punt from their own 47 and Wilkerson took the punt at the Eagles' 20 yard-line with 1:19 left in the quarter. Eagles only needed one play for the score as Schmitt found Fugate on sidelines and the weaved through defenders for the 80-yard touchdown pass. Fugate made the kick for the 20-0 lead with 50 seconds left in half.

Lenoir City had nice kickoff return to their 46 yard-line. Lenoir decided to go with exclusively passing game, but 3 incomplete passes later they were forced to punt. Eagles made the fair-catch at their 27 yard-line. Eagles once again moved the ball up-the-field. Ford had 13-yard run, then Schmitt and Fugate teamed up for 2 long pass plays with the latter giving Fugate to show off his sideline catching abilities as he toed the line and came up with 24-yard pass play. Fugate added 9 more on the ground before Schmitt faked the handoff and went 11 yards for the touchdown. After the kick the score went to 27-0 with 10:-09 left in the second quarter.

Lenoir could not move the ball and a bad snap on the punt gave the Eagles the ball at the 14 yard-line of the Panthers. Ford's run took the ball to the 5 and then Schmitt found Wilkerson in the endzone for the touchdown with 5:54 left in the quarter. Fugate's kick was blocked and score remained at 33-0, which was the halftime score.

Eagles scored two more touchdowns in second half with Mason Ford and Caleb Chance scoring on touchdown runs as final score result was 46-0.