Evensville, TN -- 9/11/26 -- Rhea County host Soddy Daisy in football action on 9-11-26, the anniversary of the 9-11-01 attack on the twin towers. Both teams bring 2-1 records into the game and each were impressive in blowout wins last week. Soddy won 39-14 over Signal Mountain and Rhea County won 43-13 on the road at Ooltewah. Rhea comes in tied for first with Walker Valley with 1-0 AAA Region 5 records and this will be Soddy's first Region game. Rhea won 35-13 over Soddy almost exactly a year ago on September 12, 2025.
Against Signal Mountain, the Trojans came out with big second half after leading 15-14 at the halftime juncture. The Soddy defense forced three straight turnovers to dominate the second half. Running back Jake Laxton scored 4 touchdowns on the night with 140 yards on 9 carries. The Trojans run the Winged-T offense hybrid that Eagle fans should be familiar with. At Media Day Owensby talked about the need to run the ball as a key to a successful season. This is a change, as Soddy ran the spread offense his first two years at Soddy. Owensby is Rhea County High School graduate(2004) and former member of the Rhea County coaching staff(Offensive coordinator (2012-14) and earlier as assistant under Jason Fitzgerald.
Coach Harvey talked about the 43-14 win over Ooltewah last Friday:
Recap the team performance from the Ooltewah game, a 43-13 win.
- Our guys responded well from last week. They were ready to move past everything that went wrong week two and get into region play. I am proud of their work to respond the right way.
How is team health heading into week 4?
- Typcial bumps and bruises for most. LT and Miller will still be out this week.
Another big day of special teams plays. Who works with special teams?
- We divide up ST with all staff. Adding Coach Brown to the mix helps a lot.
Who are some players of note on the offensive and defensive lines?
- Tyre Brown on DL has been giving people a hard time. OL guy for us playing well right now is Tyler Garrison.
Talk about the maturity of the Freshman this year?
- Collyn Brock is coming along nicely and we are working Joseph Donegan into rotation as well
What will soddy Daisy bring to this week's game?
- They are foot to foot wing like Rhea County is used to playing so it will be a limited possession game for both teams.
Rhea County High School Coaching Staff:
- Head Coach Taylor Harvey
- Defensive Coord: Brandon Ashley
- DL Tony Brown
- RB / OLB Roy Guthrie
- OL Zack Davis
- WR / DB Eli Evans
- S&C / QB David Shonts
- FR ASST Daniel Burto
- Manager: Matt Graham
Offense Starters Rhea:
- QB 1 Jaxton Schmitt SR
- RB 31 Eli Kelly SR
- Y 4 Jacob Kerley SR
- WR 11 Austun Fugate SR
- WR 20 Collyn Brock FR
- WR 14 Quinton Davis JR
- TE 19 Rett Robertson JR
- LT 74 Lucas Harrison JR
- LG 58 DJ Donegan SO
- C 77 Colton Thurman SR
- RG 59 Tyler Garrison SR
- RT 53 Joseph Donegan FR
Defense Starers Rhea:
- DL 59 Tyler Garrison SR
- DL76 Tyre Brown SR
- DL 62 Caiden Bridwell SR
- DL 9 Sam Rasnake JR
- LB 46 Bentley Fullam JR
- LB 22 Zeke Romero SR
- LB 13 Wyatt Mangefrida JR
- OLB 3 Tristyan Odum SR
- CB 6 Quinten Massengill SR
- SAF 11 Austun Fugate SR
- SAF 5 Sam Walton SO
Specials Rhea:
- LS 5 Sam Walton SO
- Kicker 9 Sam Rasnake JR
- Punter 11 Austun Fugate SR
- Holder 1 Jaxton Schmitt SR
Starting lineup for Soddy vs Signa:.
- # 5 Bryce Yother QB
- # 2 Fisher Higgins WB
- # 23 Kobe Johnson FB
- # 3 Jake Laxton WB
- # 9 Kyler Jenkins WR
- # 36 Braden Shell TE
- # 77 J.P. hancock LT
- # 65 Cash Chochran LG
- # 72 Knox Beason C
- # 68 Cye Lockhart RG
- # 70 Collin Miller RT
Soddy Defensive Lineup vs Signal:
- #59 Gage Polchek DE
- # 63 Ian Lowrey DT
- # 32 Evan Pouorek DT
- # 65 Cash Cochran DE
- # 3 Jake Laxton SLB
- #54 Emry King MLB
- # 23 Kobe Johnson WLB
- # 7 Brock Cobb CB
- # 2 Fisher Higgins CB
- # 30 Owen Webb SS
- # 9 Kyler Jenkins FS
| 0 | Malachi Johnson | Jr. | RB, OLB | 5'7" | 177 lbs |
| 2 | Fisher Higgins | Jr. | DB, RB | - | - |
| 3 | Jake Laxton | Jr. | RB, OLB | 6'1" | 180 lbs |
| 4 | Elijah Click | So. | WR, FS | 5'11" | 170 lbs |
| 5 | Bryce Yother | Jr. | QB, SS | - | - |
| 6 | Brody Conner | So. | FS, QB | 5'11" | 165 lbs |
| 7 | Brock Cobb | Jr. | RB, CB | 5'9" | 165 lbs |
| 8 | Levi Sharp | Jr. | WR, CB | 5'9" | 155 lbs |
| 9 | Kyler Jenkins | Jr. | WR, FS | - | - |
| 10 | Jaxon Jacobs | So. | MLB, RB | 5'9" | 155 lbs |
| 12 | Cain Cochran | So. | QB | - | - |
| 13 | Aden Braxton | So. | RB | - | - |
| 14 | Blake Priessnitz | So. | CB, WR | 5'9" | 134 lbs |
| 16 | Brayton Ferry | Fr. | FB, MLB | 5'6" | - |
| 16 | Zeke Cave | Sr. | QB | - | - |
| 17 | Aidan Lane | Jr. | RB, OLB | - | - |
| 18 | Hunter Ramsey | Fr. | QB | - | - |
| 19 | Dakota Barnes | Jr. | WR, CB | - | - |
| 20 | Ethan Marx | So. | WR, CB | 6'0" | 175 lbs |
| 21 | Kolton Hensley | Fr. | - | - | |
| 22 | Mason Jones | Fr. | - | - | |
| 23 | Kobe Johnson | Sr. | RB, MLB | 5'8" | 178 lbs |
| 26 | Rayden Thomas | So. | MLB, RB | 5'9" | 165 lbs |
| 27 | Quan Daniel | So. | RB, CB | - | - |
| 28 | Pat Wright | So. | WR, SS | - | - |
| 30 | Owen Webb | Fr. | SS, RB | 5'11" | 170 lbs |
| 31 | Elyja Farmer | Jr. | WR, DB | 6'2" | 178 lbs |
| 32 | Evan Putorek | Jr. | DT, RB | 5'9" | 225 lbs |
| 33 | Brayden Tjahyadi | So. | WR, FS | - | - |
| 34 | Brady Reisenauer | Jr. | K | 5'10" | 165 lbs |
| 35 | Landon Shipley | Jr. | C, WR | - | - |
| 36 | Braden Shell | Jr. | TE | - | - |
| 37 | Landen McCoin | So. | TE | - | - |
| 44 | Sam Day | So. | OLB | 5'8" | 150 lbs |
| 46 | Eli Frizzell | Fr. | - | - | |
| 47 | Bentley Forrest | Fr. | - | - | |
| 50 | Mason Turner | So. | DE, T | 6'1" | 225 lbs |
| 51 | Kaleb Gayton | Fr. | - | - | |
| 52 | Corbin Miller | So. | G | 5'9" | - |
| 53 | Mason Turman | Fr. | - | - | |
| 54 | Emry King | Jr. | MLB | 5'11" | 205 lbs |
| 56 | Cayden Thomas | Jr. | C, G | 5'8" | 235 lbs |
| 57 | Will May | Fr. | - | - | |
| 58 | Logan Catchings | So. | C, DE | 6'1" | 240 lbs |
| 59 | Gage Polchek | Jr. | DE | 6'0" | 200 lbs |
| 60 | Ty Hoffman | Jr. | DE | 6'0" | 220 lbs |
| 61 | Colton Walker | So. | C | 5'10" | 235 lbs |
| 62 | Carter Massengale | So. | G, DE | - | - |
| 63 | Ian Lowery | Sr. | G, NG | - | - |
| 65 | Cash Cochran | So. | G, DE | 5'11" | 215 lbs |
| 66 | Jacob Elsea | So. | G | - | - |
| 68 | Cye Lockhart | So. | G, DT | - | - |
| 69 | Hayden Franklin | Fr. | - | - | |
| 70 | Collin Miller | So. | OT, NG | 5'11" | - |
| 71 | Mason Tryon | Fr. | T | 5'11" | 245 lbs |
| 72 | Knox Beason | Jr. | C, NG | 5'10" | 210 lbs |
| 74 | Jaxson Pinson | Fr. | - | - | |
| 76 | Preston Branum | So. | NG, DT | 5'11" | - |
| 77 | Jonathan Hancock | Sr. | DT, NG | 6'3" | - |
| 80 | Lewis Bowser | Fr. | - | - | |
| 86 | Mason Stubblefield | Fr. | - | - | |
| 87 | Harper Dillon | So. | WR, CB | 5'7" | - |
| 87 | Brayden McBryar | Fr. | WR | - | - |
| 89 | Ridge Humphrey | Fr. | - | - | |
| 90 | Ted Chandler | So. | WR, OLB | - | - |