Ethan Davis runs the ball with blockers # 23 Latron Alloway and # 62 Andrew King against the McMinn County Cherokees.(Photo:BillynthiaHill)

Rhea Loses Region Opener, Travels to Anderson For Tough Road Test on Friday

9/2/2022

Athens, Tn -- Rhea County lost their Region opener at McMinn County on Friday, September 2, 2022. This was a crucial game as McMinn looked to be the main competition in region. Eagles knew this team had some very good skill players to watch, but a big difference in game were the guys in the trenches. The young inexperienced line did not fare well vs McMinn in the 43-14 loss. Eagle will continue on the road as they travel to Clinton to play the 3-0 Anderson County ,who owns wins over Powell(48-14), Science Hill(48-6) and Fulton(35-7).

Rhea starting lineup Junior Maurice Shirley at right tackle, 62 Andrew King sophomore right guard, sophomore center, freshman # 53 Leland Dye at left guard and 72 freshman Chase Wilkey at right tackle.

#12 Kaleb Martin started at quarterback, # 32 Ethan Davis and # 22 Briley Mayberry at wing backs and # 23 sophomore Latron Alloway. Receivers starting were, # 8 junior Bryce Dupree and # # 21 sophomore Keshawn Smith.

On defense the Eagles started # 50 Maurice Shirley(Jr) and #59 Austin Dodd(So) at tackles. Starting at nose guard was # 67 Michael Green(Jr). Starting linebackers were: # 44 Hunter Crowe(Jr), # 24 Cole Mayberry(Jr), Latron Alloway(So) and # 3 Bryson Davis(Sr). Starting at cornerback were # 22 Briley Mayberry(Jr) and # 1 Cam Potts(So). Starting at safeties for the Eagles were # 8 Bryce Dupre and # 12 Kaleb Martin. Kicking for the Eagles was # 13 Cole Ruehling and punting was Ruehling and Martin.

Captains for the Cherokees were Caden Hester, Nolan Brown, Landon Feggins, Luke Hensley. Captains for the Eagles were Kaleb Martin, Maurice Shirley and Trent Edwards.

Cherokees won toss and took the ball. The kick went to Evans at 1 yard line and he returned to 16 yard line. Miller found a crease up the middle but could not outrun Martin who made the tackle at Eagle 27 yard line. After a couple of plays, it was Miller who made a 10 yard run to the 13 after a fake to back. Two plays later Miller found the endzone from 7 yards out for the early 7-0 lead after the Spencer Sullins kick with 9:43 let in quarter.

Sullins as is the norm kicked the ball into endzone and Eagles began their initial drive at the 20 yard-line. On the second play of the drive, Ethan Davis scooted down the home sideline for 33 yards to the 46 yard-line marker. Davis picked up a first down at the 34 yard-line. Important development was Jayden Miller down on field with injury, but he walked off field on his own. Eagles next big play was a Dupree to Martin pass on a little wrinkle in offense with pass off a reverse. Martin took the ball to the 9 yard-line for first and goal. Pass interference was declined by Eagles. After a couple of running plays put the ball on the 6, Martin found Dupree wide open over the middle for the touchdown. Ruehling hit the kick for the seventh point and Eagles and Cherokees stood at 7-7 with 5:02 left in quarter.

Evans brought the Eagle kickoff back to 24, where they setup second series and the Eagle defense forced a punt, which gave Rhea the ball at midfield. Rhea's Davis had couple of runs but the Eagles came up short of first and false start put Ruehling back to punt on 4th and 6, which gave Cherokees the ball on their own 36. Evans got a first on 3 runs, then it was Thompson with a couple of nice runs. It was Evans finishing the drive with the 20 yard touchdown run to put Cherokees up 13-7. Kick was good by Sullins for 14-7 lead with 10:10 left in second quarter.

Eagles get the ball at 20 yard-line after kickoff and Martin found Dupree for nice slant for first down at their own 42. After Martin loss the Cherokees' Hensley came up with interception to get the ball back at their own 32 yard-line with 7:38 left in 2nd quarter. Evans had nice run to the 37, before Hester found Smith for long gain to the Eagles' 30 yard line. Cody Thompson found some room outside for 20 yards, down to the 10 and Hester dove down the one yard line before Thompson found the endzone for the third touchdown of the night for McMinn. Sullins' kick put the Cherokees up 21-7 with 7:05 left in half.

Eagles began next possession at their own 20. It looked like Eagles would strike quicky but Davis could not come up with the Martin pass deep downfield. Davis found a seam and brought the ball up to the 38 for an 18 yard gain and first down. Eagles looked to be moving the ball before with Davis running the ball well and Crowe getting the second first down of the drive at the Eagle 48 yard-line. After a holding penalty the Cherokees come up with fumble recover on busted play be Eagles. Martin lost the ball and McMinn had the ball deep in Rhea territory at the 24 yard-line. Hester and Evans had nice runs before Hester found the endzone from the 1-yard line. McMinn was unsuccessful in 2-point try and score remained at 27-7 with 1:41 left in half.

Eagles began play at 20 after kickoff went into endzone. Ethan Davis had nice 15 yard run in the next series to help erase a holding penalty but came up short on first down. Eagles punted and Cherokees ran one play before halftime and Cherokees led 27-7.

Eagles received the kickoff and began play at 20 yard line to begin the second half. Eagles went three-and-out to begin the second half and Ruehling punted to 46 of McMinn. McMinn caught Eagles up close and Hester found a seam up the middle and raced all the way to endzone for touchdown to move McMinn to 33 to 7 lead. Sullins extra point put Eagles down 34-7.

Another kick out of the endzone put the Eagles at their won 20 to begin the drive. Martin found Dupree on sideline and a late hit pushed the Eagles up to the 46 yard-line. Martin made the nice play with the fake pitch before traveling deep into McMinn territory at the 12 yard-line. Davis and Martin helped run the ball down to the 3 and Eagles made the first down at the 2 yard-line. On next play Martin found the endzone from the 2. Ruehling's kick cut the lead to 34-14 with just over 5 minutes left in the third quarter.

Hester returned the Ruehling kick to 25 and block in the back took ball back to 16. Hester found a seam on the right side for 30 yards for 29 yard gain. Hester then went to air for 13 yard pass to Hensley to 42 of Eagles. Thompson picked up first down on nice third down run to the 28. Hester then gutted the middle for a nice 14 yard gain to the 14. Cherokees moved the ball down to the 2 as quarter ended. Sullins made the 22-yard field goal on the first play of the fourth quarter.

Eagles were moving the ball, when Dupree fumbled after the pass catch and Faulkner pick up ball at 40 and ran untouched into endzone, but touchdown was nullified by penalty, but Cherokees still retained the ball at the Eagles' 17 yard-line with just over 9 minutes remaining. Hester almost found endzone on a busted play before being stopped at the 1-yard line. Hester dove in for the last touchdown of the night and Sullins extra point put the Cherokees up 43 to 14 with 7:30 left in game.

Eagles again began at the 20 yard-line. Mayberry, Davis, Crowe and Alloway helped Eagles to a several first downs and Eagles drive went deep before an interception stopped the last drive of night for Eagles as Luke Hensley had the endzone interception with 34 second left in game. Cherokees ran out the clock and game was in the books at 43-14.

On the night, McMinn had several big plays and Eagles had 4 turnovers. Rhea actually won the first down stat with 15-14 edge. Overall yards went to Cherokees 407 to 310. Mcminn punted only once and Eagles had 4 punts for 31.3 average. Martin had 6 completions for 79 yards and 2 interceptions. Eagles had 9 penalties for 73 yards and Cherokees had 4 penalties for 39 yards. Eagles had 48 rushes for 236 yards and McMinn had 42 rushes for 354 yards. Ethans Davis had a good night on the ground with 24 runs for 140 yards. Martin was 5 for 8 for 53 yards and ran for 38 yards on 6 carries. Bryce Dupre owned 5 catches for 53 yards. For McMinn, Caden Hester was 3 for 3 for 53 yards in air and ran for 120 yards and 3 touchdowns on 9 carries. Jayden Miller in limited action had 71 yards on 9 carries and scored 1 touchdown. Cody Thompson tallied 74 yards on 17 carries with 1 touchdown. Davion Evans had 62 yards and touchdowns 8 carries.

Coach Mark Pemberton said, "They outphysicaled us. Give them credit. They played well. They are young, maybe not as young as us. That's a good football team. We'll go back to drawing board. We have Anderson next week, so it doesn't get any easier. Hopefully our guys will come ready to work and ready to improve."