Rhea County defense keys in on Hurricanes' Jaden Haywood in football action in Rhea County on Friday 11/1/24 in the 20-3 win by the Hurricanes.(Photo:GaryBolden/TCM)
20-7 Loss to Hurricanes Sends Eagles On Road to Oak Ridge 11/8/24
Evensville, TN -- Rhea County hosted East Hamilton on Senior Night with a chance to host the opening round of playoffs with the right outcomes. The 20-7 loss to East Hamilton eliminated the positive scenarios and put the Eagles on the road at Oak Ridge on Friday night vs Oak Ridge with 7 pm kickoff. Oak Ridge has a 6-4 record with a win over McMinn County 31-6, and beat Knoxville Central 44-24. The Eagles lost to McMinn and beat Knox Central. Rhea County finishes the season 5-4 overall and 2-2 in 5A Region 4.
Rhea received the kickoff to begin the game and began possession at their 20 yard line. The Eagles made 2 first downs on the drive, but were forced to punt around midfield and East Hamilton began their first possession at their 8 yard line. Riding the legs of running back Haywood, East Hamilton moved down the field for the first score of the day, a 3-yard run. Spencer Payne added the kick for 7-0 lead with 2:58 remaining in the 1st quarter. The Eagles returned the kickoff to the 24. Rhea moved the ball to the 41 before punting. East Hamilton began on thier own 13 and were forced to punt from their 16 yard line. The Eagles returned to the 41 yard line. They moved the ball across midfield on a nice Carr run. but the drive stalled at 41 of East Hamilton. The Eagles punted and East Hamilton began to drive at their 34 yard line. Hurricanes drove down field with a nice Anderson catch moving Hurricanes deep inside Eagles' territory. Wyatt Miller scored on the 13 yard run to give the Hurricanes their second touchdown. Rhea blocked the kick to keep the lead at 13-0 with 3:24 left in the second quarter.
Eagles began final possession of the half at their 20 Passes to Smith and Odum moved ball to the 30 yard line, then Chauncy Odum had nice run as he raced down the sideline for 33-yard run to setup Eagles at 37 yard line of Hurricanes. A Carr to Ford pass put the ball to the 16 yard line, but the drive stalled and Fugates' kick from 16 was not good and Eagles turned the ball over to Hurricanes with just under a minute remaining in half and Hurricanes ended half with the ball.
East Hamilton began the ball with the return of 2nd to their own 20. On their possession, Eagles forced a fumble, but it went out of bounds before Eagles could recover, but that did force a punt from their 25 yard line, which Eagles blocked and Ace Robinson picked up the ball after Knox punt block and raced to the end zone for the touchdown. Fugate's kick moved the Eagles to within 13-7 with 10:49 left in the 3rd quarter.Haywood returned kickoff to aroudn the 20 for East Hamilton.
Haywood returned the kickoff to the 20 and Fugate forced a punt on a big hit on receiver on 3rd down play to negate the catch. After the punt, Rhea began on their 35 yard line. Drive went three and out and Fugate punt put the Hurricanes at their 30 yard line. On the drive Haywood had a couple of nice runs and then quarterback Miller had a nice completion down to the Eagle's 30 yard line. East Hamilton went back to the ground and Haywood took a direct snap and found a lane for his 3 yard touchdown run. Payne's kic gave the Hurricanes thed 20-7 lead with 4:31 left in the 3rd quarter.
The Eagles began the next drive on their 20 and on the 2nd play of the drive, Carr had a nice lead of Smith for the long gain down to the 15 of East Hamilton, a gain of 60 yards. The Eagles could not get the ball into the endzone as the Hurricanes defense stepped up on a 4th down stop to take over the ball at the Hurricane's 10 yard line.
On the next Hurricane possession, KeShawn Smith went high to snap the pass interception to give Eagles the ball at the Hurricane 35 yard line. Odum had a nice run down to the 24 of East Hamilton and Smith had a nice catch at the 6 yard line. But the Eagles could not get the ball into the end zone and East Hamilton took over on the turnover on downs. The Eagles held the Hurricanes inside the 20 and the punt gave the Eagles a chance at the Eagles' 30 yard line. They moved the ball down the field on a combination of passes and runs to the 5 yard line. It looked like Odum was going to score but he fumbled the ball just before goal line and Hurricanes recovered the ball in the end zone to stop the drive and began their possession at their 20 yard line.
The Eagles got one more chance and the Eagles began their possession at the 45 yard line of East Hamilton. The Eagles ran out of time and it was Hamilton with the 20-7 win to take the region title and host, along with McMinn County(37-6 winner over Walker Valley). Walker Valley travels to Lenoir City and Rhea County travels to Oak Ridge this Friday as playoffs begin. McMinn hosts Clinto and East Hamilton hosts Karns. All games are scheduled for a 7 pm kickoff.
Oak Ridge has a 6-4 overall record and is unbeated in region play. They own wins over McMinn County and Knoxville Central, teams the Eagles lost to and won over during the season.
| Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Q4 | Final0 |
| East Hamilton | 7 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 20 |
| Rhea County | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| Player | Catches | Yards | TD |
| KeShawn Smith | 3 | 82 | 0 |
| Laterrius Donegan | 3 | 34 | 0 |
| Mason Ford | 5 | 63 | 0 |
| Gavin Miller | 2 | 17 | 0 |
| Chauncey Odum | 1 | 10 | 0 |
| Team | 14 | 206 | 0 |
| Type | Team | Players | Q | Time | PAT |
| TD | EHHS | Jaden Haywood 3 yd run | 1 | 2:58 | Spencer Payne |
| TD | EHHS | Wyatt Miller 13 yard run | 2 | 3:24 | Blocked |
| TD | RCHS | Ace Robinson Rtn Punt Block 11 yards | 3 | 10:49 | Austun Fugate |
| TD | EHHS | Jaden Haywood 3 yard run | 3 | 4:31 | Spencer Payne |
| No. | Player | Solo | Assist | Tot Tckls | TFL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Keshawn Smith (Sr) | 5 | 1 | 6 | |
| 3 | Kaden Knox (Sr) | 3 | 1 | 4 | |
| 6 | Austin Dodd (Sr) | 4 | 1 | 5 | |
| 10 | Kaiden Rector (Jr) | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| 11 | Austun Fugate (So) | 2 | 2 | ||
| 19 | Ace Robinson (Sr) | 9 | 3 | 12 | 1.0 |
| 34 | Tristen Odum (So) | 5 | 3 | 8 | |
| 38 | Ethan Mosley (Sr) | 5 | 5 | ||
| 48 | Zander Yeager (Sr) | 5 | 2 | 7 | |
| 55 | Max Daughtrey (Jr) | 2 | 2 | 1.0 | |
| 59 | Tyler Garrison (So) | 1 | 1 | 1.0 | |
| 72 | Chace Wilkey (Jr) | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| 75 | Haiden Futrell (Sr) | 3 | 1 | 4 | |
| Team Totals | 48 | 14 | 62 | 3.0 |
Top performers for Rhea: Keshawn Smith 3 catches for 82 yards and 1 interception; Ace Robinson led Eagles with 12 tackles and scored on the blocked punt; Mason Ford 5 catches for 63 yards; Caleb Carr 14/33 for 206 yards passing; Chauncey Odum 11 carries for 80 yards.
Top performers for East Hamilton: Jaden Haywood 21 carries for 127 yards, 2 touchdowns; Wyatt Miller 4/8 for 66 yards; 15 carries 45 yards, 1 touchdown.
Punting: Rhea 44,42,7,34 East Hamilton: 41, 0, 47, 46, 24
Rushing: Rhea 21 runs for 112 yards; East Hamilton 47 runs for 238 yards 3 touchdowns.
Passing: Rhea 14/33 for 206 yards, 1 interception. East Hamilton: 4/8 66 yards 1 interception.
Penalties: 2 for 10 yards; East Hamilton: 4 for 32 yards.
First Downs: Rhea 13 East Hamilton 13.
3rd Downs: Rhea 2/11 East Hamilton 6/13 4th Down: 0 for 3, East Hamilton 1/1
Total yards: Rhea 318 East Hamilton 304
Turnovers: Rhea 1 interception East Hamilton: 1 fumble lost.