Rhea Middle Players Give Coach Ruehling the Celebratory Splash
RMS Soccer Wins 3-1 Over Cleveland Middle School
Friday night, 4-26, had an exciting night of soccer in Rhea County with both RMS and RCHS bringing home wins on their home turf. RMS Boys’ soccer brought home the 2nd district championship in school history (first one was 2019) and had the best school record that RMS Boy’s Eagles have ever accomplished. With the regular season of 8-1 record, they landed in first place, which was a first ever for the boys’ team, and it gave them the distinct privilege of hosting both the playoff and championship games.
Friday’s excitement of hosting the championship game was made even sweeter, because it was the Eagle’s chance to come back from a loss last year to Cleveland at their turf in the championship game, ending in Runner’s Up for them. The Eagles came hungry and came to play. The first half saw lots of good ball motion from the Eagles and took control of the game early on. The Raiders did manage a few runs, but our defensive line of Elijah Norman, Simeon Toliver, and Sawyer Campbell, along with goalie, Ethan Nelson, held their drives at bay. One through ball managed to escape through a trip at the 30 and the Raiders capitalized by driving the ball into the 18 box and flopping down in it, where a questionable foul and PK ensued. The Raiders managed to bury it, giving them the lead 1-0. The Eagles were shaken up for some minutes afterwards, but the midfield unit of Emiliano Sanchez, Sam Walton, Anderson Cathey, Gio Pacheco, and Jeremy Perez kept fighting through the nerves and managed to drive some balls up to Ian Arnold and Zane Shaffer, almost tying it before the half but fell short.
The second half saw the roar of the Eagles come out and cement their mark and legacy on the Raiders, letting them know they are not to be messed with. Norman scored a banger header off a corner kick by Cathey within the first 10 minutes of the second half, and the energy shifted with the 1-1 tie. Less than two minutes later, another defensive back, Toliver, came out with a direct kick around the 30 yard line and buried it in the upper left corner of the goal, up 2-1!
The Eagle’s energy was now electric and the stadium full of fans was chanting them on, urging them to victory. The Eagle’s defense was a force to be reckoned with and challenged every run that the Raiders tried to force, even drawing a yellow card from a frustrated Raider player, because they could not break through! Campbell, another defensive back, launched a ball to Anderson Cathey within the last 8 minutes of the second half, who flew into the air, headed it, and buried the shot into the back of the net along with any hope that the Raiders had on making a comeback.
What a game of grit and determination and hope and redemption all-in-one!! For those that came to watch, the game was everything that they wished for, of talent and ball movement, of electric plays and slide-tackles, of a brotherhood of young men scoring and a rookie coach winning, and of history being made on home turf. The Eagles ended their season with a record of 10-1, best ever in school history, 40 goals scored (5 from a forfeit), and only 4 goals scored against the whole season, cementing their legacy in the history books with feats never done before and records set to hopefully one day be broken again in the future. Eighth graders, Ethan Nelson and Elijah Norman had this to say following the game, “It feels great being the champions, especially beating Cleveland. It’s the best we have ever played, the best season we have ever had, and we are thankful for all the coaches we have had to bring us this far.” RMS Boy’s soccer team now has 3 championships under their belt: 2019-District Champs; 2023-District Runner’s Up; 2024-District Champs, same as RMS Girl’s soccer with 3 as well: 2018-District Runner’s Up; 2022- District Runner’s Up; 2023-District Runner’s Up. It is an exciting season of soccer for the Eagles, as they push to grow the beautiful sport of soccer with the help of Rc3 Futsal Club and our schools. Let’s go, Eagles!!!
