Aiden Wilkerson and Mason Ford Meet for Congradulatory high five after Wilkerson scores on of his 2 touchdowns against Ooltewah on Friday, 9/5/25.(Photo:GaryBolden)

Eagles Combine Defense and Offense For Win Over Ooltewah

Ooltewah received opening kickoff and moved the ball down into Eagles' territory, but turned ball over on downs at the 21 of Rhea County. Quarterback Jaxton Schmitt used his legs to earn a first down at the 33-yard line and then Austun Fugate took a handoff from the receiver position and moved the ball up to the 45 for another first down. After moving the ball past midfield, Mason Ford took handoff and avoided the mass of possible tacklers and moved to the outside and squeezed between 2 possible tacklers and on to the end zone for the opening 45-yard touchdown run for the Eagles. Austun Fugate tacked on the extra point kick for 7-0 lead for Eagles with 7 minutes remaining in the first quarter.

Fugate put the kickoff into the end zone and Owls began on the 20. The Owls made a couple of first downs and were on their way to another when Eli Evans put a big hit to separate the ball and Ezekiel Romero recovered for an Eagle first down at their own 35-yard line. Eagles were not able to capitalized on turnover and were forced to punt. Fugate did nice job and pinning the Owls deep as the punt rolled dead at the Owls' 13 yard line.

Owls found receiver James Citizen for a first down around the 30, but Max Daughtery had tackle for loss on running back on next play. But quarterback Luke Wood found Griffin Patterson for nice gain up to 45 and late hit put Owls across midfield. Another good pass moved the Owls to the 32. On next play, Owls tried a quarter back to receiver to receiver pass and Wyatt Mangefrieda put nice hit on Patterson and Eli Evans grabbed the underthrown ball for the interception and returned ball to 27 of the Eagles. Ford took the handoff and rambled up to the 47 on first play of the drive. Eagles moved the ball down the field staying on ground until Schmitt found Aiden Wilkerson for nice gain down to the 8-yard line. Later Wilkerson took the direct snap on 4-yard line and scored for the Eagles. Fugate added the successful kick for a 14-0 lead with 5:50 left in 2nd quarter.

Turnover on downs for Owl on downs on their next possession that began at their own 37-yard line and ended at the Eagles' 40-yard line. Eagles used mix of rushing(Wilkerson and Devaney with nice run)s and passing(Devaney and Wilkerson with nice gains through the air to move the ball down for another Wilkerson direct snap at 8-yard line rushing touchdown with 1:41 left until halftime. Fugate's kick was good for the 21-0 lead.

Rhea County received the opening kickoff of the 2nd half and began drive at their own 20. Mason Ford was within a shoelace tackle of going all the way on first run that ended at 45-yard line. Wilkerson made nice block to free Fugate for long catch and run to Owls' 37-yard line on pass from Schmitt. Schmitt then used his legs for a 15-yard run to the 25-yard line. Schmitt flips out to Fugate who took ball down to the 5-yard line. After Ooltewah's defense dropped Eagles back to the 15, Schmitt looked right and defense was loaded to right side as Ford leaked out of the backfield and caught pass in stride and outraced the sparse defense on the left side to the end zone for touchdown # 4 on the night with 6:19 left in third quarter. Fugate had a rare miss and score remained at 27-0.

Fugate's kick found the end zone and Owls began at their 20. Owls found some success in the air with nice gains by Parsons and Patterson to move the ball to the Eagles' 42-yard line. Mangefrieda brought down Wood on third down scramble to force punt from the 39 yard line that found the end zone giving Eagles ball on their 20.

Eli Kelly did some good running for the Eagles, picking up a first down. Eagles coughed up the ball around their own 40 and Owls took over. Eagles' defense came through with stop on 4th to force a turnover on downs at the 40. During the drive the game moved to the 4th quarter. Eagles were forced to punt on 3 and out and Owls setup shop at their own 1 yard line as the Fugate punt hit at the 20 and rolled down to the 1 yard line, where it was downed.

Owls had a couple of long runs to move out to the 45-yard line. Fugate read the quarterback and stepped in front of a Wood pass at the Eagle 35 and raced down the sidelines for the pick-6 to move the score to 33-0 with around 6 minutes left in the game. Fugate made the kick for 34-0 lead.

Owls had the last drive of the night, but ran out of downs on the Eagles' 6 yard line and final score ended up 34-0. Convincing win by Eagles to open Region play.

Defensive: 

Austun Fugate: 3 solo , 1 PBU, 1 INT for 65 yard return TD (3 INT for the year)

Wyatt Mangefrieda: 8 solo, 1 asst

Offensive:

Jaxton Schmitt: 8/12 passing 107 yards - 1 TD - 5 car 28 yards

Aiden Wilkerson: 5 rush 36 yards - 2TD, 3 rec 47 yards

Mason Ford: 9 rushes 90 yards 1 TD