Eagles Defense Holds Walker Valley And Offense Is Good Enough in 16-0 Win
9/27/24 - Evensville, TN -- Rhea County hosted Walker Valley on homecoming night and in a battle in the rain, Eagles prevailed 16-0. With the win, the Eagles saw their record go to 1-0 in District and 3-2 overall. Walker Valley's record dropped to 4-2 overall and 1-1 in Region 5A-4 play. East Hamilton leads the Region with 2-0 record. Both teams are on the road next week with games on Friday, 10/4/24. Eagles travel to McMinn County and Mustangs travels to Howard Tech.
Precisous Smith was crowned Homecoming Queen before the game. Eagles kicked to Walker, Mason Ford returned the opening kickoff to the 43 yard line. A couple of plays into drive, quarterback Caleb Carr found Austun Fugate for nice gain down to the 40 of Walker Valley. On 3rd and 15, Carr rolled out and found a soft spot in the defense down to the 16 yard line, after penalty tacked on 15 yards to the Carr run after a hit on Carr who was already out of bounds. The last 16 yards were a combo of Odum and Ford, with Ford finding the endzone from one yard out for the 6-0 lead. Walker tipped the extra-point kick to keep the score at 6-0 with left in first quarter.
Fugate's kick was returned by Walker to the Walker 20 yard line. Eagles' defense had forced a punt and the blocked punt was caught by Rhea at the Waker Valley 32 yard line, but a running-into-kicker peanalty erased a fantastic field position for Rhea County and gave Mustangs the ball at their 32 yard line. Mustangs moved the ball down into Eagles' territory, keeping it on the ground with some big runs by # 6, quarterback Roman Eulo. Drive stalled at the 18 and the field goal try was short, giving Eagles their second possession, which stalled at the 34 yard line forcing a Fugate punt which rolled dead at the Walker 17 yard line. Walker could not move the ball and the short punt from the 30 yard line only went to midfield, giving Eagles great field position.
On 4th down, it was Carr with the determined run for a big first down at the 35, but drive slowed and Eagles punted ball down to the Walker Valley 10 yard line. Eulo had a couple of nice runs, but clock expired on the first half, with the ball at the Eagles' 40 yard line.
Mustangs received the second half kickoff which was fielded inside the 5 and returned to the 17. Short drive ended when quarterback had trouble catching the ball in the shotgun. Walker Valley's punt rolled dead at Eagle 40 yard line.With a mixture of Ford and Odum, Rhea moved the ball down inside the 42 of Walker, but Eagles were forced to punt. With good punt and a penalty, Walker began their possession at the 6 yard line, which only moved the ball to 13 before a short punt setup Rhea County at the Walker Valley 25 yard line. Walker's defense forced Rhea County to settle for a 41 yard field goal by Austun Fugate to give Ealges 9-0 lead on first play of the 4th quarter.
On the kickoff, Eagles recovered the fumble at the 4 yard line and shortly after Odum scored a short touchdown to put Eagles up 16-0 with 11:03 left in game. Eagles defense held and Rhea County got a well earned 16-0 win.
Mason Ford and Chauncey Odum led the Eagles on the ground with 62 and 40 yards respectively. Fugate was great in kicking game with 41 yard field goal and 37 yard punting average. On defense, it was Ace Robinson again leading the Eagles in tackling with 14 total tackles and fellow senior Zander Yeager was again in double digits with 11 tackles.
| Team/Quater | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final |
| Walker | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Rhea County | 6 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 16 |
| Passing | Att | Comp | Yard | TD | Int |
| Walker | 15 | 7 | 114 | 0 | 0 |
| Rhea | 8 | 3 | 23 | 0 | 0 |
| # | Player | Solo | Assist | Tot Tckls | TFL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Keshawn Smith (Sr) | 5 | 1 | 6 | |
| 3 | Kaden Knox (Sr) | 3 | 4 | 7 | |
| 10 | Kaiden Rector (Jr) | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| 11 | Austun Fugate (So) | 5 | 1 | 6 | |
| 19 | Ace Robinson (Sr) | 11 | 3 | 14 | 1.0 |
| 38 | Ethan Mosley (Sr) | 2 | 2 | 4 | |
| 48 | Zander Yeager (Sr) | 7 | 5 | 12 | 1.0 |
| 55 | Max Daughtrey (Jr) | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| 59 | Tyler Garrison (So) | 3 | 3 | ||
| 72 | Chace Wilkey (Jr) | 3 | 1 | 4 | |
| 79 | Mason Phillips (Sr) | 1 | 1 | ||
| Team Totals | 44 | 19 | 63 | 2.0 |
Punting - Rhea 53, 29, 29 for 111 yds - 37 average Walker - 18, 41, 12 for 71 avg. 23.7
Passing - Rhea County 3/8 for 23 yards Walker Valley 7/15 for 114 yards
Receiving - Rhea County Fugate 1 for 13 yards, Smith 1 for 9 yards, Blake Maynard 1 for 1 yard
Rushing - Rhea - Ford 19 fpr 62 yds, Odum 14 for 40 yds, Carr 7 for 20 yds, Wilkerson 1 for 2 yds
Walker Valley - 30 for 165
Penalties - Rhea 9 for 55, Walker 7 8 for 72
First Downs - Rhea 9 Walker 10
Turnovers - Walker 1 fumble lost