Stephenson, Bice Run Hog Wild In Rhea Backfield

Rhea County’s offense has been running the wing-T offense for years.

Now, the Golden Eagles are preparing to open the 2016 football season with an oldies but goodies version of the formation.

It has been called the flat-T.

Rhea County coach Mark Pemberton seems to prefer the dead-T tag.

“I’ve heard people say the dead-T was a prehistoric offense,” Pemberton said. “I just laugh and say it’s earlier than prehistoric.”

No matter how folks define the alignment, it’s a wonderful way for offensive coaches to drive defenses wild.

So, what are the variances in the schemes?

“Not much,” senior fullback Mason Stephenson said.

The prerequisite for teams using the offense is simple: a stable of talented running backs to make it go.

“The more the merrier,” Pemberton said. “We’ve got three backs, and probably five that we’ll be using. We have Mason, Cody (Bice) and Eddie Davis in the first group and then we can put Chris Sturgeon and Christian Simon back there.”

Some high school teams in the Chattanooga area sometimes have a 2,000-yard rusher and the player – rightfully – is hailed as a superstar. From Rhea County’s perspective, it has basically the same dynamic, only it was split between two players last season.

Stephenson, a 6-foot-1, 215-pound, hard-charging fullback capable of gashing defenses with stunning bursts up the middle, carried the ball 148 times and rushed for 1,282 yards and 15 touchdowns.

Cody Bice, a 5-8, 155-pound scatback and a serious threat on the perimeter, gave the ground game balance by carrying the ball 150 times for 1,069 yards and eight touchdowns.

Combined, Mason and Stephenson gained 2,351 yards rushing – a 7.9-yard average – with 23 touchdowns and 150 points.

For comparison’s sake, East Ridge’s Traneil Moore, rushed for 2,295 yards – his average was 9.4 yards per try – and 28 touchdowns and put up 156 points.

Moore was selected as the Class 3A Mr. Football Back of the Year.

Stephenson and Bice weren’t mentioned for that award, but their collective reward was a second straight appearance in the Class 5A playoff semifinals – the Eagles lost to Sevier County, the eventual state runner-up. A year before, Rhea County’s season ended with a loss to Knox West and the Rebels captured a state title one week later.

It was a pretty good tradeoff.

“Mason is the tank,” Bice said. “I’m always running behind him, but I know I’ll get my yardage the way our linemen give both of us holes up front.”

Stephenson is the Eagles’ workhorse, whose speed allows him to run inside as well as outside. He rushed for 182 yards against a strong Ooltewah defense in a 14-13 quarterfinal victory. Rhea County ran 23 consecutive running plays before throwing the first of two passes in the game – both incompletions.

A week earlier, Stephenson set a school record with 292 yards rushing and three touchdowns in a 40-34 win over Farragut. He scored on a 2-yard plunge with 59 seconds left for the game-winning touchdown, although the Eagles’ defense had to fight for its life to keep Farragut from scoring even later.

“This year I want to break the records I have,” Stephenson said. “I’m going to shoot for 300 in a game and I’d like to see all the backs rush for a thousand yards. I’m always pushing the guys because I want the whole team to do better.”

Over the past two seasons, Stephenson and Bice worked in a wing-T set and helped the Eagles’ defense average 35.3 points per game.

Now, Pemberton has the offense operating out of the dead-T, which has three backs aligned horizontally shoulder-to-shoulder behind sophomore quarterback Zack Pemberton, the coach’s son.

Were the Eagles’ offensive players surprised when Pemberton informed them of the new concept as spring practice began?

“Yeah,” Bice said. “Coach said, ‘Boys, we’ve got a new formation this year.’ I didn’t know why at the time, but he comes up with stuff that works and that’s the bottom line. Whatever he says goes.”

The new scheme differs visually from the wing-T, which flanks out the halfbacks with the fullback the only runner lined up behind the quarterback.

“It’s a three-headed monster,” Pemberton said.

The similarity between the two formations is the backs come together at the precise moment for a handoff that can totally confuse opposing defenders, wondering where the heck the ball is going.

“It’s basically the same thing, but things happen quicker because we’re so close back there in the dead-T,” said Bice, a junior. “We picked it up pretty fast since there’s not that much difference.”

Another trait of the offense is that backs tend to “hide” from the opposing up-front defenders. They start low and then burst into the second-level of the defense before they’re totally upright. By that time, the defensive backs are frequently the players trying to make tackles.

“It does throw a lot of people off-track if we do our fakes with this offense,” Stephenson said. “And that’s why we’re running it. So far it really fits this team we have now better than the wing-T.”

The Eagles have reached the playoffs in each of Pemberton’s five seasons – he’s 54-11 overall and 28-1 in district/region play – and their earliest exits from the postseason were second-round losses in 2012 and 2013.

One reason Pemberton chose to change the offense was the loss of wide receiver Noel Patterson off last year’s squad. Patterson was a sensational receiver and return guy and the team’s best quick-strike weapon.

“We don’t have another one like him,” Pemberton said. “So, we’re going to use two tight ends in a two-tight deal. We can also flex those wings out as wide receivers. We have a lot more stuff we can do.”

No matter how the Eagles attack opponents this season, Stephenson and Bice will be a big part of Pemberton’s game plan.

Even a “prehistoric” coach could figure that out.

(Reach Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)