First-year head coach Taylor Harvey came to Rhea County with a stellar reputation as a defensive whiz in tow as the coordinator of Walker Valley's defensive unit prior to taking over the Golden Eagle program.
Needless to say, getting 49 points hung on his squad in his first outing as a head coach in last week's season opening loss at Soddy Daisy stung.
But with a large Evensville community making the trip down Highway 27 to Red Bank Friday night, it was the Rhea County defense which provided a happy postgame celebration, handing Harvey his first win with a dominating 35-7 performance against the Lions.
"I'm a bit overwhelmed right now," Harvey said among a field full of Eagle supporters. "To give up 49 and come back to almost shutout that team, just kudos to the kids. They responded this week in some hot temperature practices. We worked really hard on fixing us and they were very high energy all week and tonight. It was exciting to watch."
But when Red Bank went 61 yards in 11 plays for a score on the opening drive of the game, it looked as if another shootout would emerge between these two programs known for tight affairs. After all, 17 of the previous 38 battles between the two were decided by a single score.
And last night's 28-point win will go down as the third largest margin of victory for either school in the series dating back to 1974. And again, it was the Golden Eagle defense which made the difference. Following the opening two drives by the Lions which netted 118 yards of offense, Rhea County said enough was enough, limiting Red Bank to 96 yards over the finals six drives, stopping them three times on fourth down and getting three interceptions.
"Yeah, we finally got to fly around out there and it was fun. It sort of snowballed, from special team tackles to just getting after it. We cleaned up a lot of stuff this week and really executed. I think eight of 12 possessions last week started at the 50 or better for Soddy Daisy, but I thought we kept everything inside tonight and protected the edge pretty well," said linebacker Ace Robinson, who ruled the inside.
And while the defense was setting the tone, the Rhea offense was once again touchdown friendly, adding 35 more points to the 42 it scored last week.
The Eagles quickly tied the game up to start a 35-point run with quarterback Caleb Carr directing a 12-play 73-yard scoring drive. Carr converted a pair of third down passes and a fourth down toss before Chauncey Odum slipped in for seven-yard score on the first play of the second quarter.
The Lions (1-1) went right back to work with Logan McGinnis calling the shots, but four straight incompletions in the end zone stalled Red Bank at the 20. McGinnis had completed his first six passes but a stingy Rhea secondary limited him to just four more the rest of the night.
"Defense was the key. We just needed to get the ball back to our offense. It was a whole different attitude thing tonight," said linebacker Zander Yeager, who had one of the three interceptions.
Rhea (1-1) took the lead for good thanks to a fake punt that was stopped, but a facemask penalty kept it alive. Carr completed another fourth down pass to convert with the second chance, and then found Mason Ford all alone after rolling to his left and firing across the field on the right for a 55-yard catch and run. Rhea's Keshawn Smith's first of two interceptions ended the half after Markee Crutcher had set the Lions up with a pick of his own deep in Rhea territory with 1:09 left before half.
"That was on me," said Harvey of the pick. "We should never have been in that position throwing the ball late in the half like that."
The Eagles only threw it six times in the second half, determined to run the ball with the 14-7 lead, and it paid off. The Eagles rode the legs of Odum and Ford, each gashing the Lions defense time and again in the third period, and every time Red Bank brought people into the box to help, Carr made them pay with five completions.
"I thought we set up the passing game with some good run schemes in the second half. Carr is our director out there, and man, he does a good job," added Harvey.
Carr wound up 11 of 15 for the night with 164 passing yards and three TD passes. He also added a rushing score.
"We had the lead and wanted to run the clock some in the second half, and our guys up front did a great job opening lanes for us. The coaches did a great job with the schemes this week too, and we were able to hit some passes when they tried to bring more people into the box to stop the run," echoed Carr.
Odum wound up with 102 yards on 18 carries and Ford added 50 on his 11 totes. Carr found Austin Fugate twice all alone for scores, one coming from 33 yards out and one from the four as Rhea scored on both of its third period possessions to extend the lead to 28-7.
Red Bank was held to 93 yards on the ground and had just three second-half first downs as Rhea won the yardage battle 306-to-214.
Red Bank was led by Olivir Merritt's 40 yards on eight carries and McGinnis had 121 passing yards, but Rhea limited Josiah Featherstone to 42 yards total offense on three catches and six carries. The Lions will seek to regroup at East Ridge next week while Harvey will get his first home game as a head coach when Knoxville Central comes to town.
SUMMARY
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RHEA COUNTY
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0
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14
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14
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7
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-- 35
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RED BANK
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7
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0
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0
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0
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-- 7
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RB -- Cayden Loveless 4 pass from Logan McGinnis (Joseph Thompson) (4:25, 1st)
RC -- Chauncey Odum 7 run (Austin Fugate kick) (11:52, 2nd)
RC -- Mason Ford 55 pass from Caleb Carr (Austin Fugate kick) (2:23, 2nd)
RC -- Austin Fugate 4 pass from Caleb Carr (Austin Fugate kick) (5:48, 3rd)
RC -- Austin Fugate 33 pass from Caleb Carr (Austin Fugate kick) (0:47, 3rd)
RC -- Caleb Carr 4 run (Austin Fugate kick) (4:42, 4th)
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STATS
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RC
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RB
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|
First Downs
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17
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9
|
|
Rushes-Yards
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37-142
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23-93
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|
Passing Yards
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164
|
121
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Total yards
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306
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214
|
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Passing (Comp-Att-Int)
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11-15-1
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10-20-3
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Penalties-Yards
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6-58
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6-71
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Punts-Average
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1-17.0
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2-42.5
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|
Fumbles-Lost
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1-0
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0-0
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Individual stats
Rushing: Chauncey Odum 18-102, Mason Ford 11-50 Austin Fugate 1-1, Caleb Carr 7-(-13) (RC); Olivir Merritt 8-40, Josiah Featherstone 6-16, Jacolbi Salley 4-22, Cayden Loveless 2-10, Logan McGinnis 6-16 (RB).
Passing: Caleb Carr 11-15-1 164 yards (RC); Logan McGinnis 1-20-3 121 yards (RB).
Receiving: Austin Fugate 3-47, Mason Ford 1-55, Keshawn Smith 3-28, Aiden Wilkinson 3-27, Quintin Massengill 1-7 (RC); Keon Harris 2-40, Drayden Collier 3-36, Josiah Featherstone 3-26, Cayden Loveless 2-19 (RB).
RECORDS: Red Bank (1-1), Rhea County (2-0).
NEXT UP: Red Bank travels to East Ridge and Rhea County hosts Knox Central.
(Contact James Beach at 1134james@gmail.com)