Davis, Rhea County fly past Red Bank
BY JEFF CATE (TEAM FYN SPORTS CONTRIBUTOR) – Rhea County head coach Mark Pemberton said “we tell those linemen to just give them a crease, just give them a crease”. Well, his offensive line did just that. The Golden Eagles’ rushing attack was about as hot as the heat index Friday night at Bill Horton Field as Rhea County defeated Red Bank 28-21. The game got started with Red Bank recovering the opening kickoff on a squib kick that Rhea County was unable to field, giving the Lions great field position inside the Rhea 35-yard line to start the game. Red Bank was unable to take advantage of it, pushing a field goal wide right. Ethan Davis pulled off a circle button spin move on his first big run of the night, streaking down the far sideline on a 35-yard run to get Rhea County inside Red Bank territory. The drive ended with Caleb Carr scoring on a 3-yard quarterback keeper and the Golden Eagles took a 6-0 lead (missed extra point). Red Bank answered on their next possession, getting a 57-yard score as quarterback Eric Hill threw a quick pass out in the flat to Cordell Howard. Howard made a few Golden Eagle defenders miss on his
way to the endzone and giving the Lions their first lead of night less than a minute later, going in front 7-6.

Ethan Davis intercepts pass on the 1 yd line

After stuffing David on 4th and short at their 25, the Lions offense thanked their defense by giving them 6. Hill found Logan McGinnis on a 51-yard completion, setting up the drive finishing touchdown run by Josiah Featherstone. Red Bank had the momentum and a larger lead, 14-6, with 6:45 left in the second quarter. Hill would go out late in the first half with an injury and miss the rest of the game. Rhea County has another weapon in their rushing attack arsenal and showed up near the end of the
half. Cam Potts broke off a 40-yard run down to run, which set up another Carr keeper for the touchdown. The Golden Eagles went for 2 and tied the game up at 14-14 on a Davis, which would be the halftime score.

Potts got the lead back for Rhea County with 2:57 to go in the third quarter, scoring on a 7-yard scamper and retaking the lead 21-14 and that would be the only score of the quarter. The 4 th quarter got started with some drama as Red Bank was on the move and looking to tie the game. Lions’ backup quarterback Sean Brune looked for McGinnis downfield but Davis came up with a huge interception to stop the Red Bank drive near the goal line. The senior Golden Eagle then took off again on a 33-yard run to get away from their endzone. Potts scored on a 54-yard run where he showed off his speed and ability to make defenders miss, giving Rhea County their biggest lead of the night at 28-14 with 9:37 to go. Davis and Potts led the Rhea County rushing attack, which went over 400 yards total rushing for the game. Red Bank cut the Rhea County lead down to 7 on a Brayden Baldwin 2-yard run, keeping the game within reach with 7:31 left in the game and a possible opportunity for another thrilling victory (Red Bank won last year’s meeting 7-3 at Red Bank Community Stadium). After exchanging possessions, Rhea County had a chance to put the game away, which the Golden Eagles did on a Davis run on 3 rd and long to get the first down and end a physical game between these 2 programs. “We knew it was going to be a physical football game”, Pemberton said. “We were going to have to win the line of scrimmage and we did just that.”

Red Bank falls to 1-1 and will take on East Ridge at Red Bank Community Stadium next week. Rhea
County stays unbeaten at 2-0 and will hit the road to face Knox Central next Friday night.
Follow Jeff on “X” at @TheJeffCate.