Rhea County defenders chase as Knoxville West's Seth Marshall (7) runs the ball during their game at the Golden Eagle's home field on Friday, Nov. 28, 2014.EVENSVILLE, Tenn. - Congratulatory hugs were doled out from the Rhea County parents to all of the players on the field after the game.
They were congratulatory for a historic season -- but not celebratory embraces.
Rhea's season came to an end Friday night with a 35-28 loss to Knoxville West in the Class 5A semifinals.
The Eagles (13-1) rallied from a 28-0 halftime deficit and tied the game with five minutes remaining, but West sophomore Jeremiah Russell caught a 30-yard touchdown pass with 13 seconds left to lift the Rebels (13-1) into the state championship game next Friday in Cookeville.
"It was an incredible game," Eagles junior quarterback Daniel Dotson said. "We play for games like that. We play for second-half comebacks like that."
The Eagles had not trailed by 14 or more points all season. A 28-0 hole seemed to be a huge chasm for a wing-T offense to overcome. But they did.
"We went into the locker room and our heads were down at first, but not when we came back out," senior running back Jake York said. "It never seemed impossible to us."
The comeback started just before halftime when Tyler Pendleton intercepted a pass at the goal line.
"If it had gone to 35," Rhea coach Mark Pemberton said, "that would have been bad."
Rebels quarterback Seth Marshall had two touchdown runs, Georgia Tech commitment Nathan Cottrell had a 27-yarder for a score and Christian Romines added another before halftime. West amassed 310 yards of offense -- Cottrell with 202 -- before the intermission. Meanwhile, the Eagles had 15 yards on 13 carries, 23 total yards, one first down and a lost fumble.
"We didn't play well in the first half," Pemberton said.
The rally started on the opening possession of the second half. Sparked by a 41-yard pass from Dotson to Jared Andrews, the Eagles marched 80 yards for a touchdown. Zach Daoust covered the final 3 and scored.
Then the Eagles' defense held on fourth down. Rhea gained more momentum with a 60-yard screen pass to Noel Patterson to the 3-yard line. Dotson scored on a sneak, cutting the lead in half.
"Once we got momentum the kids started to believe," Pemberton said. "We told them that if we could hold them and score a couple times, that we'd be in this thing in the fourth quarter."
They scored one more time in the third quarter. Lee Hill recovered a fumble at the West 35-yard line. Dotson connected with Andrews for a 20-yard touchdown.
The Rebels were reeling heading into the final stanza.
The Eagles went on a 15-play drive -- converting on fourth down three times along the way -- and scored when Dotson found Andrews all alone over the middle for a 15-yard touchdown with 5:01 remaining. Aleksander Hatlem tied the game with his extra point.
The Rebels kept their cool. Marshall and Cottrell kept the ball. The two ran it on 11 straight plays to the Rhea 30. Then the Rebels took their shot. Russell started out as if he were going to block, then zoomed into the end zone and caught a perfect pass from Marshall.
"If you're going to beat us," Cottrell said, "you're going to have to kill us."
The loss ended the season and the career of Rhea County's seniors. The group won 23 games and lost just three times over the past two seasons.
"That's pretty good for two years, especially since prior to that they had struggled," Pemberton said. "They put Rhea County back on the state map in football."
Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP