Storm clouds loom overhead as the Soddy-Daisy marching band stands on the field before their prep football game against Walker Valley on Friday, Oct. 9, 2015, at Soddy-Daisy High School in Soddy-Daisy, Tenn.Read more
Scores and Photos of Friday night high school football - Oct. 9
EVENSVILLE, Tenn. - The stands were empty at 7 p.m.
Nobody dared take the field or take a seat - officials ensured security. Lightning flashed and thunder boomed from clouds very close to Bill Horton Field as well as clouds in the distance to the east of Rhea County's home stadium.
Once the Region 4-5A game started, after a weather delay of about an hour, the Eagles rolled through Cleveland 41-7 easier than the storms moved through the area.
"We just played bad," Cleveland running back Keegan Jones said. "We didn't execute on offense or defense."
The Eagles (4-3, 2-1) punished the Blue Raiders' offense and cruised through their defense throughout the evening on Rhea's synthetic turf.
Rhea County junior back Cody Bice rushed for 130 yards on 15 carries and scored three touchdowns, including the first two scores of the night.
"We thought we could run the ball on them," Rhea coach Mark Pemberton said. "We knew they have really good skill guys, but we plugged in a few new guys up front and I think that helped us.
"Our defense played great."
The Eagles limited the Raiders (3-5, 1-3) to 74 yards rushing on 23 attempts. They also forced Cleveland to punt six times.
"We listened to music and got hyped for the game," said Rhea County senior Noel Patterson, who made two catches for 63 yards. "I really do hate waiting for football games."
Patterson waited an extra hour in the locker room. But his time turned out to be worth the wait.
Teammate Bice first lit up the digital scoreboard after hauling in a short pass from Daniel Dotson and turning it into a 21-yard touchdown. Bice gave the Eagles a 14-0 lead on a 4-yard run straight down the throat of Cleveland's defense.
"Our guys were ready to get out and play," Pemberton said. "Our defense has played well almost every game. Offensively, it was good to see us back on track, because we haven't scored a whole lot of points."
In the second quarter, Dotson scored on a 5-yard quarterback sneak with the offensive line pushing all opponents out of the way. Later in the quarter, Dylan Smith scored on a 6-yard run that provided Rhea County a 27-0 lead at halftime.
The Eagles had 190 yards rushing on 28 carries in the first half, with Bice accounting for 119 of those yards. The Raiders had just 32 yards on 12 carries before intermission.
After the break, Bice scored again from 2 yards out, Smith scored on a 1-yard run and Cleveland mustered points on a 22-yard pass from JaShawn Hill to Skyler Davis.
"We were just in a holding pattern and we were fixing to get warmed up, then we had lightning strikes," Pemberton said about the pregame delay. "We started from scratch when we came out. We just hung around inside and shot the bull.
"The guys were ready to get out here and play."
Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP.