CLEVELAND, Tenn. – Rhea County might not have won Friday’s Region 4-5A high school football game at Cleveland if the outcome was based on style points. Then again, if first downs were the No. 1 objective, the Golden Eagles would’ve won in a landslide.
As it turned out, a 35-28 victory over the Blue Raiders was perfectly fine with Rhea coach Mark Pemberton.
Rhea (5-2, 3-0) is currently tied atop the region standings with McMinn County. And as much as Pemberton would like to see his team win the region championship, there’s another target that comes first.
“This is huge for us, as far as the playoffs go,” Pemberton said. “That’s our third win in the (region). I’ve got a feeling that might get us in. Our first goal is to find a way to get in the playoffs. Hopefully this gives us a chance.”
The Golden Eagles fought their way to 16 first downs in the first half. Cleveland (4-4, 1-3) had one first down out of its first four possessions.
But the Blue Raiders’ Logan Strickland made a fumble recovery late in the half and returned it 30 yards to the Golden Eagles’ 40. An unsportsmanlike-conduct call on Rhea moved it to the 25 and, with an untimed down, reserve quarterback Joseph Osterland lobbed a pass into the left corner of the end zone that Romeo Wykle came down with and the teams went to the half with the score 21-21.
One of Cleveland’s first-half touchdowns was a 74-yard run by Micaleous Elder.
“That’s kind of who we are,” Cleveland coach Scott Cummings said. “When you have players like Micaleous Elder and Keegan Jones, sometimes you’ve just got to hand them the ball and let them do their thing.”
Osterland was in because Skyler Davis, the fourth Blue Raiders to play quarterback this season, went out with an ankle injury late in the first half and did not return. But Osterland connected with Wykle again for a 75-yard score to tie it at 28 with 11:20 to play.
“They just made some plays,” Pemberton said. “Even though they’ve had all those injuries, they’ve still got athletes. They made some plays through the air that we didn’t do a good job of defending. That’s what practice is for.”
But the Golden Eagles immediately went back to work on offense, marching 56 yards on seven running plays for the go-ahead score with 7:17 remaining. They picked up seven more first downs on that possession plus the one that ran out the final four minutes after Chris Sturgeon got the ball back with an interception.
“Pemberton counts the box,” Cummings said. “If they think they can get to the perimeter, then that’s what they’re going to do. If you load up on the perimeter, they’re going to run between the tackles. There weren’t really any surprises there. There are so many people in such a tight area, it’s tough to handle. “
Rhea spread the ball among four backs, with Christian Simon leading with 122 yards on 14 carries, including a score. Cody Bice had 115 on 12 rushes, Mason Stephenson had 90 on 16 with two touchdowns and Eddie Davis added 81 on 13 with a touchdown. Davis also had a TD catch.
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him on Twitter @KelleySmiddie.