New football field. New coaches. Same old rivalry.
Soddy Daisy and Rhea County, programs separated by just 28 miles of Highway 27, combined for eight personal-foul penalties, six of which came in the first half, but it was the Trojans who came out on top Friday night, 49-42, at their new-look Robert Talaska Field.
Two first-year coaches, Soddy-Daisy’s Josh Owensby and Rhea’s Taylor Harvey, found themselves in the middle of an offensive slugfest in their season opener. The teams combined for 833 yards of offense (382 for Soddy Daisy, 451 for Rhea) and just four punts.
The Trojans distributed the ball among a backfield of quarterbacks Tucker Ross and Alex Pienson and running backs Gage Welch, Sean Collison and Logan Alexander behind a stout offensive line.
“We leaned on some people tonight,” Owensby said of his linemen. “That’s who we are.”