EVENSVILLE, Tenn. - For more than three quarters of football on Friday night, little went in favor of Rhea County.
In the fourth quarter of the matchup with visiting Walker Valley, very little went wrong for the Eagles.
Rhea scored 17 points in the final 5:05 to earn an improbable 31-28 victory over the Mustangs in the Region 4-5A opener for both teams and improve to 3-0, with Dalton Hampton scoring the difference-making touchdown with a minute to play.
Coach Mark Pemberton told his team after the game it was the "best rally he'd ever been a part of."
"We had a whole team that kept battling," he said. "They never surrendered. They could have easily given up, but they kept battling and found a way to win."
The game didn't tilt in the favor of the home team until a bad snap by Walker Valley led to a safety, after which the Mustangs (1-2) still led 28-16. On the ensuing series, Rhea freshman quarterback Caleb Martin - who finished with 174 passing yards and a touchdown both rushing and throwing - completed all three of his passes before finishing the drive with a 1-yard plunge into the end zone.
"They told me to come in with the mindset of running the offense and being a leader," Martin said. "We went in at halftime with the mindset that the score was 0-0, and we came out like it was a tie ballgame and just played our game in the second half."
Some trickery followed with an onside kick by the Eagles that was recovered by Gavin Roddy with 3:08 remaining. Martin hit on both of his throws on the series, including a 32-yard completion to Jayden Goodwin to set up first-and-goal. Hampton finished the drive with a 1-yard sweep.
The Mustangs had one last chance, but Tucker Pope was intercepted for the second time by Amari Roddy.
Freshman running back Ethan Davis had 74 yards on the ground for the Eagles, while Hampton was held to 20 yards but scored twice.
Pope rushed for two scores and finished with 213 passing yards for the Mustangs, who for the second straight Friday night lost when their opponent rallied from being down by double digits. Bradley Central trailed 21-0 in the second quarter before coming back to win 37-34 a week earlier.
Junior Aiden Gibson had 93 yards on eight catches for the Mustangs, while Brody Swafford had an 85-yard kickoff return to start the game and Spencer Jackson scored from 27 yards out.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.