Rhea County 2018

[Blaze45]

5 hours ago, RCfan said:

Hey Blaze, what happened with Blackmon opting out of their home game this upcoming season with Rhea?

I was kind of surprised to see that because it was a home game for Blackmon and Rhea County fans travel extremely well, it would have been a really good gate for y'all. 

Not real sure why they made that decision.  I think the reason may have been that  they had an option  to play a School from Alabama, who also has a new Coach (Coach Will Hester) formerly from Ravenwood. and there may be some personal connections there. It also would help build their program and provide an early season draw of an out of state opponent. The New Coach here at Blackman is trying some new things and looking to turn the corner with the team.

[RCfan]

1 hour ago, Blaze45 said:

Not real sure why they made that decision.  I think the reason may have been that  they had an option  to play a School from Alabama, who also has a new Coach (Coach Will Hester) formerly from Ravenwood. and there may be some personal connections there. It also would help build their program and provide an early season draw of an out of state opponent. The New Coach here at Blackman is trying some new things and looking to turn the corner with the team.

Makes sense. I had never been to Blackmon and was looking forward to coming out and seeing the school and stadium. Oh well maybe next time. Best of luck to the Blaze this season.

[Blaze45]

Just now, RCfan said:

Makes sense. I had never been to Blackmon and was looking forward to coming out and seeing the school and stadium. Oh well maybe next time. Best of luck to the Blaze this season.

Our school is average and our stadium is not anything worth mentioning. Metal bleachers home side with small metal bleacher visitor side. Big enough for most high school bands and about 2-300 fans, grass field that is in decent shape.  Not much to write home about.

[QB14]

From Rhea Review: Region 4-5A Defensive Player of the Year Chandler Kaylor took reps at fullback today.

Edited April 26, 2018 by QB14

[Eagle4life55]

I had the day off and went over and watched practice yesterday. I thought the kid playing FB looked really good. Looks like we are going to be running the option out of our double wing/wing T set. No surprises with the kids up front but they haven't grown like I was hoping they would. A couple of them are reasonable heavy, but we are not going to be as big and strong as some up front. One wing (I don't typically use kids names on here) is pretty quick and the other is a tough runner. I don't see the break-away speed in the backfield or the powerhouses up front that we had a few years ago, but that happens. Some really good news when you look at our schedule. Brainerd is a really bad 2A team, Marion is 2A and graduated there best players, Lenoir City is never any good, Walker Valley does not have a tradition of winning, Soddy Daisy has rarely put together a decent team, and McMinn is McMinn. We should easily win 6 games with a possibility of beating Cleveland to win 7 and finish 2nd in the district. Then with a little luck we win the first round of the playoffs and that is not a bad year. Everyone knows we blew the chance to win a state championship a couple of years ago and won't have another chance until after the classifications are done again and we can avoid Catholic.

[delusional32]

In about 2 weeks Franklin County comes to RC for a spring Scrimmage. Cant wait to come to RC's great stadium and test our teams in battle!!!

[QB14]

On 4/26/2018 at 9:26 AM, Eagle4life55 said:

I had the day off and went over and watched practice yesterday. I thought the kid playing FB looked really good. Looks like we are going to be running the option out of our double wing/wing T set. No surprises with the kids up front but they haven't grown like I was hoping they would. A couple of them are reasonable heavy, but we are not going to be as big and strong as some up front. One wing (I don't typically use kids names on here) is pretty quick and the other is a tough runner. I don't see the break-away speed in the backfield or the powerhouses up front that we had a few years ago, but that happens. Some really good news when you look at our schedule. Brainerd is a really bad 2A team, Marion is 2A and graduated there best players, Lenoir City is never any good, Walker Valley does not have a tradition of winning, Soddy Daisy has rarely put together a decent team, and McMinn is McMinn. We should easily win 6 games with a possibility of beating Cleveland to win 7 and finish 2nd in the district. Then with a little luck we win the first round of the playoffs and that is not a bad year. Everyone knows we blew the chance to win a state championship a couple of years ago and won't have another chance until after the classifications are done again and we can avoid Catholic.

Brainerd should be an easy win. Marion shouldn't be much harder, but they have a strong program that is looking to rebound after last season. Lenoir City might be decent this year with that QB coming back. Had he not had interception trouble, we could have been on the wrong end of that game last year. Walker Valley will have to figure out a replacement for Kolten Gibson, who is now the best QB in their school's history and one of the 10 best in TN history, so catching them early on is a big plus. Soddy was the only team to give Catholic a fight from our region, but they lost Boeck who literally did everything for them. McMinn is a wild card, especially considering that we smoked them in the preseason jamboree only to need OT to beat them at home in the regular season. Cane Ridge and Catholic are almost automatic losses, but Bradley Central and Cleveland are actually toss ups to me. If our offense could have moved better on Bradley, we would have beat them. Same thing with Cleveland. We lost those games 21-7 and 21-14, and both of those teams were putting up 35+ points on nearly everyone they played. Bradley also lost their star wide receiver and an amazing linebacker to graduation, so it will be interesting to see how they bounce back. I stick with my prediction of 6-4 or 7-3, with Cleveland being the deciding factor, but I would not be shocked if we beat Bradley to get to 8-2. I would like to see a better match up in the 1st round this season, though. West was a caliber team you face in round 2 to the semis, not round 1. But that was only because of the craziness that played out in Region 3-5A. At one point, I think one of their teams had the chance to either be 2nd in the region or not in the playoffs at all late in the season. Still, West was not a good draw to open the playoffs. Hopefully we get a better one this season. 

[QB14]

Hearing that spring practice has went well with the new version of the offense. I'm glad they are going away from the Wing Gun, but would still like to see an improved passing attack. Running the football should be a staple, but you will run into the same issues every year if you don't throw it. You will face a team with smart LBs and they will light up the running backs before they even get a chance. That is why passing is important. I also heard the line is looking solid with some shuffling around and more time in the weight room. We are losing one OL to Meigs, but I feel we have depth to fill in his spot. I wish him luck with the Tigers. Look forward to seeing the Eagles myself next Saturday when they scrimmage Franklin County! 

[Eagle4life55]

Are we going to have any scrimmages other than Franklin County this spring? I would like to see how we stack up against a quality team. The last 2 or 3 years we have scrimmaged Oakland. Franklin County should be good for building confidence but they are just not the same caliber as Catholic, Cane Ridge, Cleveland, Bradley, etc. Beating them by several scores won't prove anything and I'd like to see if we are actually improved over last fall or if we are looking at another very average year.

[QB14]

9 hours ago, Eagle4life55 said:

Are we going to have any scrimmages other than Franklin County this spring? I would like to see how we stack up against a quality team. The last 2 or 3 years we have scrimmaged Oakland. Franklin County should be good for building confidence but they are just not the same caliber as Catholic, Cane Ridge, Cleveland, Bradley, etc. Beating them by several scores won't prove anything and I'd like to see if we are actually improved over last fall or if we are looking at another very average year.

As far as I know, Franklin County is the only one this time. I don't know why we didn't face Oakland like we have the last 3 years, and it just seems weird to only have one spring scrimmage when we have had at least 2 for so long. We do scrimmage Anderson County at home in the fall, though, and, if nothing changes, we should be having the jamboree again, so maybe we can face Catholic or someone like them or even Bradley like last year to get a better gauge. Anderson made a deep playoff run that was only stopped in a tight loss to 4A State Champ Greeneville in the semis, and they have a ton of returning starters, so it looks to be the best scrimmage for the Eagles to use as a measuring stick. I wouldn't say that Franklin County was a bad team, but they are not the caliber of Catholic, Bradley, Cleveland, or Cane Ridge, but are prettt comparable to Soddy, Lenoir City, and McMinn.

[QB14]

Final: Rhea 34, Franklin County 6

*These are just what I was able to count*

Offensive stats for Rhea:

Rushing Yards: 290

Passing Yards: 22

Offensive stats Franklin County:

Rushing Yards: 118

Passing Yards: 12 (Plus a long pass at the start that I was unable to count because I was running behind)

 

[Eagle4life55]

Even though Franklin County is not as good as most of the teams on our schedule except for Brainerd and maybe Marion, I thought we looked pretty good. We are not going to be as big and strong up front as teams like Bradley, Cleveland or Catholic but a couple of those guys are quick and athletic. This team with this schedule should easily be 6-4 and finish 2nd in the district. With a lucky break or two, we could finish 7-3 and win the first round of the playoffs. This team is not like the teams we had in 14, 15, or 16 but we have to remember that we are not going to be able to put teams like that on the field every year and be happy with what we got.