York gives Rhea stunning comeback win

Arkansas-SEMO Live Blog

EVENSVILLE, Tenn. - With the crowd noise inside Rhea County's stadium Friday night, Jacob York couldn't hear anything his coaches or his teammates were yelling at him - and that's a good thing.

With less than 15 seconds on the clock and his team down six to Class 6A 10th-ranked Cookeville, York took a short screen pass 62 yards for what turned out to be the winning touchdown, giving the Class 5A 10th-ranked Eagles an improbable 28-27 victory.

The win puts Rhea (6-0, 3-0) in the 6-AAA driver's seat with two district games to go.

York broke about six tackles on his winning play, electing not to run out of bounds despite the fact Rhea had no timeouts.

"I just had to let my athletic ability take over," York said. "I couldn't really hear anything the coaches were saying. I just got in the zone.

"The feeling is unbelievable -- there's no replacement for this."

Had he been able to hear anything being said to him by his teammates on the sideline and the coaches, he would have known everybody -- including head coach Mark Pemberton -- was urging him to go out of bounds so the team could run one more play.

"I guess that shows how much I know," Pemberton said. "I thought time was going to run out on us, but Jacob got some big blocks downfield and he just was determined to get in the end zone."

York crossed the goal line with one second to go.

Rhea had seen its 21-3 halftime lead erased, as the Cavaliers (6-1, 3-1) started to dominate both lines of scrimmage. After 62 yards rushing in the first half, they finished with 145 in the final 24 minutes, with touchdowns by Vic Johnson and Gabe Angel. They also scored on a 29-yard pass from Matthew Collins to Zach Poston on their first three drives of the second half in taking a 24-21 advantage.

Meanwhile, the Cookeville defense was limiting a Rhea team that had 135 rushing yards in the first half to 18 plays totaling 56 yards leading up to York's heroics.

"They kicked our tails in the second half," Pemberton said. "We couldn't move the ball and our defense was on the field all half. They beat us at our own game."

Zack Daoust finished with 100 yards rushing and two touchdowns for Rhea. Cody Bice scored the team's third touchdown.

Johnson had 103 of his 120 yards rushing in the second half, while Poston had caught both of Collins' completions for 77 yards. Kicker Spencer Wright added a field goal in each half, the latter giving Cookeville a 27-21 lead with 5:24 to go.

"If we make one tackle, the game is over," Cookeville coach Jimmy Maynard said. "We really took the fight to them in the second half, and the guys responded exceptionally well. The kid made a strong, determined run.

"But I'm proud of the guys' effort."

Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp.

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