PHOTO: Evan Meadows

Five RCHS football players were honored at the recent District 5 3AAA Football Banquet. From left: Evan Meadows, Caleb Price, Coach Fitzgerald, Justin Rice, and Desmond Sharp. (Not pictured: Charlie Hester)

Football is a team sport, but once a year a select few players are honored for their on field and off field achievements. On Wednesday December 9th the District 5 3AAA football banquet was held at The Mountain View Inn in Cleveland. Hundreds of players, coaches, and family members packed into the tiny banquet hall waiting to see who would take home the hardware. In this mix of hundreds, were four Rhea County players waiting to get their awards. The players were Seniors Justin Rice, Caleb Price, and Evan Meadows and they were also accompanied by Freshman Desmond Sharp. Senior Charlie Hester was also being recognized, but was unable to attend the banquet. Listed below are the players, their All-District Honors, and their season stats.

Desmond Sharp: Newcomer of the Year. In only 5 games Desmond amassed 451 yards rushing on 87 carries. He hauled in 9 receptions for a total of 122 yards. He scored 4 touchdowns, all on the ground. He also helped by contributing to special teams with 9 kick-returns for a total of 186 yards.

Charlie Hester: Punter of the Year. In his first year as the team’ s punter Charlie averaged an impressive 38.95 yards a punt. He had a season long of 55 and was able to land 11 punts inside the 20 yard line.

Evan Meadows: All-District Academic Selection. Evan only started one year on the offensive line but was able to amass 22 pancake blocks,  second on the team.  Off the field he averaged a 3.92 GPA and scored a composite score of 27 on his ACT.

Caleb Price: All-District Coaches Selection. Caleb started 2 years at linebacker. In his senior year he was able to gather in 52 solo tackles and 68 assisted tackles for a total of 120 tackles. Caleb was able to bring down the opposing team’s quarterback 4 times and he was also able to force 4 fumbles and recover 5. This was his second All-District selection.

Justin Rice: All-District Coaches Selection: Justin was a 2 year starter at running back and also a one year starter at linebacker. In his senior campaign he had 88 carries for 364 yards and an astounding 12 touchdowns. He also caught 32 passes for a total of 325 yards and 3 more touchdowns. On the defensive side of the ball, he had 29 solo tackles and 38 assisted tackles for a total of 67 tackles. He was able to force and recover 1 fumble.