Football Game Preview: McMinn County Cherokees vs. Rhea County Golden Eagles

Cherokees

Points

10/17/25 @ Red Bank	11
09/26/25 @ Ooltewah	55
09/19/25 vs Soddy Daisy	48
09/12/25 @ Lenoir City	53
+ 3 more games

McMinn County and Rhea County are an even 4-4 against one another since October of 2015, but not for long. The Cherokees will be playing at home against the Golden Eagles at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. McMinn County is strutting in with some offensive muscle as they've averaged 33 points per game this season.

On Friday, McMinn County came up short against Red Bank and fell 21-11. The contest marked the Cherokees' lowest-scoring matchup so far this season.

The match pitted two dominant backs against one another in Jakaryn Dyer and Jacolbi Salley. Salley had a great game and rushed for 153 yards. Meanwhile, Dyer was balling out in the loss, rushing for 111 yards and one TD.

Meanwhile, Rhea County made easy work of Loudon on Friday and carried off a 28-7 victory. Considering the Golden Eagles have won five games by more than 20 points this season, Friday's blowout was nothing new.

Rhea County's win was their fourth straight on the road, which pushed their record up to 7-1. The road victories came thanks in part to their defensive effort, having only surrendered 10.3 points on average over those games. As for McMinn County, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 5-3.

McMinn County was able to grind out a solid win over Rhea County in their previous meeting back in October of 2024, winning 35-22. One of the biggest obstacles trying to stand in the way of that victory was the Golden Eagles' Caleb Carr, who rushed for 54 yards and a pair of scores on only five carries, and also threw for 97 yards and one touchdown. Now that he won't be playing on Friday, will it be easier for the Cherokees to walk away with another win? There's only one way to find out.