Rhea County’s Josh Davis and McMinn County’s Stephen Stansell don’t rank as marquee players in the standard sense, but each has played an integral part in his team’s drive to the playoffs.

Davis had a sparkling 45.2-yard punting average to lead the Chattanooga area and consistently provided Rhea County with a decided advantage.

Stansell, McMinn’s leading scorer with 46 points, put 27 of 35 kickoffs into the end zone, and five of the other nine were onside kicks. He also made nine of 13 field-goal tries with a long of 51, and two of the four misses were blocked.

“He’s our MVP in my opinion,” McMinn County coach Bo Cagle said. “He changes the field. If we get pinned at our 20-yard line, then the other team is likely going to be starting from its 20. Of his 44 punts, 22 were downed inside the opponents’ 20-yard line. It’s unbelievable what he can do. Against Bradley in our final regular-season game, he had two punts downed inside their 5.”

Davis, who is left-footed, got down a successful onside kick in Rhea’s win over Clinton last week, and the Golden Eagles went on to score a momentum-changing touchdown. A former quarterback, he is more of a true punter than kicker.

“We have never had a punter like that,” Rhea County coach Jason Fitzgerald said. “You go back to Red Bank this year and he probably won that game for us, and he flipped the field two or three years ago against Brainerd.”

Like any coach, Fitzgerald loves his punter’s consistency.

“He may miss a punt or an extra point if we’re up three touchdowns, but when the game’s on the line, that’s when he is going to be consistent,” Fitzgerald said. “We didn’t know how our quarterback would play. We had some guys coming off injuries, and another one wasn’t even on the team.

“Things worked out, but last spring we felt Josh was probably our biggest weapon. This has been one of those years when punting isn’t a bad thing. And he not only hits his punts, but you can also tell him where to punt it — left or right — and he’ll usually get that done too.”

Rewis steps down

Maryville Heritage coach Tommy Rewis resigned last week after five seasons. Mountaineers athletic director Chip Fuller said Rewis was keeping his teaching position and the school would not begin advertising the job opening until the state playoffs were complete. Rewis had an 11-39 record in five seasons at Heritage.

Holder sets state record

Huntingdon running back Kennon Holder set a state record for playoff rushing yards last week, helping his team upset fifth-ranked University School of Jackson. Holder ran 37 times for 503 yards and scored six touchdowns in Huntingdon’s 63-38 Class 2A opening-round win.

Holder, who came into the game with about 1,000 yards in his first first year as the Mustangs’ starter, had scoring runs of 59, 57, 57 and 50 yards. The old record of 477 yards was set 60 years ago by Livingston Academy’s Jack Keisling.

One less undefeated team

Going into tonight’s second round, there are 14 undefeated teams remaining in the TSSAA playoffs. Class 1A has the most with four, and all 10 state-ranked teams remain in this classification. Dobyns-Bennett was the only previously unbeaten team that lost last week. The Indians, who were upset by McMinn County, were also the only No. 1-ranked team to lose.

All seven defending state champions remain alive.

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