On a wet, soggy night in Athens, the Russellville High School varsity football team rained down the points on East Limestone, pouring it on the Indians 52-6 at Cavnar Stadium.
Russellville’s Class 5A Region 7 victory over East Limestone (0-3, 0-1) improves the Golden Tigers’ record to 3-1 overall and 2-0 in the region.
“It’s another step in the right direction,” Russellville head coach Dustin Goodwin said of the win. “It’s a good win on the road, and it’s always good to get a region win. We’re walking away healthy, which is always a positive when it’s as slippery as it is. All in all, we’ll enjoy this win and then we’ll get back to work next week.”
The impact of Hurricane Francine earlier in the week ensured that playing conditions were less than ideal for teams around the state, but that didn’t stop the Golden Tigers from storming past the hosts Friday night. Russellville took control of the game early and, like the rain, never really looked like letting up.
The visitors got off to a fantastic start, scoring their first three touchdowns while only having to run two plays on offense. East Limestone opened the game with possession, but on the Indians’ first play from scrimmage they threw an interception to senior defensive back Elliott Green, who returned the pick all the way for the game's opening touchdown.
A little later, when Russellville got its first chance to attack on offense after another East Limestone turnover, junior running back Cameron Phinizee scored on the Golden Tigers’ second play from scrimmage, running it in from 28 yards out to make it 14-0.
East Limestone responded with a scoring drive of its own, assisted largely from penalties by Russellville, but the Golden Tigers answered spectacularly with a 90-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by senior Jah Williams to make it 21-6 before the end of the first quarter.
“We like starting fast,” Goodwin said. “Elliott Green got that interception on the first play of the game, and we were able to jump up on them early."
Goodwin said those big plays early dictated how much of the rest of the game would play out.
“Any time you can score non-offensive touchdowns, that’s huge,” Goodwin said. “Elliott’s pick six on the first play of the game and then Jah’s kickoff return were two big plays that really flipped the momentum to start the game.
“Those were two really good plays that took the wind out of (East Limestone’s) sails,” Goodwin added.
The Golden Tigers, plagued by penalties, failed to impress much in the second quarter, their only points coming off a 40-yard field goal by senior Manny Martinez. However, the Golden Tigers continued to halt any threats from East Limestone and halftime adjustments saw Russellville take its dominance up a notch in the second half.
“I thought we played a little sloppy in the first half,” Goodwin said. “That seems to be the way we start off for whatever reason, but at halftime we challenged our guys to clean it up a little bit. They continued to play hard and do the things they’re supposed to do and the second half was much better.”
After the intermission, the deluge continued and Russellville scored its final four touchdowns in the third quarter. The Golden Tigers received the ball to start the second half, and they opened it with a bang. Freshman quarterback Whit Goodwin hit a wide open Jabari Suggs for a 65-yard touchdown pass down the left flank to give the Golden Tigers a 28-6 advantage with just eight seconds gone in the final 24 minutes. At that time it was the first pass completion of the night for the Golden Tigers.
“We tried to set up something similar to that earlier in the game just to see if we would get the looks that we thought we would and we did,” Goodwin said. “The first time it didn’t work out but the second time we thought we’d get the same look that we thought we would and it fortunately worked out in our favor.”
Russellville’s next two touchdowns, which came within two minutes of each other, were scored by none other than Phinizee, who went into the game as the second-leading rusher in the country, according to MaxPreps. The running back hit on one of his signature long runs, an 85-yard touchdown scamper; he followed it up a couple minutes later with a one-yard touchdown run, set up by a catch by Gunner Sappington, who just came up short of scoring himself.
Phinizee finished the game with 11 carries for over 160 yards, which would place him over the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the season.
Up 45-6, Russellville’s final touchdown was scored by sophomore running back Taurus Davis, who broke a 72-yard touchdown run using a combination of excellent vision and speed. With 30 seconds left in the third quarter, Davis found an open running lane and, once he broke into the second level, left defenders in his muddy wake to cap the scoring.
As has been the case in each of their three wins this season, the Golden Tiger defense came up big Friday night. Apart from the highlight-worthy turnovers, the Russellville D, time after time, found ways to shutdown the Indians' offense and keep them out of the endzone. Goodwin, appropriately, lavished much praise on the defense.
“I thought the defense played really, really good,” Goodwin said. “There are always things you can improve on and get better at on both sides of the ball; our defensive staff understands that, but all in all, they held them to six points. They played really well and we’re happy that they did.”
Late in the contest, with the outcome all but official, Russellville was able to play its reserves and give its starters a rest. Goodwin said it was a nice opportunity for those players to get game reps.
“They work just as hard as everybody else,” he said. “When we’re able to play some of our backups and some of our younger guys, that’s great for them. At the same time, I’m excited to see those guys get to play on Friday night and have success.”
Russellville will return home for the first time since the season opener to host region rival Ardmore on Sept. 20th.
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