Franklin County Times

WEST POINT — The Russellville Golden Tigers moved to 2-1 in Class 5A, Region 8 with a 63-20 win over the West Point Warriors Thursday night.

The game was televised on My 68, a channel in the Birmingham coverage area, which is the reason the game was played on a Thursday.

“We come out and played well from the beginning,” Russellville head coach Michael Jackson said. “We took care of what we could, and we sort of made the game blow up early on. We forced some turnovers early and we hit them with some big plays.”

Russellville put its first points of the game on the board just two and a half minutes into the first quarter when freshman quarterback Landon Smothers broke a 41-yard touchdown run. Kicker Adam Brown put the PAT through the uprights, and the Golden Tigers led 7-0.

That quick score would prove to be a microcosm of the game, as Russellville and West Point would combine for eight quick touchdowns, with multiple drives ending with a score after a single play.

The next score came on a 74-yard run by senior Tyler Boyd, and a fumble recovery by Matthew Davidson led to a 2-yard touchdown run by senior C.J. Posey just 1:04 after the Boyd score.

Things went from worse to disaster for the Warriors on the ensuing kickoff. Tate Duckett of West Point had the kickoff land and roll in front of him. The ball looked as if it would roll out of bounds for a penalty, but Duckett would not be so lucky.

The ball stayed in bounds and was recovered by Russellville before Duckett could jump on the live ball.

Seven seconds later senior Bud Coleman punched in a 3-yard touchdown run to extend the Golden Tigers’ lead to 28-0.

West Point finally caught a break, or in this case a tipped pass for an interception, a few minutes later, leading to the Warriors’ first score on a hook and lateral just one play later.

Russellville wasted no time responding, as Coleman broke a 54-yard touchdown run less than a minute later, but it was called back by a holding penalty.

And that was only the first quarter.

Coleman got another chance to run the ball into the end zone from two yards out early on in the second, and this time it counted. The point after by Brown put Russellville up 35-7, but West Point would answer less than two minutes later with a 75-yard touchdown pass. A two-point conversion failed, making the score 35-13.

The Golden Tigers answered that touchdown one offensive play (and 26 seconds) later with a 61-yard pass from Smothers to junior receiver Chris Owens for a score.

Russellville would score two more touchdowns before halftime, the first on a 74-yard run by Boyd, the next on a returned interception by freshman defensive back Austin Kitterman.

With a 56-13 lead at intermission, the night was done for Russellville’s first team offense and defense. West Point continued playing its starters, and the backups for the Golden Tigers tied the Warriors 7-7 in the second half.

“We got a lot of kids in the game tonight,” Jackson said. “I’m so proud of our seniors and the way they played. We did good at times, but our defense has to step up and make plays [in future games.”]

West Point, after a scoreless third quarter, punched in a short touchdown run, and with the PAT made it 56-20.

The Golden Tigers had a chance to score in the red zone but were stopped on fourth down on the four-yard line.

The final score for Russellville came on a 70-yard run by freshman running back Trey Williams, putting the score at 63-20, just one touchdown shy of a new single-game points scored record for the Golden Tigers.

Russellville recovered a fumble with 1:39 left in the game and would have one last chance at the scoring record, but Coach Jackson decided to end the game in the victory formation instead.

“We didn’t even think of that,” Jackson said. “We wanted our young kids to get some playing time.”

The Golden Tigers (3-1, 2-1) will travel to Jasper to take on the Walker Vikings next Friday night.