Franklin County Times

Johnathan Bentley

Special to the FCT

JASPER — Russellville picked up yardage in chunck Friday night.

Walker ran in place.

The Golden Tigers scored all the points they would need on the first drive of the game and Russllville’s defense did the rest in a 16-0 win over Walker at Ki-Ro Gambrell Field.

Russellville gashed Walker’s defense for 281 yards on the ground while holding the Vikings to a paltry 82 total yards of offense.

Walker suffered its first shutout loss in John Holladay’s tenure.

“We didn’t block well. We didn’t run well. We didn’t throw well. We didn’t do anything well,” Holladay said after the game. “It was a matter of us not executing. We didn’t do what we are coached to do.”

Russellville (4-1) set the tone in the first quarter, running down the field for the first score. Tyler Boyd did the honors, going in from five yards out. Adam Brown added the extra point for a 7-0 lead at the 5:48 mark of the opening quarter.

The scored remained that way until the third quarter when the Golden Tigers took seven minutes off the clock with a 74-yard drive that ended with a Brown 24-yard field goal for a 10-0 lead with 3:38 left in the third quarter.

Russellville’s final score came in the fourth quarter when Deondre Coleman closed out a 90-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown run with 3:36 left on the clock for the 16-0 final.

“We challenged the kids because we had given up 81 points in two years (to Walker). Our defense stepped up,” Russellville coach Michael Jackson said.

“To come in here and shut them out is an extraordinary effort. Our kids come out and played extremely hard in an adverse situation here. This is a tough environment to play in. We did a good job of containing the guys they get big plays from. We didn’t want to give up anything that could give them momentum. Our guys did a great job.”

Boyd finished with 27 carries for 112 yards and a score, Coleman added 94 yards and a score on 12 carries while Landon Smothers had 63 yards on 11 carries. For the game, the Tigers picked up 281 yards on 51 attempts on the ground.

Walker (3-2) was held to 50 rushing yards on 23 carries while completing 3-of-12 passes for 32 yards.