Russellville’s Reed Smith is tackled by an Ardmore defender while carrying the ball in Friday’s game. Photo by Elliott Gordon.

By Matt Wilson

For the FCT

The Golden Tigers throttled the Ardmore Tigers 50-13 in a 5A Region 8 game Friday, pushing Russellville’s record to 4-0 and 3-0 in their region.

The opening frame saw things stay close for a while with Russellville’s Deyon Hill capping off a 51-yard drive with a gashing 34-yard run into the red zone before hitting the endzone on a two-yard run. The ensuing PAT was missed and Ardmore took the momentum into their next drive.

Ardmore’s sophomore quarterback, Garett Miller, hooked up with senior Dominic Clemmons on a 47-yard pass to put the Ardmore Tigers down into scoring territory. Ricky Lowery punched through Russellville’s defense two plays later for a one-yard rushing touchdown and after the extra-point, Ardmore took the lead 7-6.

But that would be the end of the scoring for Ardmore until late in the fourth quarter and Russellville’s offense began to hit on all cylinders.

Russellville’s Payton Nichols orchestrated three straight scoring drives over 40 yards to build a substantial lead.

Head coach Mark Heaton said he was pleased to see the way his team executed.

“It is all about execution no matter what team you are playing,” Heaton said.

“It was encouraging to see them stay focused and keep executing even when we got out to a big lead.”

Hill scampered for his second touchdown of the game on a 34-yard run. Cameron DeArman hauled in a five-yard touchdown reception to make it 20-7 early in the second quarter. Colby Tompkins capped off a 43-yard drive by catching a 27-yard touchdown pass from Nichols to make things comfortable for Russellville.

With under five minutes remaining in the opening half and the score 27-7 in favor of Russellville it seemed as though the scoring might be done.

But Ardmore’s Cody Fox fumbled on the next possession and Russellville’s Jared Thornton recovered deep in Ardmore’s territory. Nichols hit Reed Smith on a 21-yard touchdown pass on the next play to put Russellville up 34-7.

Two minutes later, after another stalled drive from Ardmore, Smith tallied his second touchdown of the night when he ripped off a 55-yard touchdown run and extended Russellville’s lead to 40-7.

Russellville’s Blake Bendall intercepted Ardmore’s Miller on the next drive on a play that saw Miller scramble trying to make a play. Ardmore’s Zac Clemons intercepted Russellville’s Nichols to return the favor to end the half.

Russellville’s Reed Smith showed no mercy when the teams returned for the second half as he promptly racked up his third touchdown of the night by returning the second half kickoff 74 yards.

The third quarter saw Ardmore run both the ball and the clock as efficiently as they had all night which allowed them to keep the ball from Russellville’s buzz saw of an offense.

Russellville’s defense did well to consistently bottle up Ardmore’s big, physical running backs and shutdown Miller and the passing game. But with 7:10 left in the contest Ardmore capped off an 83-yard drive that saw them go through 18 plays before Braydon Edwards punched through for a two-yard touchdown run, ending the scoring for the Ardmore Tigers.

Russellville tacked on a field goal with less than three minutes to go and the final score ended 50-7.

Heaton said the excitement rises each week as the team keeps winning, but he expects his team to stay focused and worry about getting better each week.

“Every week when the team wins, of course the excitement in town rises a little bit,” Heaton said.

“But we can’t listen to what others are saying about us or saying about how good we are—we just have to stay humble and focus on us.”