The Golden Tigers face off against the Brooks High School Lions in the 7-on-7 camp July 10.

By Kadin Pounders

For the FCT

The weather and the competition were both scorching hot July 10 when the Russellville Golden Tigers hosted their 7-on-7 camp.

The Golden Tigers started slow, picked up some steam and then finished cold as they ended their day with a 27-2 loss to eventual champion Hartselle in the tournament semifinals.

Ten schools participated in the varsity 7-on-7 pool-play and tournament where Russellville finished with a 3-3 record overall.

Each game lasted 20 minutes and points were awarded for touchdowns, interceptions and defensive stops. Teams played on a 40-yard field and had three downs to get a first down or score. First down markers were placed at the 25- and 10-yard lines.

Russellville started the day off dropping back-to-back games. Phillips defeated Russellville 21-20, and then the Golden Tigers were beat 20-14 by Huntsville.

“We dropped balls in opportune times in the first two games, and we had a couple of coverage busts and some missed assignments,” said head coach Mark Heaton.

Despite the first two close losses, Russellville rebounded well and won the next two games convincingly. The Golden Tigers knocked off Brooks 24-8 and beat Hartselle 27-14 to go 2-2 in pool-play.

“Once we started catching the ball offensively everybody was looking good,” said Heaton. “Defensively our secondary started closing the gap between cushions in the routes and started breaking up balls and got off the field.”

Upcoming junior Payton Nichols and rising senior Deyon Hill looked at their best in the final pool-play game against Hartselle. Nichols, who threw for 16 touchdowns and only one interception on the day, was hitting his receivers in stride, while Hill took two short passes and turned them into long touchdowns weaving through and outrunning every defender.

Receivers Austin Kelsey, Colin Garrison, Cameron DeArman, and Nate Franklin also showed some bright spots on offense while cornerback Logan Jones and linebacker Landon Ezzell made some good plays on the defensive side.

The Golden Tigers received a bye in the first round of tournament play before beating up on Carbon Hill 39-8. In the semi-final loss against Hartselle, dropped passes and missed assignments plagued Russellville like they did at the start of the day.

“When you beat a good team, it’s because you play well and you make big plays when they need to be made, and we blew two coverages again and then we dropped two or three big time balls for big plays,” said Heaton.

With just a few more weeks of workouts and one more 7-on-7 competition left this summer, Heaton is confident his guys are getting closer to where he wants to be.

“We’re closing the gap here in the summer, and we’re getting better every week. We got beat in the semi-finals here, and last time we got beat in the second round by the team that won the tournament,” he said. “We’ve just got to keep working, keep getting better, and hopefully next week finish on a strong note and take that into the fall as a positive.”

Russellville will participate in its final 7-on-7 competition of the summer at Brooks High School July 17.