Golden Tiger Deyon Hill reaches the ball across the plane of the goal line for a touchdown.

By Josh Prewitt for the FCT
The East Limestone Indians came into Golden Tiger Stadium on a chilly fall night underneath the lights in a huge 5A Region 8 showdown featuring the only two teams left undefeated in the Region 8 standings last Friday night.
Deyon Hill had a monster game for the Golden Tigers, finishing the game with 227 rushing yards on 27 carries for four touchdowns and also adding a 27-yard touchdown reception from QB Payton Nichols, giving Hill five total touchdowns.
The Golden Tigers offense has proved to be a dominant force this season, averaging 46.6 points a game and allowing just 21 points on defense.
East Limestone came into this match-up riding a four-game win streak after losing the first game of season, and Russellville was a few seconds away in last week’s game against Sparkman from being 5-0 but lost a heartbreaker in the closing seconds, 39-36.
The Golden Tigers started off the first half with the only two scores of the game before going into halftime up 14-0. It started with an early first quarter one-yard touchdown by Hill. He would then capitalize on an Indians fumble right before the half, scoring on another short yard touchdown run to put Russellville up 14-0.
Russellville continued the bounce back bid with a crucial third quarter, outscoring the Indians 13-7. The first score of the second half came from a 26-yard touchdown run by Hill. He would then get in the end zone again but in different fashion as he caught a 27-yard touchdown pass from QB Payton Nichols to go up 27-7. The Indians score came from a deep bomb from QB Zach Lacy to WR/RB/CB Easton Reece to cut into the Golden Tigers lead going into the fourth quarter.
Nichols finished the night with a good solid performance, completing 12 passes for 123 yards and one touchdown.
Hill wouldn’t let up his touchdown clinic as he added a big 40-yard touchdown, taking it to the house – that proved to be the dagger, as it put Russellville up 33-7 in the fourth.
The Indians would add another score, but it wouldn’t be enough, as Russellville would go on to win in a big Region 8 game over East Limestone 39-14 to take over first place in the 5A Region 8 Standings.
Hill commented on the big bounce back win over region opponent East Limestone. “It was huge for us, huge for us,” Hill said. “Everyone played their butts off coming out with a lot of focus, and we took a loss last week, but we bounced back, and it got us all refocused on what we needed to do to win.

“It’s great being number one in the region, but we have to take it week by week,” Hill added.
The Russellville Golden Tigers improve to (5-1) (4-0) in 5A Region 8 play. They also have a tiebreaker scenario if needed. The Golden Tigers are set to take on another tough test as they face West Point (5-2) (3-1), which are in a 3-way tie for second place in the region as they come to Tiger Stadium this Friday.
Heaton said he was very pleased after the big region win to take over first place. “We had to clean up a lot of execution errors and stupid penalties. We still had a lot of them tonight, but I think ultimately the defense cleaned up a lot and gave us a better chance to win,” Heaton said.
Right now Russellville is the only team left in 5A Region 8.
“We have to be able to go back to work and focus on one game at a time. Next week is West Point, and that’s what’s important right now,” Heaton said. “It gives us a chance to go into next week at the top of the region.”