Russellville blanks Hartselle 14-0
By Staff
Justin Schuver
For the FCT
HARTSELLE – By the end of Friday night's game against Hartselle, the Golden Tigers' uniforms might have been dirty but their record remained unblemished.
Russellville (3-0, 2-0 in Region 8) increased its regular season winning streak to 44 games with a gritty 14-0 win at Hartselle's J.P. Cain Stadium Friday night. Hartselle, who advanced to the Class 5A quarterfinals last season, fell to 0-3.
The contest was 6-0 after three quarters when senior linebacker Kory Suggs blocked a punt to give Russellville the ball on the Hartselle 23-yard line with 11:00 left.
Five plays later, Russellville senior quarterback Corey Trapp scored on a 6-yard touchdown run as the Golden Tigers managed their first touchdown of the game. Senior running back Mike Abernathy ran in the two-point conversion.
Russellville's only other points of the game came on first-half field goals from senior kicker Josh Montgomery. Montgomery nailed a 23-yard kick in the first quarter and a 38-yard kick in the second quarter.
The Golden Tigers were successful in shutting down a Hartselle ground game that features two running backs who broke 1,000 yards rushing as sophomores.
The Tigers were held to just 50 yards rushing on 26 plays.
"Coming in what we were really concerned about was stopping the run," said Russellville coach Doug Goodwin. "We knew if we could stop the run we'd have a good chance to win and that's the way it worked out."
Russellville dominated time of possession in the first half, but only led by six points at halftime. Hartselle ran just 11 offensive plays in the first half.
Both teams had their share of breaks but could not capitalize.
With 1:56 left in the third quarter, Hartselle's Marquez Jones fumbled and it was recovered by Russellville's Caleb Mitchell, who returned the ball 57 yards to the Hartselle 8.
Three plays later, Russellville fumbled on the 10-yard line to give the ball right back to the Tigers.
Then later in the fourth quarter, Hartselle squandered a golden opportunity to put points on the board. A 65-yard pass play from Hartselle's Luke Bole to Tony Weaver brought the Tigers down to the Russellville 12 midway through the quarter. Russellville's Siran Winston ran Weaver down from behind to prevent the touchdown.
Hartselle moved the ball and had a second-and-goal situation from the Russellville 1 but Bole could not hold onto the snap and the Tigers were backed up to the 12-yard line. Hartselle's drive stalled when Bole overthrew Jones on fourth down.
Russellville outrushed Hartselle 207-49 and kept the ball away from the Tigers with a 26:25 to 13:35 time of possession advantage.
Trapp finished the game 11-of-16 for 151 yards and no interceptions and completed passes to seven different receivers, including senior tight end Josh Smith, who led with four catches for 73 yards.
