Russellville defense bends, does not break in 21-13 victory
By Staff
Scot Beard
Russellville appeared to be on its way to a blow out in the first quarter against J.O. Johnson Friday night, but the Jaguars woke up and played tough the rest of the way as the Golden Tigers held on for a 21-13 win.
The Golden Tigers (5-2, 4-1) took the game's opening drive 68 yards and scored on an 8-yard run by Joey Howe. Jose Betancourt added the extra point to give Russellville a 7-0 lead.
Johnson was forced to punt on the ensuing possession. When the Golden Tigers took over they drove 89 yards for another score.
Brent Calloway ended the drive on a 19-yard run. Betancourt added the extra point and Russellville held a comfortable 14-0 lead.
Johnson answered with a 10-play, 66-yard drive to cut the lead to 14-7.
Russellville fumbled on the first play of the ensuing drive and the Jaguars recovered on their own 40-yard line. They drove 60 yards and scored on a 21-yard pass on fourth-and-three from the 21-yard line.
The point after attempt failed, leaving Russellville clinging to a 14-13 lead.
Jyran Darby returned the kickoff for a touchdown, but a holding penalty on the Golden Tigers negated the score.
On the first play of the ensuing drive, Calloway broke loose for a 70-yard touchdown run with 7.2 seconds remaining to give the Golden Tigers the 21-13 advantage.
While neither team scored in the second half, Johnson maintained control of the ball for all but 5:05 of the half.
The Jaguars were able to keep drives alive with short passes to the middle of the field.
The Jaguars drove 63 yards on one possession where they had one third-down conversion and a pair of fourth-down conversions that ate up 9:48 off the clock, but Russellville finally stopped them on the Golden Tiger 7-yard line.
"The defense played great against the run, but couldn't put pressure on the quarterback," Russellville coach Doug Goodwin said. "He had the best night he's had all season."
Russellville ran only 13 plays in the second half and gained 58 total yards during that time.
The Golden Tigers finished the game with 316 total yards. They carried the ball for 287 yards and passed for 29.
Johnson had 253 total yards.
Calloway led the Golden Tigers with 162 rushing yards on 12 carries.
Russellville travels to East Limestone next Friday. The game begins at 7 p.m.
