Lawrence Red Devils down Golden Tigers
By Brannon King for the FCT
The Russellville football team got its first touchdown of the 2017 season Friday night, but the Golden Tigers are still searching for a win.
The Lawrence County Red Devils spoiled Russellville’s first home game of the year, taking a 25-6 victory. The win was the first for LCHS over Russellville since 1945 and broke a 13-game winning streak RHS had against the Red Devils.
Russellville (0-3, 0-2) showed improvement in some areas and held Lawrence County (2-1, 2-0) scoreless in both the first and third quarters. RHS only allowed eight points in the fourth quarter, but it was the second period where the Red Devils took control of the contest, putting up 17 points.
“Our kids fought to the last second, and that’s important to me,” Russellville head coach Mark Heaton said. “We got better tonight, and we grew up right there and had to fight through some adversity. You saw a lot of younger guys step up and play at a higher level tonight.”
The Red Devils’ first touchdown came early in the second quarter, when former Russellville standout back Zaye Boyd converted a fourth down try that led to a 1-yard TD run by the junior. After the two teams traded punts, Russellville got to the LCHS 40-yard line before punting again to the Red Devils on a fourth and seven.
Eight plays later, Codey Blankenship found Jacob Gholston on a 60-yard TD pass play to make it 14-0 with 2:22 left in the half.
The following RHS possession showed promise but ended when K’Lebb Taylor of Lawrence County intercepted a Russellville pass. On the next play, Blankenship threw to Boyd for an 82-yard pass play that got the Red Devils away from their own end zone and near Russellville’s. Just before the half, Anthony Perez kicked a successful 27-yard field goal to put LCHS up 17-0.
The Russellville defense forced a punt on the first drive of the second half, and Robert Hamilton used good blocking on a long punt return to set the RHS offense up for their touchdown. Luke Barnwell completed a couple of passes and carried the ball himself to get the scoring drive going. After a holding penalty had pushed RHS back, a penalty on the Red Devils on an incompletion put Russellville back near the end zone. Then, ninth-grader Barnwell found freshman teammate Rowe Gallagher for a seven-yard touchdown pass to get the Golden Tigers on the scoreboard.
Russellville looked to be gaining momentum with another defensive stop on the following LCHS possession, but a fumble on the punt return gave the ball right back to the Red Devils. RHS got a big yardage passing play in the fourth quarter when Logan Jones caught a Barnwell pass and raced down the field, but a penalty on Russellville brought the ball back to their own 39-yard line instead of having the ball inside the LCHS 15. The Red Devils finished the scoring on a 3-yard TD run by Blankenship and a trick play two-point conversion.
Russellville will travel to Huntsville Friday night for a game with the Mae Jemison Jaguars in another region contest.
