Golden Tigers notch first victory of season
By Brannon King for the FCT
The Russellville Golden Tigers got their first varsity win of the 2017 season with a 42-21 road victory over the St. John Paul II Catholic Falcons Friday night.
Almost before the fans had time to settle into their seats at the Discovery Middle School stadium, the home field of the Falcons, Russellville’s Bernard Phinizee had taken the opening kickoff all the way to the end zone for a touchdown on a long return.
The touchdown for Phinizee was the first of three on the night for the senior and the first of his two kickoff return touchdowns on the evening. Another pair of seniors accounted for the other RHS touchdowns, as Robert Hamilton picked up a couple of scores and Logan Jones added a TD of his own.
“Bernard had a big night, and he stepped up big in a couple of situations,” Russellville head coach Mark Heaton said. “The kickoff return team has done a great job every week, and we’ve gotten better and better at that.”
The Class 5A Region 8 win was a good one for the Golden Tiger squad that has battled inexperience, injuries and a tough schedule so far this season. “Every adjustment we made, our kids jumped in and made them and played a little bit better. I’m proud of the guys,” Heaton said. “It’s good to smile again; it’s definitely a win that we needed.”
The Russellville defense got off to a good start by forcing a St. John Paul punt on the Falcons’ first drive. However, on the third play for the RHS offense, a Falcon defender stripped the ball from the Russellville running back, and SJP took possession.
The Russellville defense then forced another three-and-out, but a running-into-the-punter penalty cost RHS and Jones a touchdown on his return.
After forcing an RHS punt, the Falcons put together a scoring drive to even the score at 7-7 with 1:13 remaining in the first quarter. Then, on the kickoff, Phinizee took the kickoff return to the end zone and gave the lead right back to RHS.
Kenner Perez, who was perfect on the night on extra-point kicks, made the score 14-7.
On the next Falcon possession, Russellville’s Kevin Partrich got the first of his two interceptions in the game when he picked off a pass on fourth down to give the ball back to RHS. The Golden Tigers then put together a 15-play scoring drive that put RHS up 21-7 when Luke Barnwell threw a seven-yard TD pass to Robert Hamilton.
It took only five plays for the Falcons to answer, when sophomore quarterback Seth Brown picked up a bad snap and scrambled before launching a 64-yard TD pass to John Sauter with 4:00 left in the half.
Russellville picked up another score on the Golden Tigers’ next drive when Hamilton caught a Barnwell pass. Hamilton used good balance and was not ruled down as he tried to avoid a defender and raced into the end zone after there was no whistle blown for a 32-yard TD.
The Falcons threatened to score just before the half, but a seven-yard pass on fourth down fell incomplete in the end zone.
Russellville’s Wylie Boyd put an end to the Falcons’ first drive of the second half with an interception not long after the St. John Paul II marching band had completed its first-ever halftime show.
Later in the third quarter, the Falcons got within seven points when Gerard McCarron picked up a three-yard TD run to make the score 28-21. The RHS offense answered right back: Jones caught a seven-yard touchdown pass from Barnwell.
The Russellville defense then got a stop with the help of sacks by Andres Tomas and Jeff Lloyd.
The Golden Tigers finished off the scoring when Phinizee ran in a seven-yard touchdown with 5:25 left in the game. Russellville will return home for a game against the Brooks Lions Friday night in a big region contest.
