Season ends for RHS with play-off loss
An early deficit was too much for Russellville to overcome Friday night, as the Golden Tigers fell 22-8 at home to the Center Point Eagles in the first round of the Class 5A playoffs.
After falling behind by two touchdowns in the first quarter, Russellville fought back and had some momentum going into the half and only trailed the Eagles by six points. However, an uncharacteristic fumble by the RHS offense on the first snap of the third quarter led to the only other score of the contest by Center Point, as both defenses were strong in the second half.
“I thought we played hard, but I didn’t think we played very good, and they had a lot to do with that,” said Russellville head coach John Ritter. “Center Point is not a 5-5 team. When you lose to Mountain Brook, Homewood, Mortimer Jordan and Clay-Central – and lose to them very, very close – that’s a dang good ball club, and a 5-5 record is a little deceiving.”
At the conclusion of his first season at RHS, Ritter shared that he was proud of his bunch of Golden Tigers. “We go from 3-7 to 9-2, we finish second in the region, we host a play-off game, we beat all of our rivals – there’s absolutely nothing for our kids to hang their heads about,” he said.
Center Point got the ball first to start the game, and a three-yard touchdown pass from Kendall Calloway to D’Ontae Eatmon on the sixth play of the opening drive put the Eagles up 6-0.
After Russellville’s first possession ended with a punt, Center Point put together a 13-play scoring march. The drive was kept alive by a fourth-down conversion that made the spot to gain by an inch, and five plays later, Tiger Wilborn had a four-yard touchdown run.
A successful pass from Calloway to Tamarkus Judkins on the try for two made the score 14-0.
Russellville’s first points of the game came with 3:44 to go in the second quarter when the Eagles chose to take a safety rather than punt out of their own end zone. The Golden Tigers then took the ball and went 49 yards in six plays to make it 14-8. A fake punt pass from Jamaal Hubbard to Wylie Boyd kept the Golden Tigers on the move. Then, Lucas McNutt scored on a good read play, and the 27-yard run was the first RHS touchdown of the night.
The Eagles threatened to score just before the half, but the RHS defense held them out of the end zone as time expired.
Center Point only had to go 12 yards to get their only score of the second half after DeCarius Hawthorne recovered a McNutt fumble to start the third period. Wilborn ran it in from two yards out, and the try for two was successful to make the score 22-8.
Russellville tried for a comeback and a catch by Devin Buckhalter of a deflected McNutt pass, but the drive later ended on an interception.
Buckhalter and running back Zaye Boyd dealt with nagging injuries during the contest that slowed both players, but they were able to finish the game. Boyd rushed for 55 yards on 14 carries, while Buckhalter had three catches for 44 yards. Angel Moreno had two sacks during the game for the Russellville defense.
The RHS seniors played their last game in a Golden Tiger uniform, and their willingness to buy in to a new way of doing things was important to this season’s success. “We came in April 2, and we do things different,” Ritter said. “We’ve changed how we do our weights, we’ve changed how we practice, we’ve changed the whole makeup of the program, and they bought in and did what we asked them to do.
“I’m very, very proud of that group, and they will always be a special group because they’re the group that went from 3-7 to 9-2. That’s a big deal.
“I know the goal at Russellville is to win state championships,” added Ritter, “but to get there, you have to build a foundation, and that foundation was built year one.”
