RHS shuts out Lawrence County to continue win streak
The Russellville varsity football team hosted the Lawrence County Red Devils in a region contest Friday night – and for the second week in a row, the Golden Tigers held an opponent scoreless and got the commanding win.
The 43-0 victory for the Golden Tigers over their Moulton rival improved RHS’ record to 5-0 on the season and 3-0 in region play. The RHS boys are ranked seventh in Class 5A.
The previous week, Russellville took down Brewer by a score of 52-0.
After waiting out a weather delay, Russellville and Lawrence County played a scoreless first period.
On the fifth play of the second quarter, Russellville found the end zone when quarterback Gabe Amick connected with Randell Johnson for a 24-yard touchdown pass. Ninth-grader Manny Martinez continued his mastery of the extra-point kick, and his first of five in the game gave RHS the 7-0 advantage.
Later in the second quarter, a failed Red Devil fake punt attempt set Russellville up for the next scoring play. This time, Malachi Duncan took a handoff and ran for a 2-yard TD.
The following kickoff was fumbled by LCHS, and Michael Scofield of Russellville recovered the loose ball. On the next play, Amick found Boots McCulloch for another RHS touchdown on a 21-yard throw-and-catch to make the score 21-0 with 4:17 remaining in the opening half.
The quick-strike RHS offense struck early in the third quarter. On the first play from scrimmage, Amick threw to TJ King for a 50-yard touchdown.
The Golden Tigers then were lined up for the PAT in a kicking formation, but Amick flipped the ball to Nathan Brockway instead for a successful two-point play.
After a three-and-out by the RHS defense on the next possession, Amick found Johnson again for a touchdown pass, this time covering 25 yards.
The final scoring play of the night came with 6:13 to go in the third period when Conner Warhurst scored on a 61-yard carry.
The rest of the contest featured many young Golden Tigers getting valuable playing time. Included in the group were Bralynn Vincent and Michael Scofield – both 10th-graders and both of whom intercepted LCHS passes in the fourth quarter.
Next up for Russellville will be a trip to 6A Hartselle for a non-region contest of undefeated squads with a long history of big games on the gridiron between the two schools.
“We scheduled Hartselle for a reason – because we felt like that we needed to play somebody that’s a really dominant 6A team,” explained Russellville head coach John Ritter. “We’re going to have to play well, and we’re going to have to eliminate mistakes, but that’s why we’re playing them. That’s to show some weaknesses we need to fix before the second half of the season.”
