RHS drops home opener to Mars Hill
The Russellville Golden Tigers fell to 0-2 on the varsity football season with a 47-19 loss to the Mars Hill Panthers before a home crowd.
Mars Hill jumped ahead 14-0 on touchdown runs by Jaxon Penn and Hudson Higgins.
Russellville got onto the scoreboard with 1:33 remaining in the opening quarter thanks to a 44-yard touchdown reception by Malaki Groce from a Whit Goodwin pass. The extrapoint kick attempt was unsuccessful, leaving the score at 14-6.
In the second quarter, Mars Hill scored on a pass from Lawson Frederick to Matthew McIntyre, but Russellville’s Ben Pounders intercepted the extra point attempt.
The Golden Tigers responded with a long scoring drive capped by a short run to the end zone by Goodwin. A two-point conversion attempt failed, leaving the score at 20-12 with 6:03 left in the first half.
The Panthers closed out the half with a 13-yard touchdown run by Higgins after his interception of a Russellville pass, and a 34-yard touchdown pass from Frederick to Isaiah Owens.
Penn extended the Mars Hill lead with a 67-yard touchdown run, which came midway through the third quarter.
On the first play of the fourth quarter, Higgins scored his third touchdown of the game. Carson Longshore’s successful extra point kick made the score 47-12, Mars Hill.
Russellville’s Devin Morris scored the final touchdown of the game on a short run, and David Tomas added the extra-point kick with 3:40 remaining.
As the Golden Tigers prepare to enter region play at home against Lawrence County, head coach Dustin Goodwin said he wants to see more consistency from his team moving forward.
“I think we did a little bit better offensively at times, but we shot ourselves in the foot and got one touchdown in the second half with junior varsity and pretty much backup guys playing,” Goodwin said after the game against Mars Hill.
“Offensively, we’ve got to do a better job of controlling the game and putting the ball in the end zone. Defensively, I felt like they pretty much did to us what they wanted in the second half. Credit to them and the adjustments they made.
“We knew they were a good football team coming into this, and they’re going to have a good year and a successful season,” Goodwin added. “We’re starting to go into region play now and the ones that matter and set us up for playoff games and rankings and seeding, and we’ve got a lot of work to do.”
