RHS ends regular season with loss at Athens

The Russellville Golden Tigers finished the regular season portion of the football schedule with a 28-12 road loss to the Athens Golden Eagles.

RHS battled throughout the contest versus Class 6A Athens but the Golden Eagles scored one touchdown in each of the game’s four quarters to get the win.

The Golden Tigers got the ball to start the game and moved inside Athens’ territory before the drive stalled.

The first offensive drive for AHS produced points. The scoring march finished with a 50-yard touchdown run on fourth down by quarterback Jaxon Unger.

Interceptions by the Athens defensive unit would end the next two Russellville possessions, but neither turnover resulted in points for the Golden Eagles.

However, an interception of an Athens pass by Russellville’s Patrick Johnson helped the Golden Tigers get onto the scoreboard. It took only one play after the turnover for RHS quarterback Whit Goodwin to race 29-yards for a touchdown to make the score 7-6, but the extra-point kick was blocked.

The Golden Eagles then used a long drive that finished with a 1-yard touchdown run by Aidan Lovell on the last offensive play of the first half to make the score 14-6. The play took place after the Golden Tigers pleaded their case to the officials to no avail that the time had already expired in the half at the end of the previous play. Athens received the second half kickoff and needed only one snap from scrimmage to extend their lead to 21-6 when Terron Williams ran 42 yards on an end-around play for a touchdown.

The last AHS touchdown of the night came early in the fourth quarter when Lovell scored on a 3-yard carry.

Russellville’s final drive of the game produced points when Goodwin passed to Keifer Hallmark for a 9-yard touchdown. RHS tried for two points after the TD, but the Golden Eagles stopped the running play short of the end zone.

Russellville (6-4) will host Boaz (8-2) on Friday night in the first round of the AHSAA Class 5A playoffs.