Russellville wins thriller over Deshler to begin new era under Coach Higgins
RUSSELLVILLE — The Golden Tigers held off a late Deshler comeback attempt to earn a 28-27 win at home to give new head coach Darrell Higgins his first win as RHS’s coach.
It was the 100 times the two teams met. The series is tied with 48 wins for both teams, and four ties.
The teams were tied 7-7 at the halftime and Russellville held a 21-7 advantage going into the fourth quarter. The Golden Tigers looked to have put the game away with a first down with under two minutes to go in the contest, but a fumble on the play was recovered by Deshler.
Five plays later, the Tigers from Tuscumbia scored a touchdown and then faced the decision to go for two points and the lead, just as they had done last season, or try for an extra point kick and overtime. Deshler went for two and the attempt failed when the pass was deflected and fell incomplete.
“It’s just a good hardfought rivalry and we made one more play than them,” Higgins said. “I’m really proud of our guys for making a stand there at the goal line and for making a great play.”
Russellville’s first touchdown came on the Golden Tigers’ opening drive of the game. Running back Tarus Davis scored on a 3-yard run, and Anndy Mojica added the first of his four successful extra-point kicks in the contest.
Deshler evened the score with 4:40 left in the first half on a 2-yard TD run.
The Russellville defense quickly forced a punt to start the second half, and Davis wasted no time scoring his second touchdown of the game by racing 73 yards to the end zone. After the RHS defense held strong again, Davis added another TD with 5:11 to go in the third period on a 16-yard carry to put the Golden Tigers up 21-7.
Deshler then scored on a 2-yard run on fourth down to draw closer with 8:10 remaining in the game. Russellville extended its lead to 28-14 when quarterback Tripp Cleveland scored on a 1-yard run.
Deshler countered with another 2-yard run to make the score 28-21 with 4:45 left in the game.
Higgins described his first win as leader of the RHS program as “awesome.”
“Our guys brought it in the second half and Deshler did a good job staying in there. We could have put them away a couple of times, but they wouldn’t go away,” he said.
Next up for Higgins and his squad will be a matchup with his former team from Mars Hill. The Golden Tigers and Panthers will play on Aug. 28 at RHS.
