Russellville shuts out Butler again, rolls to 56-0 victory

By Staff
Scot Beard
Russellville overcame a few early miscues to cruise to an easy win against Butler and improve to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in Class 5A, Region 8.
The Golden Tigers were limited to only seven points in the first quarter – a 17-yard touchdown run by Brent Calloway – but scored four times in the second quarter to pull away.
Calloway added scoring runs of three and 25 yards while Joey Howe hit Darrian Graham for a 28-yard touchdown pass and connected with T.J. Lindsey on a 18-yard touchdown pass to put the Golden Tigers ahead 35-0 at halftime.
"We finished the second quarter strong," Russellville coach Doug Goodwin said. "The last three drives were real efficient."
Russellville scored four times in the last 5:48 of the second quarter.
The defense dominated the Rebels. Butler had 71 yards of total offense, with 69 of those yards coming on the ground.
The Golden Tigers also held Butler to seven first downs.
The Russellville offense, on the other hand, rolled. The Golden Tigers gained 519 yards of total offense and earned 22 first downs.
The ground attack accounted for 348 of those yards, and it could have been worse for Butler.
"We had some big runs called back," Goodwin said.
Jyran Darby was the victim of one of those vacated runs. He broke loose for what appeared to be a 65-yard touchdown run, but it was negated by a holding penalty.
Darby still had a pretty good night. He gained 92 yards on nine carries. One of those carries was a 42-yard touchdown run with 8:56 remaining in the game.
Calloway also had a good night with 97 yards on nine carries and the three scores. All of his runs were in the first half.
Goodwin rested many of his starters for most of the second half, and he was impressed by what he saw from the bench players.
Butler threatened to score late in the fourth quarter, and drove as deep as the Russellville 14-yard line. The defense held and forced a turnover on downs.
"We played a lot of people in the second half," Goodwin said. "It was a good job by the young guys for them to get the stop."
Russellville had two other scores in the second half. Jake Ward scored on a 3-yard run in the third quarter and Xavier Kirkman added a 1-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
It was the second time in as many years that Russellville shut out Butler. The Golden Tigers beat the Rebels 49-0 last season.
Russellville travels to Hartselle next week. The game is at 7 p.m.