Big plays help RHS beat East Limestone, 20-7
Russellville scored on special teams, offense and defense to get a 20-7 win over the East Limestone Indians.
The Golden Tigers (2-2 overall, 2-0 region) received the opening kickoff and Ben Pounders raced 90 yards for a touchdown on the kick return to excite the home crowd. David Tomas added the extra-point and RHS was quickly ahead 7-0.
East Limestone answered on its first possession, putting together a 10-play scoring drive that finished with a 34-yard carry by Kadyn Hobbs that was followed on the next play by a short touchdown run by Keeon Miller. The extra-point kick by Andrew McConnell evened the score with 7:27 remaining in the first quarter.
Russellville’s defense held strong to stop the Indians from scoring on their first drive of the second quarter. East took the ball to the RHS 10-yard line, but a fourth down rushing play failed to gain yardage and ended the scoring threat.
The two teams were unable to get any more points on the board for the remainder of the quarter with the first half ending in a 7-7 tie.
After a scoreless third quarter, Russellville used a personal foul penalty on East Limestone, along with key runs by Devin Morris, Whit Goodwin and Tarus Davis, to start the fourth period with a scoring drive.
Davis finished the drive with a 10-yard TD run, and a Tomas extra-point kick made the score 14-7 with 8:34 remaining in the game.
PHOTOS BY BRANNON KING Russellville’s Houston Askew (5) makes a tackle versus East Limestone.
East Limestone’s attempt for a comeback was stopped with the help of two interceptions by the Russellville defense.
First, Pounders picked off a pass, giving the RHS offense the ball on the East Limestone 1-yardline. However, the Golden Tigers fumbled the snap giving the ball back to the Indians with less than a minute to go in the game.
During the fourth play after that turnover, Russellville’s Darron Jones intercepted a pass by the Indians on the last play of the game, and the sophomore returned it for a touchdown sealing the win for RHS.
The Russellville defense is ready for the snap during a win over East Limestone.
“I’m thankful that our defense hung in there,” Russellville head coach Dustin Goodwin said. “They bent but didn’t break and gave up seven points and a long run. I thought overall against a tough, physical football team with two good backs that we knew they had, they held their ground when they had to and came away with some turnovers that were big for us.”
Next up for Russellville will be a Sept. 19 trip to Ardmore to take on the Tigers in another region game. Ardmore is 2-2 after starting the season with wins over Tanner and Clements followed by region losses to Priceville and Fairview.
