Goodwin, Golden Tigers looking forward to second half of season after shaking off 0-2 start
Five games into the 2025 regular season, the Russellville High School varsity football team, at the time of its mid-campaign bye week, stands at 3-2 and holds a perfect 3-0 Class 5A Region 7 record.
After a tough 0-2 start where the Golden Tigers were narrowly beaten at Deshler 15-14 in their season opener and defeated 47-19 by Class 3A No. 1 Mars Hill in week two, the young Russellville group—the team has just nine seniors on the roster—has gone on a three game tear against region opponents Lawrence County, East Limestone, and Ardmore.
The Golden Tigers, with an offense averaging 333 yards and 26 points per game and a stingy defense—a unit now ranked the 10th best scoring defense in Class 5A—won convincingly against Lawrence County and Ardmore, beating the former 35-6 and the latter 42-7; sandwiched in between those two games, RHS grinded out a 20-7 home victory over East Limestone.
“Going into (the season) we knew we were going to be very inexperienced, but we wouldn’t know exactly where we were until we started playing,” Russellville second-year head coach Dustin Goodwin said. “Unfortunately we felt we let one get away from us that we had a chance to win if we’d done some things a little better and a little cleaner. And then we played a team (Mars Hill) that we knew was going to be a real challenge for us—and it didn’t go very well. So we got to see how our kids responded to that adversity and deal with it and grow from it.
“When we got into region games, we told (the players) that, you know, these are the ones that count. We faced two good teams to start that we knew were going to test us, but we needed to win the region games; these are the ones we have to win to set ourselves up to make the playoffs and potentially win the region,” Goodwin added. “We challenged them to take it one day at time and one game at a time, and I think they’ve been able to do that.”
Goodwin has told the Franklin Free Press on multiple occasions this year that he’s proud of the character and camaraderie of this team, and he reiterated that point again when he spoke with the FFP this week. He added that this group of Golden Tigers, from the very start, has worked hard and been dedicated to improving each week.
“I think the kids genuinely love and care about each other. They’ve really meshed. And I think our coaching staff and the kids are meshing really well,” Goodwin said. “They’ve given us great effort for the most part from day one until now, they’re doing everything that we’re telling them to do.
“The kids, they hang out together even when they’re not at football. That goes to show you that they lean on each other and they have genuine relationships with one another. They’re in constant communication with each other with their cell phones and through messages and everything they have these days. So, it doesn’t feel like a team of individuals, it feels like a real team and I think that definitely helps,” he added.
The main storyline about this Russellville team heading into the season was, as Goodwin mentioned, how young and inexperienced it was going to be. The Golden Tigers had just a handful of returning starters from last year’s team; most of the seniors coming in were first-time starters; and, frankly, there just wasn’t a ton of depth at most positions.
Given all that, one might not be surprised by the outcome of the first two games.
In the season opener at Deshler, Russellville’s defense, led by junior linebacker Keifer Hallmark and his game-high 15 tackles, played well, holding the Deshler Tigers to one early touchdown until the final minutes. Unfortunately, and conversely, the offense, while able to move the ball down the field, was unable to finish drives in the endzone—a side-effect, perhaps, of an offensive unit, for the most part, playing together for the very first time.
Then there’s the Mars Hill game, a game which, if we’re being honest, was always a matchup Russellville was going to be the underdog in. There’s just too much talent—Division I-level talent—flying around on that Panther team, a team that could very well win back-to-back Class 3A titles.
Since that Mars Hill game, though, the Golden Tigers have grown, improved, and matured—and quite a few players have really stepped up to make big impacts in games.
One can easily point to returning starters like the previously-mentioned Hallmark; or sophomore quarterback Whit Goodwin, who threw for four touchdowns and 371 yards against Ardmore. But there are also the likes of first-year starters like sophomore defensive back Darron Jones, who has a team-best four interceptions, including two pick-sixes; sophomore linebacker Braxton Duncan, who, just behind Hallmark, is second on the team in total tackles; junior defensive lineman Patrick Johnson, who leads the team in tackles for loss (5.5) and sacks (4.5); senior receivers Connor Devaney and Bryson Cooper, who lead the team in receiving yards and touchdown catches, respectively; and junior running back Tarus Davis, who has taken over the role of RB1 and subsequently leads in nearly every rushing statistic after a slow start to his campaign. There have also been role guys, like junior running back Devin Morris and sophomore defensive back Jason Noel who have made contributions when their name has been called. The list could go on, but the point is that plenty of guys are stepping up for their team this year.
Looking at the team’s overall performance, in the last three games the offense has had just one turnover (compared to five in the first two games), has averaged over 32 points, and averaged 349 yards. On defense, the Golden Tigers have created six turnovers and scored almost as many touchdowns as they’ve given up—two pick-sixes compared to three touchdowns allowed.
“Five games into the regular season, the line of being inexperienced has kinda gone out the window at this point, but every game presents a new scenario, a new situation where they are gaining more experience. So, the more they get to play together the more ground they’re going to cover and the better they’re going to be,” Goodwin said.
Maybe the biggest sign of Russellville’s burgeoning maturity was the 20-7 grind-it-out region win against East Limestone at Golden Tiger Stadium.
Described by Goodwin as an ‘ugly win,’ in the game the Golden Tiger offense was unable to generate much of anything, including first downs; and the RHS defense, while keeping the Indians out of endzone, allowed ELHS to keep the ball for long stretches. Despite all that, the Golden Tigers kept their heads and found a way to win, scoring an offensive touchdown late and icing the game with a pick-six by Darron Jones as time expired. A win is a win is a win, as the old saying goes.
Goodwin used a more recent example to illustrate the mental maturity the Golden Tigers have displayed as of late.
“Our reactions to different situations throughout the game has improved, especially from the Mars Hill game to now,” Goodwin said.
“Last week (against Ardmore) we had a questionable call against us that brought back a touchdown—a big play for us that everyone was excited about,” he added. “It brought the ball back to midfield, and it would’ve been easy for that call to ruin the drive. But we talked to our kids and it didn’t affect them. They were disappointed that it got called back but three or four plays later we ended up scoring on that drive anyway.
“I think that is just one testament to their maturity and how they’re growing and how they’re staying focused on the task at hand as opposed to being emotional and letting things affect them in a negative way. That’s been really good to see.”
Looking ahead, with five games remaining in the regular season, the Golden Tigers still have plenty of challenges remaining. A potential Region 7 title game awaits Russellville next when the team travels to face defending region champ and No. 4-ranked Fairview on October 3. The Fairview game will likely be the toughest region test for Russellville, but Priceville, somewhat surprisingly sitting at 4-1 and 2-0 in Region 7, is still left on the schedule; and the Golden Tigers cap the regular season with a road contest at Class 6A Athens.
As has been the case for many years, the expectations for the Russellville football program are high; and whatever the outcome on Friday nights, someone (probably many someones), somewhere, will be saying something about it. (Yes, I’m looking in the mirror right now.) Regardless, Goodwin said he, his coaching staff, and his players will approach the final five games of the regular season—and every potential game after that—the same way they approached and prepared for the first five. While tuning out the outside noise—criticism or praise, it matters not—the Golden Tigers will continue to work hard, attempt to improve each day, and enjoy their time together, he said.
“I don’t think anyone puts as much pressure on themselves or puts as much time and effort into this as the coaches and the kids, so it doesn’t really matter to us what the expectation of everyone not directly involved in the program is,” Goodwin said. “The same people that tell you you’re the best thing in the world because you win a game are the ones that are gonna talk about you when things aren’t going well. That’s just the truth of the matter—and that’s okay. That’s just the way sports are these days, especially with social media.
“People’s opinions, good or bad, are not where we find our value or our worth, so we try to stay focused on the things that are important and the task at hand and give glory and honor and do good works for the one that gives us everything that we don’t even deserve,” he added. “Our kids and our coaches are going to continue to work to maximize our potential—whatever that might be.
“We want it to be challenging for our kids. We want them to enjoy the experience, and we want to help them to mature into being good young men that are going to be good members of society, good husbands, good dads, trustworthy, and hardworking and all of those things. I think this group is on that track,” Goodwin said. “And as far as football is concerned, we’re going to work every day to get a little bit better and enjoy the ride because if you’re only focused on the destination, there’s only one team that’s happy at the end; and the satisfaction for that one team, if your perspective is in the wrong place, that one team is going to be happy for a couple hours.
“All we can ask of our kids is to give it the best they’ve got and do the assignments they’ve been tasked with to the best of their ability. It’s our job as coaches to put them in the best situation possible, and I think we’ve been able to do that for the most part. I think our kids have responded well, and I think that’s the reason why we’re sitting where we are in the region. But the second half (of the season) is going to be just as challenging as the first half.
“Every team strives to improve from week one to week 10 and wants to be playing their best football at the end of the regular season going into the playoffs,” he added. “We’ve just got to continue to show up every day and try to get better and we’ll see what the rest of the season has in store for us. But we’re having a good time and I’m looking forward to it.”