Golden Tigers clinch postseason berth with 17-7 victory at Athens

The Russellville High School varsity football team (7-1, 4-1) clinched a berth in the Class 5A playoffs with its 17-7 road victory at Region 7 foe Athens High School (3-4, 2-3) on Friday night.

The Golden Tigers trailed 7-3 at the halftime break but outscored the Golden Eagles 14-0 in the second half to earn their first win against Athens since 2012.

“It was one of our goals to get into the playoffs,” Russellville head coach Darrell Higgins said. “We achieved that, but we still have a lot of work left to do.”

Like its previous contest against rival Muscle Shoals, the Russellville offense got off to a slow start, but the defense came ready to play, forcing two Athens punts and a turnover-on-downs in the first half.

The game was scoreless through the first 18 minutes, but, with under six minutes left in the second quarter, the Golden Tigers broke the deadlock on a 23-yard field goal by Andy Mojica to put RHS up 3-0.

Athens answered before the break with a go-ahead one-yard touchdown run, but that was the only success the Golden Eagles would find the remainder of the game.

To start the second half, junior Darron Jones took a handoff 59 yards to the endzone to put Russellville up 10-7; then, midway through the third quarter, senior quarterback Tripp Cleveland would run it in from a yard out to give the visitors a 17-7 advantage.

Sandwiched between those two Golden Tiger touchdowns was an interception by junior linebacker Braxton Duncan that set up the game’s final score.

Athens attempted a comeback in the fourth quarter, but two more interceptions by senior linebacker Keifer Hallmark and sophomore defensive back Drake Ergle kept the Golden Eagles out of the scoring range the rest of the game.

“Our defense was tremendous, making big plays for us all night and never caving in,” Higgins said.

“They played lights out, causing turnovers and keeping (Athens) out of the endzone all night. Great job,” the head coach added of his defense.

The win ensures the Golden Tigers at least one more game this campaign; whether that opening postseason contest takes place at Golden Tiger Stadium or somewhere else remains to be determined, however. The good news for Russellville is that it now controls its own destiny: a win at 1-7 Decatur next week and a home victory vs. Austin on October 23 means the Golden Tigers will host their seventh-straight first-round playoff game.