Golden Tigers dominate at Ardmore to earn 42-7 road win heading into bye week

It was all Russellville near the Alabama-Tennessee state line on Friday night as the Golden Tiger football team defeated the hosting Ardmore Tigers 42-7 to improve 3-2 overall and remain perfect in Class 5A Region 7 play at 3-0.

“A road game, a region game, I’m happy to get the win, for sure. I thought our kids came in focused and ready to play,” second-year Russellville head coach Dustin Goodwin told the Franklin Free Press postgame. “We did a good job offensively moving the ball down the field and finishing drives, and defensively did a good job of holding them to seven points.”

Russellville was impressive in the rout of region foe Ardmore (2-3, 0-3), scoring touchdowns on explosive plays on offensive and keeping the Tigers penned in on defense. Sophomore quarterback Whit Goodwin, who threw for just 14 yards in the previous game against East Limestone, had a monster game against Ardmore, tossing it around the yard for well over 300 yards. He ended his night with four passing touchdowns to three different receivers. Goodwin also made some excellent plays with his legs to extend drives, move the chains, and pick up positive yardage when he didn’t have open receivers.

The head coach of the Golden Tigers said his game plan was to get the ball out to his playmakers on the perimeter and run off-tackle and use his team’s speed to make Ardmore, which is known for having big players—boy, do they!—chase them and keep them running. It’s a simple concept but one that paid big dividends for Russellville Friday night.

“I think our coaches did a good job of putting (the game plan) together. We were able to get the ball out on the perimeter and stalk block and get on the edges,” Goodwin said. “All in all, I thought we did a good job all around in those areas.”

Russellville, after a turnover-on-downs on its first offensive possession, scored on its second drive of the game to open the scoring. Junior running back Tarus Davis scampered for an 11-yard touchdown, his fourth of the campaign, to make it 7-0 with 5:41 to go in the first quarter.

The next four touchdowns for Russellville were all through the air. The quarterback Goodwin found senior receiver Ben Pounders for his first touchdown pass of the evening—a 40-yard pitch-and-catch as time expired in the first quarter to make it 14-0 to the visitors. It was Pounders’ first touchdown reception of the season, but it wouldn’t be his last of the evening; Pounders scored again early in the fourth quarter on a 56-yard touchdown reception to make it 35-0, Russellville.

Less than five minutes into the second quarter, RHS scored its third touchdown of the night when Goodwin, rolling out to his left, found senior Bryson Cooper striding wide open down the Russellville sideline and hit him for a 65-yard touchdown. Then, on the Golden Tigers’ first possession after halftime, Goodwin connected with senior Connor Devaney on a 15-yard touchdown strike to extend Russellville’s lead to 28 points.

“We wanted to spread the ball around. Playing in an offense like this, that’s the goal,” Goodwin, who earned his 10th win in charge of the Golden Tigers Friday night, said. “Really fortunate and happy that we were able to spread it around and throw and catch and protect well. Just all the way around, I thought we had a nice night.”

On the other side of the ball—the defensive side—the Golden Tigers had another strong showing. RHS recorded multiple sacks, at least two of which were made by junior defensive lineman Patrick Johnson, and did not give up any explosive plays. Russellville came into the game with the 13th best scoring defense in Class 5A and almost certainly moved up in those rankings after allowing just seven points to the hosts. Ardmore avoided the shutout with a touchdown run by junior running back Javean Riddle early in the fourth quarter to make it 35-7 with 9:26 to go.

Goodwin said he knew his defensive players would be disappointed in giving up the shutout but was proud of their performance.

Anyhow, Russellville’s defense quickly made up for the Ardmore touchdown by scoring one of its own.

The Golden Tiger defense capped the scoring with less than two minutes to play when Ardmore backup quarterback Kaden Larsen was intercepted by sophomore defensive back Darron Jones, who returned the interception 55 yards for a touchdown. It was Jones’ fourth interception of the season, his second pick-six in as many games, and it gave his team the final 42-7 advantage.

With three region wins in their pocket, the Golden Tigers head into a bye week before facing off against No. 4-ranked Fairview on October 3. The blowout victory over Ardmore will certainly be a boost for RHS as it heads into the off week and begins to prepare for a showdown which, if scenarios play out like many expect, could serve as the de facto region title game.

“You never know if it’s going to be the region championship game or not. At the time (of the Russellville-Fairview meeting) last year it turned out that way—and it could play out the same this year. But we try to think about being 0-0 every week and trying to find a way to get to the end of the week 1-0,” Goodwin said. “It doesn’t matter who we’re playing, we’re always going to be focused on the one we’re preparing for and not the two or three down the road. That’s sort of the mindset we try to take, and so far we’ve been able to do that in region play.

“It’s good to get another region win (Friday night). I’m proud of the guys, proud of the coaches, and looking forward to working on us next week,” he added.