Golden Tigers drop regular season finale to Class 6A Athens

In a game that was played closer than the final score suggests, the Russellville High School varsity football team (7-3) came up short at home in its regular season finale against Class 6A Athens (8-2) Friday night, falling to the Golden Eagles 45-23.

Russellville trailed by just three points, 26-23, heading into the fourth quarter, but Athens managed the clock well, turned the screws on the Golden Tigers, and scored three unanswered touchdowns in the final 12 minutes to hand the hosts their third defeat this season.

“I thought it was, for the most part, a tight, hard-fought game,” Russellville head coach Dustin Goodwin told the Franklin Free Press. “We definitely had our chances to make some things happen that we didn’t, but, you know, I’m really proud of the effort and intensity our kids played with.

“We’ll correct our mistakes like each and every week and get back after it this weekend and on Monday,” he added.

For the fifth straight week, Russellville’s opponent scored on the opening drive of the game, and for the fifth straight week the Golden Tigers responded with a score of their own.

Less than two minutes into the game, Athens senior quarterback Brogan Gross found an open receiver for a 26-yard touchdown pass to make it 6-0 after the missed extra point. The Golden Tigers, having no problem moving the ball down the field against the visitors on their first possession, had the opportunity to potentially take the lead, but a fumble on second and goal from the two-yard line pushed the Golden Tigers back; they eventually had to settle for a 20-yard Manny Martinez field goal to cut Athens’ lead in half.

Athens found the endzone again on its next offensive possession to make it 12-3 after a failed two-point conversion attempt. With 2:58 to go in the first, Golden Eagles’ running back Xavier Edwards capped the Athens scoring drive with a 10-yard touchdown run. Edwards, who finished with four rushing touchdowns on the night, proved, in tandem with the elusive Gross, a nuisance for the Russellville defense.

“He’s a good back,” Goodwin said. “They’ve scored a lot of points this season, so they’re obviously efficient at what they do. The biggest takeaways would be the running back rushing the ball and the quarterback extending plays and getting a couple conversions with his feet.”

But the visiting running back wasn’t the only rusher to have a good night at Golden Tiger Stadium. Russellville junior running back Cameron Phinizee, on the Golden Tigers’ next offensive possession, cracked the 2,000-yard rushing mark for the second consecutive season. The all-state running back needed 36 yards to hit the milestone coming into the game; he did it in the first quarter and finished the contest with over 200 yards rushing. He’s the fourth running back in the state of Alabama to run for over 2,000 yards this year. 

Goodwin said the achievement is not just a reflection of Phinizee’s ability but of the offensive teamwork that went into making it happen.

“I think it’s special, not only for the player but for the entire offensive unit,” Goodwin said. “No one guy can do it by himself. Those guys (on offense) have been blocking their tails off for him.

“Cam’s a special back. We had a good feeling, being 36 yards short, he was going to be able to get to 2,000 this game, and truth be told he probably could’ve done it a few games ago without some of the plays we’ve had called back throughout the course of the year,” he added. “But (Phinizee)’s a special player, no doubt. This is a special group, and it’s definitely something that they’ll always remember.”

Freshman quarterback Whit Goodwin hit a wide-open Ty Willis in the endzone for a 23-yard touchdown early in the second quarter to bring Russellville back with two points of the Golden Eagles. However, two Athens scoring drives, capped by two Edwards rushing touchdowns, on both sides of a Russellville turnover on a kickoff return saw Athens go up 26-10 with less than five minutes left in the first half.

The 14-point swing in their opponents’ favor didn’t discourage the Golden Tigers, though. Phinizee scored his first touchdown of the game with less than a minute remaining in the half to pull Russellville within 10 after an unsuccessful two-point try. Then after the intermission, Russellville, with 45 seconds to go in the third, scored the only points in that period—a 10-yard rushing touchdown by Phinizee to make it 26-23, Athens.

Unfortunately for the Golden Tigers, their comeback attempt fell apart in the fourth quarter as Athens capitalized on a few mistakes by the hosts. The Class 6A squad answered quickly to Phinizee’s third-quarter score with another passing touchdown by Gross, and then immediately forced Russellville to punt after a three-and-out. Able to run the ball effectively and to continue to move the chains, Athens bled the clock and went up by 16 points following Edwards’ fourth rushing touchdown with 2:48 to go. The nail in the coffin came a few plays later when the freshman Goodwin’s interception, his fifth of the year, was returned for a touchdown.

After the game Goodwin said he thought his team played pretty well. Aside from a few big plays that they missed or gave up, the Golden Tigers executed in most areas.

“There’s definitely plays that stick out here and there. I thought we caught the ball well, for the most part. I think we had two drops and I wish we had those, but overall I thought we were catching well,” he said. “We’re fighting our tails off for blocks and Cam’s running hard. I thought Whit did a good job until the last drive of the game (the pick six possession)—we got banged up a bit so that hurt us on that route a little bit.

“I thought our pass coverage was really good, and we did some really good things in the run game, as well. But we have to eliminate the big plays there and not turn the ball over on special teams, for sure,” Goodwin added.

In addition to the satisfactory performances the Russellville head coach saw during the game Friday night, he said the battle should benefit the Golden Tigers moving forward. Goodwin said competing in a matchup with a team as tough and talented as the Golden Eagles in a playoff-like environment will aid Russellville with the postseason cranking up next Friday.

“That game is going to be good for us, whether it be up front or defensively. I thought their quarterback did a really good job of extending plays—we’d like to do a better job of containing one of those, for sure. But like I said, it’s going to help us in the playoffs and even as early as next week.

“(The game against Athens) is what the playoff atmosphere is all about. That’s how the game is supposed to be played. That’s the intensity in which it’s got to be played with, and for that I’m extremely proud of ‘em,” he added. “As always you study yourself, you study your mistakes and address them, and it makes you better down the road.”

The final regular season home contest also served as Senior Night for the Golden Tigers, who recognized 18 senior players in a pregame ceremony. Goodwin discussed the impact the 2025 senior class has had on the program and his relationship with those players Friday afternoon.

“I’m really grateful for our senior class,” Goodwin said on the radio program, the Coach Dustin Goodwin Show. “The relationships we’ve been able to build since I came in in the spring and the things I’ve asked ‘em to do and to buy into, in large majority they have.

“Really proud of ‘em. I’ve enjoyed getting to know ‘em. I’m beyond words appreciative of the effort I get from them,” he added. “You hate that football season has to end at some point; whether that be after week 10 or after week 15 because you get close to these guys—they’re pretty much your kids. You love ‘em like they’re your kids. You see ‘em fail, you correct ‘em, you punish ‘em from time to time. But you get to see ‘em grow and you get to see their successes and watch ‘em overcome some obstacles that they might not even realize that they could.

“They’re a special group, I’m very grateful for ‘em, and I’m looking forward to this week and the weeks to come that we get the opportunity to be around ‘em. You really think the sky is the limit for ‘em as long they come together and are willing to give it everything they’ve got.”

Russellville, making its 38th postseason appearance in program history, will host Wenonah at Golden Tiger Stadium next Friday.