Golden Tigers finish region runner-up, secure home field advantage for round one of playoffs after 27-13 win over Priceville

For the seventh time in eight years, a first round playoff football game will be played at Golden Tiger Stadium.

In a battle for runner-up in Class 5A Region 7 and for the right to host the opening round of the AHSAA postseason, the Russellville High School varsity football team (6-3, 5-1) came out on top on its Senior Night Friday night, beating the visiting Priceville Bulldogs (6-3, 4-2) by two touchdowns, 27-13.

“I’m really proud of our coaches and players for how they prepared this week and how they played,” Russellville second-year head coach Dustin Goodwin told the Franklin Free Press. “Hats off to Priceville and Coach (Seth) Parker; they’re a very good football team, and they’re sound in a lot of ways, so we’re really happy to get this one.”

The game was billed as one that could potentially be a knock-down, drag-out between two similar and well-playing teams, but the Golden Tigers took care of business and seemed in control of the contest throughout, never trailing and never looking back.

The Golden Tigers went up 14-0 in the first half thanks to two rushing touchdowns by junior running back Devin Morris. 

Morris’ first score was from a yard out, set up by a long run by his cohort Tarus Davis, to make it 7-0 with 1:39 to go in the first. His second rushing touchdown was a longer one, this one from 24 yards out to put the Golden Tigers up two scores with 5:54 remaining. 

Morris would end the night with four carries for 31 yards.

“Being able to score early was big. It put us out ahead and got that first-score monkey off our back, so to speak. That was huge,” Goodwin said.

A short field on the ensuing kickoff gave Priceville a decent chance to get points before the halftime intermission, but Russellville was able to keep the Bulldogs out of the endzone and forced them to settle for a 35-yard field goal as time expired in the first half.

Up 14-3, Russellville kicked off to begin the second half, but the RHS defense, which played well all night, made the visitors punt on their opening drive of the third quarter.

Pinned down at their own nine yard line to start their own offensive possession, the Golden Tigers needed just two plays to go 91 yards and increase their advantage to 18 points. A quarterback keeper by sophomore quarterback Whit Goodwin on first down fooled the Priceville defense and Goodwin was able to scamper 61 yards before he was finally dragged down.

Goodwin’s long run set up the next one, a 30-yard touchdown rush by Davis, his first of the night and his seventh rushing touchdown of the campaign.

Davis would end the game with 11 carries for over 100 yards, making it his fourth 100-plus-yard rushing game this season.

Priceville added another field goal to make it 21-6 and cut its deficit back to two scores in the third, but the hosts were only interested in touchdowns; the Golden Tigers scored their fourth and final TD on the first play of the fourth quarter on a 15-yard run by Goodwin, his fifth rushing score of the season.

Between Morris, Davis, and Goodwin (who finished with around 100 yards rushing), RHS tallied over 240 yards rushing on the night, the best ground performance by Russellville since the Lawrence County game in week three.

After beating West Point the previous week mostly through the air, Russellville’s ability to knock off Priceville with an efficient and effective ground attack shows that the Golden Tigers can and will attack an opponent in whichever way works best for them.

“That’s the importance of being multiple,” Goodwin said of his offensive philosophy. “Each defense is going to have its strengths and weaknesses, and whatever those may be you have to have a way to capitalize on those things.

“I thought our kids did a really good job of making some adjustments throughout the game which allowed us to do things in the air and on the ground,” he added. “If we can be a two-headed monster like that then I think we should generally have success moving the football, and then it just comes down to finishing drives, knowing your assignment, and playing with effort, which our kids have done a great job of this whole year.”

Priceville tacked on a late touchdown with 6:42 remaining in the game to make it 27-13. (RHS missed the extra point after its final touchdown.) 

But the Bulldogs’ ensuing onside kick attempt was recovered by junior Keifer Hallmark, and RHS was able to drain a lot of the remaining clock away before giving it back. Priceville’s final fruitless drive ended in a turnover on downs and allowed the Golden Tigers to get into victory formation.

Priceville’s 13 points were its third fewest in a game this year, coinciding with the Bulldogs’ three defeats. Russellville’s defensive effort to hold a team that averaged 33.5 points per game going into the contest was a tremendous one.

“I thought our defense played really, really well,” Goodwin said. 

“Priceville’s a good football team. They have a good offense that does a lot of things well. They’ve got a lot of good players, a lot of speed, so to hold them to two scores was huge,” he added.

The victory gave the Golden Tigers the added bonus of a win on Senior Night. And it won’t be the last game at Golden Tiger Stadium for the class of 2026, either, as the Golden Tigers will host Boaz, the third place team from Region 8, in the first round of the playoffs on November 7.

“You have the familiarity of the place and you get to play in the comfort of your own home, so we’re extremely excited about the opportunity to get another home game. The fact that it’s the playoffs makes it even sweeter,” Goodwin said.

But first the Golden Tigers have one more regular season game to play. RHS will travel to Class 6A Athens for its regular season finale on Thursday, October 30.

Goodwin said the idea is to try to go in and beat a good playoff-caliber opponent but at the same time the Golden Tigers want to make sure they are ready for the playoffs in two weeks time.

“For and foremost we need to stay healthy,” Goodwin said. “It’s a non-region opponent, but it will be a good game against a good opponent. Coach (Cody) Gross is a good coach and has been doing it for awhile.

“It’s going to be a good test going into the playoffs…but we want to get out of there at full strength so we can give a playoff run everything we’ve got,” he added.