Russellville survives late Deshler rally to win 100th meeting 28-27

The Russellville High School varsity football team opened the Darrell Higgins era with a thrilling victory at Golden Tiger Stadium on Friday night, edging past Deshler High School 28-27 in the 100th meeting between the two programs.

The Golden Tigers appeared to have the game in hand late, leading 28-14 with 7:23 remaining. But, as is typically the case with Deshler, the visitors refused to go out quietly, scoring two unanswered, fourth-quarter touchdowns to pull within a single point with just one minute left in regulation.

A feeling of deja vu threatened Russellville fans when it was apparent that Deshler was going to go for the win with a two-point conversion, mirroring the end of last season’s game.

Those on the home side were able to breathe a sigh of relief only when the Deshler quarterback’s pass on the try was batted away by junior linebacker Westin Whitaker, and the flag thrown on the play, initially called defensive pass interference, was picked up. The big defensive effort preserved Russellville’s one-point advantage and gave the Golden Tigers the victory in Higgins’ debut in black and gold.

“It was a great game,” Higgins told the Franklin Free Press. “It was back and forth. We got a little momentum in the third quarter, but we couldn’t put them away.

“The defense played their guts out. They kept fighting all night. Deshler’s got a lot of great playmakers, so I’m really proud of their effort,” Higgins added.

Russellville couldn’t have gotten off to a much better start of the game. After receiving the opening kickoff, the Golden Tigers put together a methodical, clock-draining drive that was capped by a three-yard touchdown run by senior Tarus Davis with 4:19 left in the first quarter.

After opening the scoring, though, the Golden Tigers had difficulty finding the endzone again until the second half. Deshler, thanks to a two-yard touchdown run by senior quarterback Brycen Williams, tied the game up 7-7 with 4:40 to go in the second quarter, and that’s the score the game would take into halftime.

Coming out of the break, Russellville’s defense was able to get a quick stop and get the ball back to its offense. From there the Golden Tigers were able to hit on a couple of momentum-shifting plays to take a two-score lead.

The first of these plays was another touchdown run by Davis, this one a 74-yard dash through the heart of the Deshler defense. Taking the handoff from quarterback Tripp Cleveland, Davis hit the gap provided by his blockers and just had to make one safety miss before he was off to the races. Davis’ second touchdown gave RHS a 14-7 lead with 9:40 to go in the third quarter.

On the ensuing Deshler possession, the Golden Tiger D came through once again with a stop, forcing the visitors to turn it over on downs from inside the DHS 35-yard line.

With great field position, the Golden Tigers would be expected to score and did so a couple minutes later when Davis, who finished the game with 17 carries for 138 yards, found the endzone for a third time. Running right up the middle again, Davis broke a few tackles along the way to the 16-yard touchdown which gave RHS a 21-7 lead with 5:11 left in the third quarter.

Russellville and Deshler traded early fourth-quarter touchdowns—Deshler’s scored by C.J. Grant, Russellville’s by Cleveland—to make it 28-14 with 7:23 left.

Up by two scores, the Golden Tigers were in position to close the contest out. Instead, Deshler mounted a late comeback, scoring twice in the final five minutes to make the finish a much more dramatic one.

Deshler cut the deficit to seven points on a short touchdown run by Armani Jones with 4:45 remaining. Then it was the visitors’ defense turn to make a play. The Golden Tigers, milking the clock and forcing Deshler to use up the remainder of its timeouts, just needed to convert on a fourth and one with less than two minutes left to ice the game. Instead, Russellville fumbled, giving the ball back to Deshler near midfield.

Using the sidelines well, the Tigers needed just 45 seconds to move the ball 56 yards and reach the endzone again. The drive capper was a 27-yard run by Jones, achieved by some misdirection that fooled the defense.

Trailing 28-27 with one minute left, Deshler head coach Patrick Malone, not afraid to stake the outcome on a single play, decided to go for two and the win. It was a decision that paid off for his team in 2025, but it was not to be so this time around.

The DHS quarterback had two receivers in the endzone, but his pass was tipped by a leaping Westin Whitaker and fell harmlessly to the ground. A flag did come in, likely for pass interference, but the deflection negated that potential penalty and after discussion the referee waved off the flag.

With the Tigers' two-point attempt falling incomplete thanks to Whitaker's defensive play, Russellville was able to celebrate a 28-27 win and even up the long-running series’ record at 48-48-4.

After the game, Higgins admitted his team was far from perfect but applauded his players for fighting until the end.

“We had too many penalties, still got a lot of things to work on, but it was a great high school ballgame,” he said.

“We’ve got a long way to go, but I’m really proud of the effort,” he added. “Keep fighting and competing and good things will happen.”

Up next for the Golden Tigers is Mars Hill, a program Russellville has yet to beat in four attempts. The Golden Tigers, now led by the coach who dealt those four losses, will have the chance to end their losing streak to the Panthers on Friday. Either way, one of two winning streaks will certainly be broken when the clock hits triple zeros that night: Darrell Higgins’ 21-game winning streak as a head coach, or Mars Hill’s 21-game winning streak as a program.

Kickoff at Golden Tiger Stadium is set for 7 p.m.