Football Preview: Russellville Golden Tigers vs. West Point Warriors
Russellville has enjoyed a three-game homestand but will soon have to dust off their road jerseys. They will face off against the West Point Warriors at 7:00 p.m. on Friday. One thing working in Russellville's favor is that they have posted at least 31 points in their last five games.
Russellville is headed into the match after thoroughly thrashing Hatton: they outscored them in every quarter. Given that consistent dominance, it should come as no surprise that Russellville blew Hatton out of the water with a 56-8 final score. Considering the Golden Tigers have won four contests by more than 21 points this season, Friday's blowout was nothing new.
Russellville relied on the efforts of Cameron Phinizee, who rushed for 144 yards and two touchdowns on only ten carries, and Whit Goodwin, who threw for 144 yards and three touchdowns. Phinizee's rushing production has been exceptional recently as that marked his 19th straight game with at least 105 rushing yards dating back to last season. Another back making a difference was Tarus Davis, who rushed for 83 yards and a touchdown on only eight carries.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Russellville was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 289 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 265 rushing yards in five consecutive matchups.
Russellville wouldn't let Hatton keep a hold of the ball as they managed to force two fumbles. Russellville can thank Daniel Aycock and Elliot Green for forcing both of them. Aycock also set a new season high mark in total tackles with 14.
Meanwhile, West Point hadn't done well against East Limestone recently (they were 0-4 in their previous four matchups), but they didn't let the past get in their way on Friday. West Point put the hurt on East Limestone with a sharp 28-7 win. 28 seems to be a good number for the Warriors as the team scooped up a victory with the same number of points in their previous game.
West Point can attribute much of their success to Ollie Howell, who rushed for 140 yards and two touchdowns, and Hunter Hensley, who rushed for 90 yards and two touchdowns. Howell is becoming a predictor of West Point's success: when he posts at least two rushing touchdowns the team is 2-1 (and 0-4 when he doesn't).
Russellville has been performing well recently as they've won four of their last five games, which provided a nice bump to their 5-2 record this season. As for West Point, the win made it two in a row for them and bumps their season record up to 2-5.
Here's a few offensive stats to keep an eye on ahead of Friday's match: Russellville has been on an offensive roll this season, having averaged 434.1 total yards per game. It's a different story for West Point, though, as they've been averaging only 243.1. Will Russellville be able to march up the field at their leisure again, or will West Point flip the script?
Everything came up roses for Russellville against West Point when the teams last played back in September of 2023, as the squad secured a 48-14 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Russellville since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
