Football Preview: Russellville Golden Tigers vs. Hatton Hornets
The Russellville Golden Tigers will play host again on Friday to welcome the Hatton Hornets, where kickoff is scheduled at 7:00 p.m. One thing working in Russellville's favor is that they have posted at least 31 points in their last four matchups.
Hatton is facing Russellville at the wrong time: Russellville suffered their first home loss of the season on Friday and they're likely out for redemption. They were just a hair shy of victory and fell 50-49 to the Aggies. Despite running the score up even higher than they did in their prior game back in September (38), the Golden Tigers still had to take the loss.
Russellville might have lost, but man, Cameron Phinizee was a machine: he rushed for 231 yards and four touchdowns while picking up 8.6 yards per carry, and also picked up 43 receiving yards. Phinizee's rushing production has been exceptional recently as that marked his 18th straight game with at least 105 rushing yards dating back to last season. Whit Goodwin was another key player, rushing for 24 yards and two touchdowns.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Russellville was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 265 rushing yards. That strong performance was nothing new for the team: they've now rushed for at least 265 rushing yards in four consecutive contests.
Meanwhile, Hatton was able to grind out a solid victory over West Limestone on Friday, taking the game 28-21. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Hornets.
Hatton found their leader in underclassman Karvieon Black, who rushed for 209 yards and a touchdown while picking up 7.7 yards per carry. With that strong performance, Black is now averaging an impressive 105.7 rushing yards per game. The team also got some help courtesy of Tasean Love, who rushed for 96 yards and three touchdowns.
One reason for the win was Hatton's imposing defense, which managed to get into the backfield for 6.5 sacks. The heavy lifting was done by Trace Hill and Pierce Wilson, who racked up 4.5 sacks between them.
Russellville's loss ended an eight-game streak of wins at home dating back to last season and dropped them to 4-2. As for Hatton, they have been performing well recently as they've won three of their last four matches, which provided a nice bump to their 4-2 record this season.
Friday's game might be decided in the on the ground. Russellville has been unstoppable on the ground this season, having averaged 312.7 rushing yards per game. However, it's not like Hatton struggles in that department as they've been averaging 204.5. It's looking like Friday's matchup might have some serious battles in the trenches. Check back here after the action for a full breakdown and analysis of the contest.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
