Defense, big plays spark Red Devils to back-to-back district titles

FLATWOODS  — Defense has been a key contributor to Russell's success this season and the steady play of senior quarterback Jayden Frasure has been as well.

Both of those key components were on full display Friday night, as the Red Devils posted a convincing 35-6 win over the East Carter Raiders to claim the District 6 title at Henry R. Evans Stadium/Ivan McGlone Field.

The win was a special one for the Red Devils, as they clinched back-to-back district titles for the first time since the 2006-2007 seasons.

"It's a sweet feeling, back-to-back for the first time in 20 years," said Russell coach T.J. Maynard.

Afterwards, Maynard felt his defensive line play was the key to setting up his linebackers and defensive backfield to make plays and limit East Carter's effectiveness in the run game.

"Well, we knew we had a decent advantage with our linebackers, but we didn't know how well our guys up front would hold up. But we knew if (our line) could keep them off our guys, they could make some plays. I thought they did a great job allowing our back seven to go make plays."

Russell's defense sent an early message on the opening drive that yards would be hard to come by for the Raiders.

An emotional stop on a 3rd-and-6 play by defensive back Grayson Kiser on running back Landon Yoak forced a quick three-and-out for East Carter, and set in motion a dominant defensive performance by the Red Devils.

Coming into the game, the Raiders sported one of the top rushing attacks in the area that was led by senior Landon Yoak. Coming into Friday, Yoak had compiled over 1,300 yards on the ground and averaged nearly 3 touchdowns a game. But on Friday night, Yoak was limited to just 52 yards on 19 carries.

"Our defense was really focused, we really tried to hammer their guards and stop their big plays like Buck and Power G," said junior linebacker Wyatt Hudson. "And just tackling. Not trying to go for big hits, but form, wrapping up and taking them to the ground.

Russell wound up holding East Carter to just 128 yards rushing and 35 through the air. Conversely, Russell racked up 152 yards on the ground and threw for 172 yards.

The Raiders began to bottle up the Red Devils on their second drive until Frasure and Cayden Pennington did some improvisation on third down.

Frasure fielded a low snap and rolled out to his right as Pennington broke his route off and took off up the sideline, and Frasure let loose a pass to his senior receiver, resulting in an 81-yard touchdown. Skaggs added the point after to push the lead out to 14-0.

"It's special. We've played together since the fifth grade and I remember throwing bombs up to them in JFL," said Frasure. "But it feels really great winning the district, especially winning it your senior year. It don't get much better."

Following another East Carter punt, the Red Devils got prime starting position at the Raider 40 thanks to a heads up play by Jayden Pennington, to pick up the rolling punt and return it 23 yards.

However, a penalty and two incompletions backed Russell and faced another third down situation.

Needing 20 yards to keep the drive going, Frasure took a snap and took off on a quarterback draw, and bobbed and weaved his way downfield for a 39 yard gain to the Raider 11.

While Frasure hadn't been a key weapon in the running game in recent weeks, he knew going into the game that he would need to make the same plays he had done early in the season.

"The coaches told me on Thursday that I was going to have to run the ball more, and being a big district game like this, I was going to have to step up," said Frasure. "And I feel like I did my best."

Two plays later, Kaiden Benge plowed in from five yards out to make it a 21-0 advantage with 6:50 before halftime.

Russell capped off the first half scoring by first pounding the ball with tough runs by Frasure and Lane Osborne to get to the East Carter 27. On the ensuing play, Frasure made a play fake to Osborne and lofted up a deep ball to Jayden Pennington for the score.

Maynard said he felt his team could use their speedsters on the outside to take advantage of East Carter in the passing game, but that it all started with an effective ground game.

"If we could stay out of 3rd-and-long, we felt we could get them into a coverage that we could take advantage of. And when we were able to run the ball, they had guys' starting to creep up in the box and we just waited until they got a little closer and took our shots over the top."

Russell's final score of the night came at the beginning of the fourth, highlighted by two big gains through the air.

The first was a pass from Frasure to Jayden Pennington out an out pattern, and Pennington turned it into a 27 yard gain into Raider territory. Then three plays later, another play action pass from Frasure found Caden Mitchell behind the defense for a 39-yard touchdown toss to make it 35-0.

The Raiders avoided the shutout on their final drive of the game, as Karter Hill took a handoff on a jet counter play from 5-yards out to finalize the score.

Frasure led the Red Devils offensively, rushing for 90 yards on 10 carries and completing 5 of his 7 passes for 172 yards to go along with 4 touchdown scores. Lane Osborne was second behind Frasure in rushing with 8 carries for 44 yards.

Jayden Pennington led in receiving with a game-high 81 yards. Cayden Pennington had 2 receptions for 54 yards. Caden Mitchell had a pair of catches for 37 yards.

Russell finishes off the regular season with a visit to Breathitt County next Friday. East Carter hosts Raceland.

East Carter 0 0 0 6 = 6

Russell 7 21 0 7 = 35

First Quarter

Rus — Jayden Frasure 1 run (Gavin Skaggs kick), 6:24.

Second Quarter

Rus — Cayden Pennington 81 pass from Jayden Frasure (Gavin Skaggs kick), 11:01.

Rus — Kaiden Benge 5 run (Gavin Skaggs kick), 6:50.

Rus — Jayden Pennington 27 pass from Jayden Frasure (Gavin Skaggs kick), 2:11.

Third Quarter

Fourth Quarter

Rus — Caden Mitchell 39 pass from Jayden Frasure (Gavin Skaggs kick), 11:08.

EC — Karter Hill 5 run (run failed), 1:44.

———

EC Rus

First downs 9 10

Rushes-yards 36-128 31-159

Passing yards 35 172

Total yards 163 331

Cmp-Att-Int 4-12-0 5-7-0

Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-0

Penalties-yards 5-35 4-44

———

Individual Leaders

RUSHING – Thomas Burton 6-29, Karter Hill 2-10 TD, Layne Gillum 3-13, Landon Yoak 19-52, DZsawn Beason 6-24; Russell: Jordan Rowe 2-9, Hunter Williams 1-minus 12, Jayden Frasure 10-90 TD, Logan Jones 2-1, Kaiden Benge 7-27 TD, Lane Osborne 8-44, Benjamin Brinkman 1-2.

PASSING – East Carter: Thomas Burton 4-12-0 35; Russell: Jayden Frasure 5-7-0 172 3-TD.

RECEIVING – East Carter: Chase McGuffin 2-26, Pacey Mollett 1-1, Caleb Hall 1-8; Russell: Caden Mitchell 2-37 TD, Cayden Pennington 1-81 TD, Jayden Pennington 2-54 TD.

MISSED FIELD GOALS–None.