Defense, Osborne's late TD lifts Russell to regional championship

FLATWOODS  — A lights out defense and some opportunistic plays from the Russell offense proved to be enough to help the Red Devils take down the Bourbon County Colonels 14-7 in a defensive slugfest on Friday night in the Kentucky Class AAA playoffs.

Russell now advances to the regional championship game, where they will travel to Erlanger to face the Lloyd Memorial Juggernauts next Friday. The two teams met in the playoffs last season with the Red Devils rallying back in the second half to win 21-20 at home.

All season long the Russell (10-2) defense has been able to make the needed plays. This was in full display all night as the Red Devils made a total of seven stops on fourth down — with two of those stops being an interception by Grayson Kiser and a blocked punt by Kanenan Jacobs.

"It's really all thanks to our preparation. So like, we've worked all night stretching the outside and keeping them contained and box them up," said linebacker Kanenan Jacobs. "That was our whole game plan from the start."

The defense's performance got nothing but high praise from Russell coach T.J. Maynard.

"That's how they've played all year. They had to bail us out there at the end and get a stop and earn the win. But those guys have played their butts off all year and it was fitting for them to come up with the big plays to win."

However the Colonels (9-2) defense was equally up to the task, as they bottled up the Red Devils offense for most of the night, out gaining Russell 259 to 167 in total yards.

But despite the struggles on offense, the Red Devils were able to find ways to manufacture plays when they needed to.

In the first quarter, both teams traded fourth down stops until the final seconds of the frame.

A passing interference call against the Colonels and a Lane Osborne broke free with a 21-yard run to set the Red Devils up at the Bourbon 21.

Six plays later, Kaiden Benge plowed his way in from 2 yards out to put Russell on the board. Gavin Skaggs added the extra point to make it 7-0 with 8:35 left in the first half.

The Colonels had two drives reach the red zone, but Russell made defensive stands to turn them away.

Bourbon's final drive of the half began with a short field following a Red Devil punt.

The Colonels were able to move to Russell 11, but again the Red Devil defense was able to stand tall again.

On fourth down, quarterback Malachi Rennie tried to scramble off a busted play, but a host of tacklers, led by Wyatt Hudson and Reagan Banks, were there to stop him a yard shy of the first down, preserving Russell's lead at the half.

"(Bourbon) liked the big chunk plays. So, if you can get them out of rhythm and get them behind the sticks, you have a chance to get off the field," said Maynard.

Both teams continued to battle to a defensive stalemate in the third with Russell still clinging to a 7-point lead.

But Rennie opened up the fourth quarter with two big runs of 13- and 21-yards to put the Colonels at the 1 yard line. On the ensuing play, Rennie nosed his way in for the touchdown on a sneak. Silas McKinney added the point after to tie the game up at 7-all with 10:05 to play.

Russell would get the ball back on the ensuing kickoff and drive 65-yards in 7 plays for the game-clinching score.

Quarterback Jayden Frasure, who had been kept quiet most of the night both running and passing, came up with a big throw on a 1st down play from his own 45.

A pump fake to Jordan Rowe sucked in the corner and allowed Caden Mitchell to streak down the sideline and haul in the pass for a 35-yard gain to the Bourbon 20.

"We were able to punch all game and we got them on the Fox route there when they kept creeping up, but we got a big play by Mitchell," said Maynard.

Then three-straight bruising runs by Benge set the Red Devils up at the Colonels 4. That's when Osborne took the handoff to his left and found the cutback lane behind the blocks of Brody Smith, Tate Smith and Christian Hannah and went in standing for the touchdown.

Skaggs nailed the extra point and the Red Devils went back in front 14-7 with 7:04 to play.

"We got inside the 10 there and when we get that close, were gonna pound it in," said Maynard. "Lane has been doing well for us all season and I thought all our backs have done well including blocking for each other."

But Rennie and the Colonels wouldn't go away, as the senior signal caller came up with two huge throws to put Bourbon at the Russell 29.

However, a huge pass break up by Jayden Pennington at the goal line and costly chop block backed the Colonels up to the 38 and faced a fourth down play.

Rennie's fourth down pass to the end zone sailed out the back of the end zone and the Red Devils took over on downs again and ran the final 2:23 off the clock to win.

Afterwards, Jacobs said he was excited about the chance to bring home the Red Devils first regional title since 2014.

"I mean a regional championship is something I've always wanted to obtain in my football career. So we're gonna go to Lloyd and try our hardest. I promise that."

Bourbon Co. 0 0 0 7 = 7

Russell 0 7 0 7 = 14

Second Quarter

Rus — Kaiden Benge 2 run (Gavin Skaggs kick), 8:35.

Fourth Quarter

BC — Malachi Rennie 1 run (Silas McKinney kick), 10:05.

Rus — Lane Osborne 4 run run (Gavin Skaggs kick), 7:04.

———

BC Rus

First downs 8 10

Rushes-yards 31-197 38-123

Passing yards 62 44

Total yards 259 167

Cmp-Att-Int 7-19-1 4-5-0

Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-0

Penalties-yards 10-75 0-0

Punts-average 1-28.0 3-32.67

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Individual Leaders

RUSHING – Bourbon County: Tanner Lutz 5-9, Jacob Ezell 4-60, Bryson Carr 3-14, Malachi Rennie 16-107 TD, Shayne Bowling 2-7; Russell: Jordan Rowe 3-5, Jayden Frasure 9-10, Kaiden Benge 19-93 TD, Lane Osborne 4-27, Team 3-minus 12.

PASSING – Bourbon County: Julius Gregory 0-1-0 0, Malachi Rennie 7-18-1 62; Russell: Jayden Frasure 4-5-0 44.

RECEIVING – Bourbon County: Tanner Lutz 1-21, Jacob Ezell 3-11, Julius Gregory 1-5, Jake Ooten 1-9; Russell: Caden Mitchell 1-35, Jayden Pennington 1-5, Cayden Pennington 1-3, Kaiden Benge 1-1.

MISSED FIELD GOALS–None.