Red Devils get back to basics in win over Comets

FLATWOODS — Despite coming away with an emotional Backyard Brawl win last week, Russell still needed to get back on track.

And the Red Devils got themselves back on track with a punishing ground game and a smothering defense to rout the West Carter Comets 35-6 on Friday night at Henry R. Evans Stadium.

While he was happy to win his first two games, the message all week from coach TJ Maynard and his staff was that the team needed to get back to basics and take care of the details.

"Our big thing is that last week was a war. We found a way to win, but after watching the film, in that first half, we weren't very good," said Maynard. "So our focus all week was to get better. Focus on communication, get bodies on correct bodies and execute."

That focus paid off as the Devils churned out their best rushing performance, out-gaining the Comets 242 to 68 and rolled up 416 yards while the defense surrendered 92 yards.

Kaiden Benge led the ground attack with 6 carries for 68 yards and a score. Jordan Rowe had 51 yards on 7 carries and Lane Osborne had a touchdown rushing and receiving.

Through the air, Hunter Williams turned in another solid performance, completing 9-of-14 passes for 174 yards and a TD pass. His top target on the night was Shawn Deskins with 4 receptions for 63 yards and a score.

Russell grabbed the lead late in the first quarter with a long, time-consuming drive that ended with a touchdown run from Osborne.

In the second, the Devils began to pull away.

Benge made it a two-score game when he took a handoff and knifed his way through traffic and ran through a tackle near the goal line for the score. Sam Totten added the point after to make it 14-0.

West Carter (1-2) nearly got a big scoring play of their own but it was foiled by an even bigger defensive play from Russell.

Comet quarterback Christian Waugh made a play fake on second down and left a pass fly to Allen King who got behind the defense. However, Deskins came up with a leaping interception right at the bottom of the midfield logo and returned it 18 yards to the Comet 37.

On the ensuing play, Williams went up top to Griffin Fisher for a 46-yard gain to the 1. On the next play, Rowe pushed his way in for the score to make it 21-0 with 8:33 remaining before halftime.

The Comets put together another drive that moved to the Russell 30 and tried to get on the board again before halftime, but another great defensive play ended any chance of a score.

Nathanial Hale lofted a pass down the fall sideline where Logan Jones came up with a pick on a jump ball at the two-yard line for another takeaway for the Devils.

Russell would turn another takeover into points and go 98 yards in about a minute and a half.

After getting two-straight runs from Rowe out to the 20. One play later, Williams would hit Benge for 21 yards out of the backfield to move into Comet territory.

On the final play of the drive, Williams would flip a screen pass over to Osborne for a 17-yard scoring play to widen the lead out to 28-0 at the break.

Maynard felt the success on the early downs of that drive paved the way for their two-minute offense to function.

"We had two timeouts and our thought process was to run two plays. So we called the same play twice and get out of there and get the first down, then we'll open it up.We made some plays and moved down the field and didn't have to use our timeouts."

Williams and Deskins would connect on a 23-yard pass off a play fake from Williams to put the Devils ahead 35-0 nearly three minutes in the third.

The Comets would finally get into the end zone in fourth quarter on a 4-yard run from Will Caudill. The score was set up by a 21-yard run from Hale on a quarterback keeper two plays prior.

Through three games, Maynard has been pleased with the effort but knows this team still has a ways to go to get ready for the bigger games later in the year.

"Our effort and physicality has been good all year. We just got to get these guys to understand those little things better and pay a little more attention to detail. But they are give their best for us."

Russell will be on the road next week when they travel down U.S. 23 to face the Paintsville Tigers.

West Carter 0     0   0   6 = 6

Russell 7   21   7   0 = 35

First Quarter

Rus — Lane Osborne 11 run (Sam Totten kick), 3:23.

Second Quarter

Rus — Kaiden Benge 19 run (Sam Totten kick), 10:15.

Rus — Jordan Rowe 1 run (Sam Totten kick), 8:33.

Rus — Lane Osborne 17 pass from Hunter Williams (Sam Totten kick), 1:08.

Third Quarter

Rus — Shawn Deskins 23 pass from Hunter Williams (Sam Totten kick), 9:09.

Fourth Quarter

WC — Will Caudill 4 run (kick no good), 8:45.

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WC Rus

First downs 6 20

Rushes-yards 25-68 22-242

Passing yards 24 174

Total yards 92 416

Cmp-Att-Int 4-9-2 9-14-0

Fumbles-lost 1-0 0-0

Penalties-yards 3-20 6-75

Punts-average 2-36.0 0-0

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Individual Leaders

RUSHING – West Carter: Allen King 1-5, Will Caudill 8-11 TD, Christian Waugh 2-minus 2, Grant Richards 1-minus 1, Nathanial Hale 12-56, Jordan Barker 1-minus 1; Russell: Jordan Rowe 7-51 TD, Hunter Williams 2-24, Deakyn Dickens 1-30, Raylon Haight 1-8, Peyton Bailey 1-10, Nicholas Marcum 2-15, Kaiden Benge 6-88 TD, Lane Osborne 2-16 TD.

PASSING – West Carter: Christian Waugh 1-3-9 minus 1, Grant Richards 2-2-0 24, Nathaniel Hale 1-4-0 1; Russell: Hunter Williams 9-14-0 174 2TD.

RECEIVING – West Carter: Christian Clark 2-24, Eli Hancock 1-minus 2, Jordan Barker 1-1; Russell: Jordan Rowe 1-23, Griffin Fisher 1-38, Caden Hampton 1-12, Shawn Deskins 4-63 TD, Kaiden Benge 1-21, Lane Osborne 1-17 TD.

MISSED FIELD GOALS – None.