Fast start for Tomcats dooms Red Devils
- Staff
- Sep 20
- 3 min read
FLATWOODS — The rock band Airbourne wrote a song in 2007 titled "Too Much, Too Young, Too Fast".
Well, that song could've been written Friday night to describe Russell's 42-0 loss to the Ashland Tomcats at Henry R. Evans Stadium/Ivan McGlone Field.
The Tomcats speed proved too much for the Red Devils, as Cameron Davis tallied four touchdown runs and the defense disrupted Russell's offensive rhythm with penetration all night.
"Like we talked about before, (Ashland) is a very good team up front and gave us problems all night long. Their defensive line was just fast off the ball and got into our backfield all night."
Ashland took the opening kickoff and moved quickly downfield, as both Davis and Brody Simpkins ripped off big runs to move the Tomcats to the Russell 2. On first-and-goal, Davis walked in for the games' first points. Troy Barnett added the extra point to make it 7-0.
Russell (4-1) managed a first down on their next possession when Jayden Frasure hit Cayden Pennington on a second down pass play. But the Red Devils couldn't go any further, as two straight incompletions and immense pressure from Ashland forced Frasure to scramble on third down, ending the drive and forcing Russell to punt.
The Tomcats (3-2) got the ball back and continued to move in big chunks, as Davis ripped off gains of 21, 5, 11, and 11 to set up his score from 1 yard out to extend the lead.
Davis later added a 47-yard run for his third score of the game, splitting past the defense to make it 21-0.
Russell again tried to manufacture a drive, picking up another first down on a 19-yard run by Frasure on a designed run play to put the Red Devils in Tomcat territory.
The Red Devils best shot at driving deeper into Tomcat territory came early in the second.
On fourth-and-3, Frasure made a play fake and aired out a pass to Jordan Rowe towards the wide side of the field. But the pass was just out of the reach of Rowe and fell to the turf, giving the ball back to Ashland.
The Tomcats immediately turned the stop into points, as Keshawn Newman rattled off a 33-yard run. Then Davis scored on the next play for his final touchdown of the night.
Davis finished the game with 127 yards on 11 carries to lead the Tomcats offensively. Simpkins had 39 yards on 4 carries.
Daylen Farrow finished off the scoring with a pair of scores. His first came on a 29-yard touchdown run with just over 2 minutes before halftime. Then his final score came on second offensive play of the second half when he cut right up the middle of the field for a 24 yard score to make it 42-0.
Even in defeat Maynard hopes this game can be used as a teaching moment for his team.
"We have a lot to work on after tonight, especially up front. One thing we know moving forward is we won't face a team as talented as Ashland until deep into the playoffs. So hopefully our kids will use that as motivation to get better."
The Red Devils are on the road next week against Fleming County to open up district play.
Paintsville 21 14 7 0 = 42
Russell 0 0 0 0 = 0
First Quarter
Ash — Cameron Davis 2 run (Troy Barnett kick), 8:23.
Ash — Cameron Davis 1 run (Troy Barnett kick), 3:26.
Ash — Cameron Davis 47 run (Troy Barnett kick), 1:01.
Second Quarter
Ash — Cameron Davis 4 run (Troy Barnett kick), 6:33.
Ash — Daylen Farrow 29 run (Troy Barnett kick), 2:20.
Third Quarter
Ash — Daylen Farrow 24 run (Troy Barnett kick), 5:40.
———
Ash Ru
First downs 13 4
Rushes-yards 27-222 15-57
Passing yards 22 5
Total yards 244 62
Cmp-Att-Int 3-7-0 2-10-0
Fumbles-lost 2-0 1-1
Penalties-yards 2-25 1-5
Punts-average 1-24.0 3-26.34
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Individual Leaders
RUSHING – Ashland: Mason Wolfe 1-5, Brody Simpkins 4-39, Keshawn Newman 1-33, Carter Anderson 3-minus 6, Justin Hughes 1-2, Tanner Stutler 1-8, Xavier Johnson 1-4, Cameron Davis 11-127 4-TD, Trevonte Taylor 3-28, Team 1-minus 18; Russell: Jordan Rowe 4-11, Ivan McDaniels 2-13, Jayden Frasure 2-20, Logan Jones 6-8, Anderson Haggard 2-minus 3, Kaiden Benge 1-1, Lane Osborne 3-8, Benjamin Brinkman 1-minus 1.
PASSING – Ashland: Justin Hughes 3-6-0 22, Tanner Stutler 0-1-0 0, ; Russell: Hunter Williams 0-1-0 0, Jayden Frasure 1-8-0 5, Wyatt Hudson 1-1-0 0.
RECEIVING – Paintsville: Mason Wolfe 1-15, Brod Simpkins 1-2, Sam Lyons 1-5; Russell: Cayden Pennington 1-5, Benjamin Brinkman 1-0.
MISSED FIELD GOALS–None.
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