The Russellville Golden Tigers traveled to Itawamba Agricultural High School in Fulton, Miss., to take on the Indians for a football jamboree as the teams prepare for the fast-approaching regular season.

The contest saw both varsity teams have multiple possessions with set field position with no live kicking game. The quarterbacks were protected by no-contact rules and no score was kept. Following the varsity action, the JV squads were allowed to play one 12-minute quarter.

Russellville’s final varsity drive of the evening showed promise with a mix of plays both on the ground and through the air in a hurry-up style. With the possession staring at their own 20-yard-line, the Golden Tigers began with a pass completion from quarterback Harrison Burch to Bralynn Vincent for 12 yards.

On the next play, Burch found Cash Crumpton for a 37-yard completion. Burch then threw to Vincent on the following play for a 12-yard gain. A false start by RHS was followed by a pass interference penalty by the Indians to put the ball at the Itawamba 12-yard-line. A couple of four-yard runs by Cam Phinizee followed before the drive ended with a RHS penalty and then an incomplete pass.

“I thought we played hard,” Russellville head coach John Ritter said of his team’s jamboree performance. “That’s what we wanted to see. This wasn’t a real game, but it was our first action, and you’re going to make a lot of mistakes. What we talked about was, let’s make mistakes playing hard, let’s make mistakes being relentless and let’s make mistakes playing full-speed, and I think we did that.”

The Itawamba squad had a successful 2022 season and served as a good host for the preseason competition and the large RHS crowd in attendance. “That team was 12-1 and played in the north half championship last year,” Ritter shared. “They lost a lot of guys, but they have a lot of those pieces back. That will probably be one of the fastest defenses that we see.”

Russellville will host Grissom to open the regular season on August 25.