Russellville, meet Madison County

RUSSELLVILLE - Madison County might be as familiar as strangers get for Russellville.

According to Russellville archives dating back to 1952, the Golden Tigers have never faced Madison County, which rose from Class 4A after last season. That makes Russellville's trip to Madison County (10-1) tonight in the second round of the Class 5A playoffs the first meeting between the two schools.

The schools are still somewhat familiar, thanks to a set of common opponents.

Russellville (10-1) has played three teams that also appeared on Madison County's schedule. Most recently, the Golden Tigers won 35-31 last week against Fort Payne, a team that handed Madison County it's only loss, 21-10, on Oct. 17.

Russellville and Madison County share wins against Lee-Huntsville and East Limestone, a team from Russellville's Region 8 that Madison County beat the last two weeks. Madison County won 21-3 last week in the first round of the playoffs after winning 30-12 in its regular-season finale.

Russellville coach Doug Goodwin acknowledged that it helps a little in gauging the opposition that Madison County has faced a Region 8 opponent the last two weeks, but he also cautioned about relying too much on common opponents and game film.

"It's better than just going in totally blind, not having anybody to gauge them by," Goodwin said. "It's just so hard to tell on tape from week to week how good teams are. Some teams look better on tape, and you get on the field and match up with them better than you thought. Others look like you're going to match up pretty good but play better than they look on tape."

Part of the problem, Goodwin said, is that game film helps the most when the team the opponent is playing on tape mirrors what Russellville does offensively or defensively. For example, it would be less advantageous for Russellville coaches, who employ a balanced, multiple-look offense, to scout Madison County's defense playing against a pass-happy spread offense.

Scouting regular-season opponents also sometimes helps with preparing for playoff opponents, Goodwin said. For instance, Russellville played Lee-Huntsville in week 2. Madison County watched film of that game in preparation for its week 5 meeting with Lee, giving Madison County an early look at Russellville.

"They actually got a look at us way before we got a look at them," Goodwin said.

Usually, Russellville swaps tapes of its last two games for film of their opponent's last two games. Russellville gave Madison County film of its wins against Colbert County and Fort Payne. Since Madison County faced East Limestone the last two weeks, Goodwin got film of Madison County's win last week along with a week 9 win against 5-5 Southside-Gadsden.

What did Russellivlle see? Coaches and players noticed 6-foot-4, 250-pound senior defensive end Brandon Day leading a big defensive front and dual-threat quarterback Toney Gurley joining running backs Dustin Moon and Eric Benson in the backfield for Madison County's run-based spread offense.

Like his coach, Russellville running back Brent Calloway warned that game film can be deceptive.

"You could be watching a team that could have just had a bad game," he said. "But since Madison County beat East Limestone by 18 each time, that kind of gives us a little more confidence."

Still, Calloway, Golden Tigers quarterback Joey Howe and receiver Nate McAlister all said no matter what the tape revealed, they're not about to come out as over-confident as they believe they did before last week's flat first half against Fort Payne.

"I don't think we played how we could have the first half," Calloway said. "Offensively and defensively, we didn't come out like we usually do. We'll take care of it, as long as everybody plays with intensity."

Bryan App can be reached at 740-5730 or bryan.app@timesdaily.com.