B'ham bound

RUSSELLVILLE - A steady rain did nothing to dampen the celebration on the Russellville sideline Friday night.

Russellville was celebrating its first trip to the Super Six since 2004. The Golden Tigers advanced to the Class 5A championship game with a 28-19 victory against Cullman at Tiger Stadium.

It was the 10th-consecutive win for Russellville (13-1), which will play Vigor at Legion Field in Birmingham on Friday at 7 p.m.

"This is amazing," said junior Jake Ward, who caught two touchdown passes from Joey Howe. "Their offense is supposed to be the best in the state, and our defense shut them down. Now, we've got to go win it all."

Ward's two touchdown receptions and a long scoring run by Brent Calloway sparked the Russellville offense.

Meanwhile, the Russellville defense prevented Cullman quarterback Tyler Caldwell from making big plays. Caldwell, a finalist for Class 5A Back of the Year, completed 24-of-54 passes for 246 yards and three touchdowns, but he was intercepted twice.

"Our guys did a good job keeping their receivers in front of us and tackled well when they did make catches," Russellville coach Doug Goodwin said. "We were able to pressure Caldwell and make him move around. Give our defense credit for stepping up tonight."

Caldwell had two touchdown passes in the first half, but Russellville's Ryan Romans partially blocked the second extra point, and the Bearcats led 13-7 early in the second quarter.

The turning point came later in the second. Leading 13-7, the Bearcats faked a punt on a fourth-and-14 from their own 17. Caldwell's completion to Tyler Shugarts came up 3 yards short of a first down, giving Russellville the ball at the Cullman 28.

Six plays later, Mario Roman dove over from the 1, and Russellville led 14-13 with 3:06 left in the half.

Russellville forced a Cullman punt and got its big play from Calloway. On a third-and-five play, Calloway found a big hole on a draw play, avoided a tackle and outraced the Cullman defense for a 74-yard touchdown run with 8.6 seconds left in the half. The Golden Tigers took the 21-13 lead into halftime.

"I had lost a fumble earlier, so I had to make something happen," said Calloway, who finished with 168 yards on 24 carries. "I was able to run around a defender and when I saw the end zone, I had to score."

Russellville took the second-half kickoff and marched 60 yards in 10 plays. Howe hit Nathan McAlister for a 29-yard gain on a third-and-19 play, setting up Ward's 25-yard touchdown reception that extended the lead to 28-13.

"Brent's run gave us the momentum at halftime, and we were able to sustain it in the third quarter," Goodwin said. "That drive was huge because when you're two scores down, it really changes your approach."

Jeff McIntyre can be reached at 740-5737 or jeff.mcintyre@timesdaily.com.