Published: September 27, 2008 01:06 am      

Red Devils hammer Raiders, 42-7

FLATWOODS — Russell took out its frustration on East Carter Friday night.

The Red Devils bounced back from a loss to rival Ashland with a resounding 42-7 victory over the Raiders at Henry R. Evans Stadium.

Although the final score was rather lopsided, when asked if his team made a statement with the victory coach Ivan McGlone said, “I don’t think we made much of a statement.”

Russell was able to get on the board early when East Carter’s punter fumbled the snap and Russell’s Kamron Smith picked it up and returned it eight yards for the touchdown on the game’s opening possession.

That was the first of two fumbles for the punter, something that surprised Raiders coach Aaron Baldwin. “Our punt team has been so very solid this year...And tonight we just didn’t have it.”

Late in the first quarter Russell was able to put more points when quarterback A.J. Cordle hooked up with David Bailey for a 10-yard touchdown pass. It was the first of two TD receptions for Bailey.

Deep into the second quarter, after another Russell touchdown had made it 21-0, the East Carter offense finally came alive picking up its initial first down with about three minutes to go in the half. The offense mounted a 65-yard drive that was capped off by Trei Tackett’s 10-yard touchdown run with only 19 seconds remaining in the half to make it 21-7. Tackett led the Raiders in rushing with 54 yards on 11 carries.

East Carter started the second half with a little trickery, an onside kick which it recovered on the 48 by the kicker. But the offense was unable to capitalize.

“I thought we had all the momentum going into and coming out of halftime when we recovered the onside kick and then we just don’t do anything offensively,” Baldwin said.

Drew Abrams led the Red Devil rushing attack, gaining 113 yards on 12 carries including two scores. McGlone complimented Abrams saying, “He’s a strong runner and he runs our offense pretty well.”

But for the most part McGlone was not impressed with the way the offense played. “The offense never really clicked,” he said. “We got a play here and a play there to keep things going, but our offense never clicked.”

The Raiders (0-5 and 0-2) are idle next week and play rival West Carter at home in two weeks. Russell (4-1 and 2-0) plays a non-district game at home against Lawrence County.