Royals rout Russell

The Mason County Royals took on the Russell Red Devils on the gridiron Friday night.

In a rematch of the 2023 season’s opening week, the Russell Red Devils and Mason County Royals faced off on the football field Friday night, in a game many thought could be predicted. They were wrong.

Last season, the Red Devils jumped out ahead of Mason County, besting the Royals 28-8, With QB Ethan Pack throwing two touchdown passes and runningback Andre Richardson-Crews picking up 81 rushing yards for two touchdowns. This year, with Russell undergoing several lineup changes, and the Royals returning many, Mason County was feeling strong coming into Friday night’s contest.

“I’m excited, it’s a big week for our guys here, especially after last year to come back and our guys we haven’t been healthy. Not clean not perfect, but a win’s a win and we’ll take it.” said Royals head coach, Joe Wynn.

Despite the lineup changes, Russell proved their strength early on in the contest, barrelling through Mason County’s defense to put up an early touchdown. After a failed PAT attempt, the Red Devils led over Mason County 6-0.

The Royals weren’t willing to back down however, having worked their way down the field to tie the contest 6-6, with a successful PAT attempt sending the Royals over Russell 7-6. With Mason County having built up a slim lead, the Red Devils were hoping to pull out ahead of the Royals once again, while the Royals were looking to continue working their offense and further their lead over Russell.

With 7:32 left in the second quarter, the Royals would score again, with another PAT attempt successful, allowing Mason County to further the point deficit even further, now leading 14-6 over the Red Devils.

Another touchdown scored by Mason County early in the third quarter would push Mason County up over Russell 21-6, with 8:55 left on the clock, this touchdown rounding out the Royals’ scoring this game.

“They put Cole one on one there and played that, for us we get all that grass we’re gonna take that all day. Then we got a short field from our defense, Micah got a big pick there, short field we gotta capitalize on those. Our last one, that was a halftime adjustment we saw that to Ashayne right there playing tight end, we saw that in film and we come out, hit an RPO, he makes a good play, bounces off a would-be tackle and makes it to the end-zone. We gotta be cleaner but a win’s a win for us.” said coach Wynn.

Russell would work hard in the second half of the contest to bring the game back close, hoping to pull out ahead of the Royals late in the game.

A touchdown scored by the Red Devils and another unsuccessful PAT attempt would leave Russell behind Mason County 21-12, with both teams unwilling to quit. In the fourth quarter, Russell would work their way down the field hoping to score one more touchdown, but would turn it over to Mason County on downs at the four with just over six minutes left in the contest. The Royals would wait out the clock as they worked their way to the end-zone, with the defense working to push Russell back once they re-gained possession.

“They just rallied to the football. I think you see effort in that attitude there. Offense put them in a bad spot, the first touchdown short field, offense shouldn’t score like that on the 40. Opening drive, I think we were a little too nervous there but the defense settled in.” said coach Wynn, “I always said what they did last year to us was not gonna happen this year. I’m proud of our guys, bend don’t break and when you hold a team to 12 points you better win.”

Mason County successfully held off the Red Devils throughout the remainder of the contest, picking up their first win of the season 21-12 over Russell. The Royals now gear up for their next contest next Friday on the road against the Montgomery County Indians.

“I’m sure they’re excited I hope they are, it’ll be nice to get back into our school routine next week when we start school on Monday. The opportunity to start the season 1-0 is big for our guys. Springboard off that energy and keep rallying up front.” said coach Wynn, “We gotta lot of work to do, but nobody’s gonna complain about 1-0.”

The Royals have a three game stretch on the road starting with next week’s game against Montgomery County, followed by a contest against the Fleming County Panthers, then the Boyd County Lions, before returning home to Maysville to take on the Rowan County Vikings on September 20.