[GOREDDEVILS]

By RAY SCHAEFER — For The Independent
MAYSVILLE — Josh Harris carried a sledgehammer as he led Mason County into the stands Friday.

Harris led the Royals on the field, too. He ran through visiting Russell’s defense for 167 yards and three touchdowns in a 34-21 Class 3A District 7 win.

Good thing Mason County had Harris. His yards helped neutralize Russell’s 21 unanswered points in the second and third quarters and senior Travis Jones’ 195 rushing yards.

“I’m encouraged our kids didn’t totally lay down and quit,” Russell coach Ivan McGlone said. “I’m not very happy with what we did the first half.”

McGlone was talking about Mason County taking a 21-0 lead after one quarter. Or perhaps it was Russell losing three of four fumbles in the first quarter (the Red Devils fumbled six altogether).

One other thing hurt Russell — seven penalties for 115 for the game. Mason County’s 343 total yards also outdistanced Russell’s 276.

“They have speed, and we couldn’t handle it, it’s as simple as that,” McGlone said. “We just didn’t do a good job defensively.”

Two plays after Russell (5-3, 2-1) recovered a Harris fumble, Red Devil quarterback Patrick Cooper duplicated the error. Two plays later Harris swept around right end 84 yards for the score.

Harris also had a part in the Royals’ next touchdown. He ran right and tossed to junior Jordan Gilbert, who went 70 yards down the left sideline with 6:42 to go. McGlone said the defense over-pursued but should have had someone contain Gilbert.

The toss to Gilbert was more fun to Harris than his long run.

“Having an assist is real fun because watching the entire defense come after you … and then somebody else is usually walking in,” Harris said.

A little less than three minutes and five plays later, Mason County quarterback Neal Pawsat converted a Will Rice fumble for a 5-yard touchdown.

Mason County (7-0, 2-0) ran for 205 yards in the first half compared to Russell’s 77 and out-gained the Red Devils 267-59.

After Harris’1-yard run early in the made it 28-0 early in the second quarter, Russell closed to 28-21 with 2:46 left in the third quarter on Jones’ two 4-yard runs and a 3-yarder.

“I’m real impressed with him,” Mason County coach David Buchanan said of Jones. “Normally a Wing-T back doesn’t do that well in the mud, but by gosh he sure did do it.”

Harris closed the scoring with a 2-yard run 85 seconds into the fourth quarter. He carried six times for 32 yards in the drive.

With the win, Mason County, the top team in the Associated Press Class 3A rankings, took a half-game lead in the district.

The way McGlone sees it, Russell’s task is clear: beat Lewis County next week and Raceland on Oct. 23 to secure the No. 2 seed in the district and a home game in the playoffs.

“Our goal is to at least come in second in the district and go from there,” McGlone said.
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