Rams find plenty to go around in Rail Cities rout

Aug. 28—RACELAND — Logan Lundy approached 400 yards of total offense, hit four receivers for at least 32 yards apiece and had a hand in six touchdowns on Saturday night.

After a Rail Cities Bowl Most Valuable Player performance, Raceland's quarterback was as adept at spreading around the credit as he had been the football.

"I was just throwing to the wide-open receivers," Lundy said, grinning. "They're great. I swear, the receivers we have are some of the best in eastern Kentucky right now, and they make me look really good all the time."

The Rams upended Russell, 53-14, in the first outing on their new artificial surface, setting series records for most points in a game and widest margin in a Raceland victory. The border rivals have been playing off and on since 1926.

The Red Devils scored first and nearly scored second, too, after Carson Patrick hauled in his second long reception in as many possessions and two rushing plays got it to the Raceland 4-yard line.

But the Rams stood tall when Landyn Newman intercepted a pass in the end zone.

"It was huge," Raceland's Mason Lykins said. "It was a big game-changer. It showed that (Russell) can't throw the ball anymore, and we just started pounding on them."

The Rams started it by covering 80 yards in seven plays. Conner Hughes took Lundy's toss and slipped 42 yards through traffic to the end zone, and Hughes found Brayden Webb on a fake extra point to lift Raceland in front.

The Rams were off and running, racking up 53 consecutive points scored by eight different players.

Lundy hit Hughes and Lykins for two touchdowns apiece, connected with Parker Fannin for a third-quarter TD and ran for a 68-yard score of his own just 68 seconds into the third frame.

Lundy completed 14 of 16 passes for 277 yards, five scores and no interceptions, and rushed for 92 yards and a TD in beating his former team for the first time.

"I'm sure he was a little bit maybe more amped up than normal," Raceland coach Michael Salmons said, "but I thought he was really calm and collected and played within himself. and I think you see his approach as he grows more mature. Just super comfortable with what we're trying to do.

"Really trying to be a reflection of the coaching staff on the field, to get the ball to where it needs to go and who it needs to go to, and (into) the protection we need to be in."

Hughes caught three passes for 129 yards, including touchdowns of 42 and 66 yards. Lykins, like his quarterback a former Red Devil, hauled in four passes for 59 yards and TDs from 33 and 14 yards. Fannin made three receptions for 43 yards, one of them a 23-yard scoring strike.

Jaxon Heighton added a 27-yard touchdown run, and backup quarterback Austin McKee finished off Raceland's scoring with a 3-yard plunge with 3:24 to play.

Raceland outgained Russell 511 yards to 180 and limited the Red Devils to negative-5 yards rushing.

Up just 8-7, the Rams (2-0) scored five touchdowns in a span of nine minutes to blow it open, beginning with Lykins's 33-yard scoring reception at the 4:45 mark of the second quarter.

By the time Fannin snared Lundy's 23-yard toss in the end zone and Peyton Ison followed with an extra point with 7:46 to play in the third frame, Raceland's lead had ballooned to 40-7.

"We knew going in it was gonna be a tough battle, and we knew that (Raceland) had more depth than us," Red Devils coach TJ Maynard said. "I thought there about midway through the second quarter, you saw that kick in, and we just couldn't get anything positive going after that."

Patrick made six receptions for 158 yards, including a 58-yard strike from Ethan Pack to open the scoring with 6:15 to go in the first quarter.

Patrick also caught passes of 57 and 30 yards en route to Russell MVP honors.

Asked if the Rams made any adjustments to take away Patrick's athleticism over the top after his reception that got Russell into the red zone for the second time, Salmons deadpanned, "They tried."

"You gotta try to pressure the quarterback and you gotta try to stay in phase (in good position) on coverage," Salmons said. "Sometimes we did that and (Russell) made good throws and catches. Sometimes we didn't do that and they made throws, and then I think as the game wore on, our depth really took its toll and we were able to get pressure, which leads to errant throws and leads to incomplete passes."

Raceland got five sacks on Pack, who threw for 185 yards, hitting 10 of 18 passes.

Russell (0-2) found a positive moment on its way out. D'Marques Kershner took a kickoff 90 yards to the house with 55 seconds remaining. Nathan Totten booted his second extra point to set the final margin on the final play of the game under the running clock.

"I'm so happy for that young man," Maynard said.

Raceland had lost the previous three meetings but has overall won nine of the last 13. Russell leads the all-time series, 31-24-7.

Fans and Rams assistant coach Justin Beek were also treated to a moment of heartfelt levity. Raceland public address announcer Bill Farley made note to patrons on multiple occasions that Sunday was Beek's birthday. Midway through the third quarter, he paged Beek's wife (and Russell's softball coach), Nikki, to the press box and enlisted the couple's 3-year-old son, Benny, to wish his father a happy birthday over the PA system.

Benny complied. Beek looked up at the press box from his spot on the sideline and grinned.

RUSSELL 7 0 0 7 — 14

RACELAND 8 13 19 13 — 53

FIRST QUARTER

Ru — Carson Patrick 58 pass from Ethan Pack (Nathan Totten kick), 6:15

Ra — Conner Hughes 42 pass from Logan Lundy (Brayden Webb pass from Hughes), :07

SECOND QUARTER

Ra — Mason Lykins 33 pass from Lundy (Peyton Ison kick), 4:45

Ra — Jaxon Heighton 27 run (kick fails), 1:42

THIRD QUARTER

Ra — Lundy 68 run (kick fails), 10:52

Ra — Lykins 14 pass from Lundy (kick fails), 10:33

Ra — Parker Fannin 23 pass from Lundy (Ison kick), 7:46

FOURTH QUARTER

Ra — Hughes 66 pass from Lundy (Ison kick), 11:50

Ra — Austin McKee 3 run (run fails), 3:24

Ru — D'Marques Kershner 90 kickoff return (Totten kick), :55

Ru Ra

First Downs 7 19

Rushes-Yards 24-(-5) 29-234

Comp-Att-Int 10-18-1 14-16-0

Passing Yards 185 277

Fumbles-Lost 1-1 2-1

Punts-Avg. 7-36.3 2-44.0

Penalties-Yards 6-36 6-55

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Russell rushing: Richardson-Crews 5-13, Oborne 8-10, Rock 1-2, Kiser 2-(-1), R. Pike 1-(-3), Team 1-(-5), Pack 6-(-21).

Raceland rushing: Lundy 5-92, Farrow 7-39, Heighton 3-32, Wallace 7-27, Litteral 2-26, McKee 3-19, Team 2-(-1).

Russell passing: Pack 10 of 18 for 185 yards, 1 interception.

Raceland passing: Lundy 14 of 16 for 277 yards.

Russell receiving: Patrick 6-158, Kershner 3-16, Rock 1-11.

Raceland receiving: Hughes 3-129, Lykins 4-59, Fannin 3-43, Webb 1-32, Newman 3-14.