GRAYSON — Russell found some big plays and then found a win, defeating East Carter 28-7 on rainy Friday night at East Carter High School to secure second place in the Class 3A District 6 standings.

That means when the playoffs start in two weeks, the Red Devils will get to play at least one more game at Henry R. Evans Stadium.

But Russell coach Ivan McGlone remains a little uneasy after watching his offense struggle early. He looked to quarterback Lance Evans to get around a feisty East Carter defense.

“I thought (East Carter) played hard and defensively they hurt us,” McGlone said. “They forced us into the passing game, and that’s something we’ve been fairly successful with throughout the year. I thought tonight we were extremely successful with throwing.”

Evans was only 3-of-7 for passing, but all three completions went for 30 yards or more — and all three completions went to sophomore receiver Bronson Korzep.

Three of the Red Devils’ touchdowns were set up by an Evans-to-Korzep reception, including the first drive of the game which saw Korzep get a 3-yard touchdown run as well.

And with senior running back Googie Hayes out with an MCL injury, Korzep was among those asked to pick up the slack.

“They really helped get us out of spot sometimes,” McGlone said. “(Korzep) looked so good last week we decided to start him in the halfback spot and he did a good job.

“He catches the ball well and we always thought of him as a receiver, but I’ve come to conclusion he might be able to run the ball too.”

Troy Huffine ran the ball well for Russell too, leading the Red Devils with 87 yards rushing on 20 carries and scoring two touchdowns.

But the run of the game went to Gage Stevens at the end of the first half when he was just trying to run some clock off the scoreboard.

With under a minute left, and Russell already missing on a deep pass, the Devils just handed the ball off to Stevens hoping to take time off the clock. He then busted through for a 56-yard run that put the Red Devils at the three-yard line, which led to a Korzep 1-yard touchdown run for a 21-0 halftime lead.

“Basically we were going to eat up the clock,” McGlone said. “We seem to be to successful doing that sometimes, where we run a little short trap when we’re spread out. Sometimes we get those big yards.

“It’s a shame he didn’t get in there, because he did the load.”

East Carter coach Zack Moore said after stopping them on the pass, his defensive line just made a mistake.

“That’s a lack of discipline on our front seven,” Moore said. “Never one time did we tell them to take for granted Russell High School is going to throw the football. We had guys on the back end assigned to different zones or whatever we were playing.

“What it was, was a complete lack of execution and discipline on our defensive tackle’s part. He got trapped and they creased us.”

East Carter (1-8) had many chances to stay in the game, including times when the Raiders easily moved the ball into Red Devils’ territory.

But Moore could only watch as three fumbled snaps, including one that led to a sack that cost East Carter nine yards, eventually cost the Raiders points.   

“That’s been a characteristic of ours all year is that we could not handle success on the field very well,” Moore said. “We drove the ball well tonight...Russell is such a solid football team they don’t need your help to beat you and we definitely did our best offensively, with those fumbled snaps.”

Raiders’ senior fullback Cade Stidham rushed for 106 yards on 19 carries while Chase Steele scored the only East Carter touchdown with a 15-yard run in the fourth quarter.

East Carter will miss the playoffs, taking only one win in the district this season.

Russell (6-3) earns the No. 2 spot in the district and will get the next two weeks at home, with Raceland coming in next week to close the regular season, and a playoff game the following week.

And while McGlone is proud of his team, he still thinks his team should be spending more than the next two weeks at home.

“It’s good to get a playoff home game but we’d like to have two,” he said. “We didn’t do the job we were supposed to two weeks ago, so we’re going to play at home the first week and if we’re successful we’ll probably be on the road.”

KYLE HOBSTETTER can be reached at khobstetter@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2658.