Cullman's Caden Winn and Russelville's Jared Thornton chase after a fumbled ball Friday evening.

RUSSELLVILLE — Cullman could never find its rhythm on offense.

Class 5A No. 6 Russellville used a pair of short field goals from Marvin Betancourt in the second quarter to take the lead and held on to win 6-0 over the 6A Bearcats on Friday.

Russellville (9-1) will face Anniston in the first round of the playoffs, while Cullman (6-4) travels to top-ranked Clay-Chalkville.

Golden Tiger running back Deyon Hill finished with 20 carries for 108 yards, while quarterback Payton Nichols was 13 of 22 for 142 yards.

The Black and Gold’s Ezra Burks had 55 yards on 13 carries, and quarterback Ross Crocker was 7 of 19 for 42 yards.

The Bearcats struggled in the fourth quarter with three turnovers, including an interception with less than a minute to play near midfield to seal the game.

Cullman nearly tied the game with a little over a minute left on a crazy sequence of events. Russellville forced a fumble on a punt and returned it to the 30 before the ’Cats stripped the ball and returned it for what looked to be a touchdown. However, a block in the back penalty negated the return and an additional unsportsmanlike penalty pushed Cullman back to the 10, where it started its final drive.

The Bearcats finished the contest with 10 penalties for 102 yards.

Cullman had a chance earlier in the game when it pulled off a fake punt run with five minutes left as Ethan McMinn ran 46 yards but was stopped at the Russellville 2. The ’Cats were stripped near the goal line with five minutes left to halt their best scoring opportunity.

Russellville suffered a botch hold on a field goal in the first quarter that stopped an attempt but was perfect in the second quarter with field goals of 22 and 21 yards to give the team all the points it needed to win.