The Harrisburg Bulldogs gave up an early, two-touchdown lead on Friday, falling at Central State 8 opponent Russellville, 44-28, to extend their losing skid to five games.

Harrisburg continued to battle injuries on Friday. But coach Brennan Claas said his team’s weakness is failing to overcome adversity. “We’re not doing a very good job at dealing with adversity. That’s got to be on me,” he said. “I’ve got to find a way to get them to believe in themselves. When things are going well, we are confident. But when we have adversity, we lose that very quickly. A lot of that is probably inexperience.”

The Bulldogs have also been plagued by injuries for several weeks. The offensive line is pretty much back to full strength with senior Jonathan Darwent making a heralded return on Friday. Still, injuries on offense meant further shuffling of players in the backfield.

Senior running back Caleb Nichols was injured the week prior against South Callaway and wasn’t much of a factor in the second half of that game. Claas said things looked better this week, but on Harrisburg’s first offensive play, he got up “a little gimpy.” Sophomore Hunter Winscott took over at tailback, but he was sidelined in the fourth quarter. That brought about another personnel change. Senior Rylee Robinson, who has already been filling in at quarterback the last three games, moved to tailback, and injured sophomore play-caller Kadyn Weldon stepped back in behind center.

“It’s been a revolving door, unfortunately,” Claas said about the team’s mounting injuries. However, Robinson is expected to start at quarterback on Friday when the Bulldogs return home to host longtime rival Fayette on Senior Night. That is, as long as Harrisburg has a healthy tailback.

On Friday, Harrisburg suited up more than 20 players for the first time in weeks. This week, Claas said he expects all 22 to be ready to play against Fayette.

The Bulldogs started fast on Friday at Russellville, scoring two touchdowns in the first quarter. Robinson scored from one yard out on their opening drive. Following a successful two-point conversion, Harrisburg took an 8-0 lead.

Later in the first quarter, Darwent forced a fumble, which junior Aison Jenkins recovered at the Bulldogs’ 28-yard line to set up the second score, a 13-yard run by Robinson, to put Harrisburg in front 16-0.

Russellville answered with two quick scores in the second quarter to even the game. The first came on a one-yard run and two-point conversion with 9:38 left in the half. The Indians took the ball right back on the ensuing kickoff, recovering an onside kick. Three minutes later, they found the endzone on a short run. Another successful two-point conversion knotted the score at 16-16.

“When they got back even, you saw that we were just deflated,” Claas said.

The momentum really changed when Harrisburg turned the ball over on downs with 2:10 left before halftime. Russellville then took the ball from its own 20-yard line to the red zone over the next two minutes. Finally, with eight seconds left in the half, the Indians punched it in on an 11-yard pass. The point-after attempt failed, but Russellville had gained the impetus and the lead, 22-16, at the mid-game break.

“With their brand of offense, they’re happy with three or four yards per carry. And they’ll sneak it on fourth down and get it,” Claas said about the vastly improved Russellville team. “They’re tough, fast, and confident. They’re very much a different football team than we saw last year. Their quarterback is one of the best athletes in the conference. He’s right up there with [Fayette’s Carter] Vroman in terms of the ability to take anything at any point. They’re all just tough, strong runners.”

The two teams traded scores early in the third quarter. Harrisburg finally closed the gap to one touchdown on a 10-yard run by Robinson with 3:11 left in the third period. But 20 seconds later, Russellville answered with a 60-yard touchdown and two-point conversion.

Trailing 38-22, Robinson scored his fourth rushing touchdown of the night on a one-yard burst with 9:46 left in the game. The two-point conversion failed, leaving the Bulldogs trailing by 10.

Russellville sealed it on a 9-yard run with 3:04 left to clinch the win, 44-28.

Despite the loss, Harrisburg gained nearly 200 yards on the ground, which is a testament to the renewed health of its robust offensive line. Robinson had 163 yards on 20 carries with four touchdowns to lead the ground attack. He also completed three of seven passing attempts for 108 yards before moving from quarterback to tailback late in the game.

Weldon, who was named the starting quarterback at the beginning of the season, has been battling an injury to his throwing hand sustained in Week 4 at Salisbury. He completed one of five short passes in a two-minute style drive late in the game with an interception.

“The interception wasn’t actually on him. We had a freshman receiver who misread the signal,” Class explained.

Defensively, Harrisburg finished with four players making double-digit tackles. Senior Victor Shouse led the way with 27 tackles (7 solo). Sophomore Adrian Jacobs added 17 (4 solo), including two for losses, in front of Darwent with 12 (3 solo). Robinson added 10 tackles (3 solo).

Darwent’s return was felt throughout the entire game. “He played every snap, both sides of the ball. He’s back to being healthy. That was big,” Claas said. “We’re almost completely healthy on the offensive line. You can see that in our stats. We rushed for almost 200 yards again, which we had not done in a while.”

Claas said his offensive and defensive lines will be crucial if Harrisburg is to snap its losing streak on Friday against Fayette. Since winning back-to-back games on the road in the first two weeks, the Bulldogs have lost five straight by no fewer than 10 points, as injuries have compounded.

The Bulldogs have won the last four meetings against the Falcons, dating back to October 14, 2022. But like Russellville, albeit not as dramatically, Fayette is another team that has shown significant improvement from a year ago. The Falcons are 3-4 overall and 1-2 in conference play so far.

Friday’s game also carries far more weight than a standard regular-season game. Not only are the teams area and conference rivals, but they are also both assigned to Class 1 District 7, alongside other former Lewis & Clark Conference teams, Salisbury, Westran, and Marceline. Fayette, 1-1 against district opponents, is vying for a first-round bye, and a win on Friday would further that aim, especially after defeating Westran in Week 4. Harrisburg sits last in district standings at 0-1 after losing to the still undefeated Salisbury Panthers.

Claas hopes his team can defeat Fayette at the line of scrimmage as his offensive line is now at full strength.

“I think we have a size advantage in the trenches. They’re going to have to step up. We’re going to have to rely on those guys to make some plays for us and probably grind one out,” Claas said. “We have to have a better mindset. They’ve got good athletes, and they make plays.

“Obviously, we have to stop Vroman. They were trying to chuck the ball around a little bit against South Callaway. That concerns me a little bit with our sophomores back there. We haven’t been very good in pass coverage. We have to stop the run, and then be ready because they’re not afraid to throw it. And they’ve got some speed with [Blake] Braden.”

Claas is also wary of Fayette junior Brodi Tucker, who has been standing out on defense.

Friday is also Senior Night in Harrisburg, adding pressure to send off the seniors with a win in their final home game.

Harrisburg takes the road for the final game of the regular season next week at Linn.