FARMINGTON -- Cardinal head coach Mike Adams had a surprise for his defense Thursday.
Adams, who has watched the Cardinal defense dominate a young offense throughout the fall, called for a quick strike with a long pass on the opening play and junior wide receiver Xavier Staten delivered. Staten caught a pass downfield, secured the football and was off to the races. Farmington defensive backs never gave up the pursuit with Skyler Montez slinging Staten down. The effort was good, but came too late as Staten's momentum carried him into the end zone for an 80-yard touchdown.
Other than that, Adams felt the defense still ruled the day.
"We hit them for a couple of big plays, but against our first group, didn't get a whole lot done," Adams said.
Adams, who likes to stretch the field and test defenses with vertical routes, was pleased with Staten's performance.
"Xavier showed he can be a playmaker," Adams said. "He had a couple of others, he showed what he can do."
Adams also singled out sophomore runningback Reid Turner, one of five Cardinals Adams plans to use at tailback in the I-formation. Turner was one-step away from breaking a long run as he danced in traffic picking up extra yards. Later, Turner shook off a tackle, then ran over a defender while going down to pick up yards. When consecutive runs were stuffed by the defense, Adams sent Turner in to run the ball. He accelerated up the middle before veering right and was finally brought down 30 yards later.
"Reid Turner had a big scrimmage at tailback," Adams said.
On one series sophomore Jared Oskey caught a pass along the sideline, then after an incomplete pass targeting a teammate, came back with a scoring run. Oskey broke tackles as he burst up the middle, then cut to the left side to score a long touchdown run from across midfield.
Despite giving up a few big plays, Adams liked the defense's consistent reaction at the line of scrimmage.
"I was really pleased with the way the defense ran to the ball," Adams said.
There were several defensive highlights. Senior Kelton Price jumped a route and nearly came away with a "pick six." Senior nose guard Dylan Reeves pushed the offensive line backwards, getting deep penetration to make a stop for a big loss. Junior defensive end Michael Sellers recorded a sack.
The scrimmage was video-taped as has each practice the team has had this year to give coaches opportunity to evaluate each position and player.
"We use technology to help ourselves get better," Adams said.
Adams addressed Farmington fans before the scrimmage began, thanking each one for coming to the scrimmage. Adams noted while the team only has 13 seniors they are a unique group.
"We're excited about what they've got in front of them," Adams said. "We're excited about the underclassmen. Let's get out there and get after it. Let's go Cards."
Then he called the deep pass that resulted in an 80-yard touchdown.
Junior High
Farmington head junior high coach Tracy Sutton said the scrimmage involving his squad went about the way he expected.
"We've still got a long way to go," Sutton said.
Sutton said the junior Cardinals have got to be more physical, but on the plus side he didn't see anybody shy away from contact.
"We've got two runningbacks that can run pretty good, they've got some shake and bake," Sutton said, emphasizing the blockers must execute on running plays.
Tuesday's scrimmage marked the first time Farmington video-taped the junior high portion of the Red and White game, something Sutton was eager to look at and break down the action. He called having the resource a "technological advantage."
"We'll see who knows their assignments and who doesn't," Sutton said. "If they don't know their assignments we can teach them their assignments.
Sports on 08/24/2016