FARMINGTON -- History repeated for Farmington head football coach Mike Adams, a History teacher, who inserted fresh legs in junior tailback Reid Turner whose 47-yard touchdown run sealed Friday's win.
Turner replicated his feat from a year ago when he broke a 40-yard touchdown run in a win at Clarksville.
"We're a two-back offense, that's what we are," Adams said, describing the combination of tailbacks senior starter Caleb Williams (26 carries, 213 yards, 4 touchdowns) and Turner (7 carries, 84 yards, 1 touchdown).
Along with fullback Jared Oskey, the Cardinal backfield produced 334 yards rushing on 43 attempts to offset a 45-rush, 373-yard performance by Clarksville.
After Farmington went 71 yards in 9 plays to establish an early 6-0 lead on Williams' 18-yard run, Clarksville roared back to take a brief lead of 7-6 with a 7-play, 68-yard drive capped by Colton Gregory's 8-yard touchdown and Sergio Fernandez' P.A.T. kick.
A key stretch of the game saw the Cardinals score the next three touchdowns featuring a mix of running plays with passes. On a 59-yard drive, senior quarterback Trey Waggle (9-of-13, 213 yards, 3 touchdowns) threw to tight end Jacob Gray for 14 yards. Williams carried four times for 40 yards, including a 12-yard touchdown off left tackle.
On the ensuing Panther possession, tackles by Jayden Carter and Sklar Montez caused Clarksville's drive to bog down. The Panthers lined up in an place-kick formation on fourth-and-10 from their own 46 with the kick rolling out-of-bounds at the Cardinal 26.
"We tried to make some adjustments throughout the game, but we knew we were going to have to keep scoring," Adams said. "Fortunately, our guys were able to do that."
Farmington responded to that mind-game with some razzle-dazzle of their own. Waggle hit senior wide receive Xavier Staten with a short pass. He broke a tackle and tip-toed down the left sideline for a 74-yard touchdown as time expired in the first quarter. Waggle passed to Drew Sturgeon for a 2-point conversion and Farmington led 20-7.
Clarksville started deep in their own territory and lost yardage with a fumble on first down. Javan Jowers held Nicholas Buckner for 3 yards, then Gregory slipped tackles but was brought down by Montez short of a first down leading to the Panthers' second punt.
Farmington overcame a second-and-25 with Waggle's pass to Sturgeon, who got behind the defensive back. He caught the ball on the run and raced 64 yards for a touchdown. Kolton Reeves' extra-point kick gave Farmington a 27-7 lead with 9:04 to play in the second period.
Clarksville rallied with a 6-play, 82-yard scoring march punctuated by Nicholas Buckner's 59-yard touchdown run along the Panther sideline. The P.A.T. kick made the score 27-14 and once again Farmington's offense was up to the challenge.
Backup tailback Reid Turner carried twice and Waggle completed passes to Staten and Gray. Williams checked back in and showed his heart. Hit initially at the five, he used physical strength in his upper body by putting a hand down while keeping his knees from touching and mental tenacity to creep into the end zone inches above the turf. A pass failed to convert the point-after and Clarksville came right back with Gregory's 8-yard run concluding a 7-play, 44-yard drive narrowing Farmington's lead to 33-21 at intermission.
Clarksville kept the pressure on. The Panthers pulled within 33-38 early in the third, and later within, 39-34. They closed the gap to 54-41 with a 33-yard pass executed after a double handoff. Farmington found ways to maintain the lead. After punting with 4:19 left in the game, senior cornerback Javan Jowers intercepted a Panther pass. Running stride-for-stride with the intended receiver, he turned around at the last moment and caught the football while falling down.
That turnover led to Turner's touchdown run and capped a wild night of entertaining football that saw both teams combine for 1,014 yards of total offense.
"We had some big plays early and got ahead, then we wanted to slow things down and run the clock as much as we could," Adams said. "But those guys never quit and kept coming right at us."
Sports on 09/27/2017