FARMINGTON -- Morrilton dominated the line of scrimmage with up-front blocking and the running of tailback Jackson Moll (34 carries, 292 yards) handing Farmington a 35-21 defeat Oct. 9.
Those defensive challenges combined with mistakes at inopportune times on offense which resulted in two long Cardinal touchdowns called back by penalties and a slough of special teams issues helped Morrilton assume a 28-7 lead aided by consistently good starting field position.
"We had a tough week -- had another covid issue that led to quarantine for several of our players including a couple of starters," said Farmington head coach Mike Adams. "We also had to cut one practice in half and completely miss another day. Early in the ball game we looked like a team that was distracted. Additionally, they [Morrilton] gave us a totally different look offensively than we had seen on any of their films."
The Devil Dogs went up 28-7 with 10:36 remaining in the game when Moll ran hard up the middle avoiding blitzers coming off both edges and scored a 37-yard touchdown.
On the previous series Farmington moved the ball 43 yards before turning the ball over on downs at Morrilton's 37.
The Cardinals began the second half by receiving a kickoff and mounting an 11-play drive that covered 75 yards. Senior quarterback Tate Sutton completed 3-of-4 passes on the drive, finding tight end Chase Brown for 19 yards, Caden Elsik for 23 yards and Devonte Donovan on a 4-yard touchdown to finish the drive.
"Offensively we made some good adjustments at halftime and scored on three of our five second-half possessions, but could not get a big stop when we needed it," Adams said.
The Cardinals, however, couldn't recover an onside kick, the first of five onside kicks they would attempt without recovering any. Morrilton bobbled the squib kick and the Cardinals made a tremendous effort to secure the ball, but were flagged and had to rekick.
Morrilton prepared and easily fielded the rekick at its own 48.
On the next play from scrimmage after Moll's third touchdown gave Morrilton a 21-point advantage, Elsik took a pitch and weaved his way through the Devil Dog defense for a 66-yard touchdown down the right sideline. However, that effort went for naught because of a holding penalty.
Farmington reset the offense with first-and-four from its own 40. Nine plays later Elsik found the end zone on an option left again taking a pitch from Sutton and running to the house with the drive consuming 3:27. Morrilton blocked the extra-point kick leaving Farmington in a 28-13 deficit.
On the ensuing kickoff Morrilton leaped upon an onside kick before the ball went 10 yards and took over at the Cardinal 47. The Devil Dogs capitalized on the short field with Moll adding a 2-yard touchdown run to make the margin 35-13 at the 2:37 mark of the fourth quarter.
Donovan's 28-yard kickoff return set up Farmington's 5-play, 55-yard drive with quarterback Ian Cartwright completing 3-of-4 passes and scrambling 18 yards for a first down. Cartwright hit Elsik on a flare to the right and the tailback took the reception 31 yards for the game's final touchdown.
Cartwright passed to Donovan to add the 2-point conversion, but Farmington still trailed 35-21 with 48 seconds to go.
An onside kick took a bounce backwards from the 48 drawing a flag because it didn't go 10 yards and was marked at Farmington's 40 where Morrilton took over and ran out the clock.
Farmington linebacker Hayden Cox recovered a Morrilton fumble in the first quarter, but the Cardinals couldn't sustain a drive after reaching their own 45 and a punt traveled only 15 yards before going out-of-bounds.
Morrilton used seven running plays to cover 60 yards taking a 6-0 lead on Moll's 4-yard run.
On Farmington's next series a 65-yard touchdown run by Sutton was taken off the board by a penalty.
On the other side of the ball, Morrilton quarterback Demarius Martin scored on a 6-yard run, then passed to Quincy Clemons for a 2-point conversion. Moll's 3-yard touchdown carry gave the Devil Dogs a three touchdown lead at intermission.
"Defensively they changed some personnel and played different coverages than we had seen," Adams said. "We played poorly early in the ball game and got behind early. We also had two big plays for touchdowns called back for penalties. All that led to being down 21-0 at halftime."
MORRILTON 35, FARMINGTON 21
Farmington^0^0^7^14^--^21
Morrilton^6^15^0^14^--^35
First Quarter
Morrilton -- Jackson Moll 4-yard run (Kick blocked), 1:46.
Second Quarter
Morrilton -- Demarius Martin 6-yard run (Quincy Clemons pass from Demarius Martin).
Morrilton -- Jackson Moll 3-yard run (kick).
Third Quarter
Farmington -- Devonte Donovan 4-yard pass from Tate Sutton (Toni Cervantes kick).
Fourth Quarter
Morrilton -- Jackson Moll 37-yard run (kick), 10:36.
Farmington -- Caden Elsik 16-yard run (kick blocked), 7:00.
Morrilton -- Jackson Moll 2-yard run (kick), 2:37.
Farmington -- Caden Elsik 31-yard pass from Ian Cartwright (Devonte Donovan pass from Ian Cartwright), 0:48.
TEAM STATISTICS
Farmington^Morrilton
Total plays^59^62
First downs^18^19
Total offense^289^395
Rushes-yards^30-142^46-332
Passing yards^147^63
Rush average^4.7^7.2
Comp-Att-Yds^TD^Int^13-21-147-2-0^3-9-63-0-0
Punts-Avg.^5-27.0^3-27.0
Fumbles lost^2^2
Turnovers^2^2
Penalties-Yds^12-96^9-42
Third-down conversion^2-9^4-9
Fourth-down conversion^1-2^0-1
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING -- Farmington, Caden Elsik 21-133, Ian Cartwright 6-19, Tate Sutton 3-(-10). Totals 30-142. Morrilton, Jackson Moll 34-292, Demarius Martin 6-16, Tucker Granberry 2-13, Jake Sessions 4-11, Totals 46-332.
PASSING -- Farmington, Tate Sutton 8-13-84-1-0, Ian Cartwright 5-8-63-1-0. Morrilton, Demarius Martin 3-9-63-0-0.
RECEIVING -- Farmington, Caden Elsik 2-62, Chase Brown 5-52, Elliot Thompson 3-16, Tate Pickens 1-13, Devonte Donovan 1-4. Totals 13-147. Morrilton, Quincy Clemons 2-55, Watson 1-8.