Column: The Spy Who Skyped Me

FIRST QUARTER FORENSIC AUDIT FARMINGTON 21-14 LOSS

Friday's 5A West football game between Farmington and Harrison resembled a contemporary political thriller with the Goblins, wearing their home blue jerseys, getting the best of the Cardinals, 21-14.

Both teams made mistakes in the first minute but Harrison atoned for its poorly executed pooch kick that Farmington sophomore Russell Hodge returned 25 yards to the Goblin 40.

Farmington, playing without injured starting quarterback Cameron Vanzant, went with Sam Wells, a converted defensive back, calling the signals and burned a time-out on its first play because the play clock was running down.

When they came to the line of scrimmage, the Cardinals attempted a double pass similar to a play they ran at Rogers two weeks earlier with two tweaks. With his feet at Harrison's 44, Wells threw backwards to Lawson DeVault in the left flat. DeVault successfully completed a pass from the right side to Peyton Funk at Rogers, but after catching the ball at the Goblin 46, this time his vision may have been impaired as he threw diagonally across the field.

On Sept. 9, a controversial penalty negated Farmington's double pass at Rogers. Then, the Cardinals turned the ball over on the next play with a fumble. This double pass suffered the same fate.

Goblin cornerback Kamran Bell stood at the 35, spying on Wells as he released out of the backfield and ran between the hashes. The 6-feet-1, 180-pound senior read the play so well that he might as well have been reading the Cardinal playbook. Did the Cardinals telegraph their intentions or was there something else amiss?

This wasn't a James Bond Cold War spy drama. These days the average citizen need not travel outside the country to find a politician eager to make them feel ostracized and whole lot less than a constituent, especially after the Sept. 1, "From Washington with Love" speech.

It's like Bell knew exactly where the ball would be thrown. All he had to do was back up to the 22 and catch it.

In football terms, it was akin to having an inside plant to track where declassified documents were stored at Mar-a-Lago.

One could almost hear the voice of Jack Nicholson, playing a thug who morphed into the Joker in 1989's Batman, "I say we break in, trash the place, and call it industrial espionage."

In the blink of an eye the redbirds went from playing offense to defense as Bell returned the interception 18 yards, giving the Goblins good field position at their own 40.

Just like the Rogers game, there was flag against the Cardinals on the play -- for offensive pass interference -- meaning had Wells managed to catch the football, the gain would been called back.

On the next play, Farmington senior defensive tackle David Stettmeier (6-1, 265) shed the block of Harrison senior Mickey Upton (6-1, 245) like he was negotiating with a lame duck president. Stettmeier wrapped his powerful arms around Goblin running back Braden Long and tossed him to the turf for no gain.

But the guys wearing the striped suits would have none of that. They waited until Long was down, then threw a flag, ruling the tackle was made by grabbing the facemask. The contest was 37 seconds old and already marred by controversy.

Farmington fans were experiencing deja vu, watching their Cardinals get snakebit facing another blue-jerseyed set of opponents.

Somebody better start praying that passage from 2 Peter 1:10, "Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall."

With the penalty kick-starting their drive, the Goblins marched 60 yards to take a 7-0 lead on Long's 1-yard run.

Two more controversial penalties, a false start with the offensive line just touching the turf and a holding flag that again didn't get thrown until the result of the play showed Wells running for five yards on third-and-seven, short-circuited Farmington's next possession.

The defense forced a three-and-out, then DeVault's 80-yard punt return set up Russell Hodge's 3-yard touchdown run to tie the score, at 7-7 following Jorge Cervantes PAT kick.

Cervantes booted the ensuing kickoff into the end zone for a touchback. That, too, got called back by an offsides penalty. On the re-kick Farmington's Landon Morris and Zach Ralston combined to punch the ball out. Sophomore Ryan Berger recovered the fumble and the Cardinal offense set up shop at Harrison's 28 with 1:06 left in the first quarter.

Farmington lost three yards with Wells sacked on first down and could have gained a first down by penalty except the officials stacked one more controversial call on their growing pile of soiled laundry -- ruling unsportsmanlike conduct against both teams. The penalties offset and Wells scrambled to avoid a blitz on second down. Harrison linebacker Elijah Lambert latched onto Wells' facemask at the 28 and tackled him forward to the 25. No flag was thrown, bringing up third-and-seven.

Wells saw DeVault open on a slant route at the Goblin 15, but the pass was slightly off and fell incomplete with the first quarter ending in a 7-7 deadlock with a turnover on downs.

The Cardinals had another chance to take the lead in the second quarter but suffered an interception in the end zone.

Instead, Harrison forged ahead on Caiden Hinson 5-yard reception at the 1:51 mark of the second, and the Goblins held a 14-7 lead at halftime. Harrison added another touchdown on Mason Ketterman's 1-yard carry with 9:21 to go in the fourth.

Farmington trimmed it to 21-14 with Peyton Funk catching a 10-yard pass from Wells, but couldn't make up the 7-point differential in the final 5:42 and lost its conference opener.

Farmington Coach J.R. Eldridge took the blame for the loss. He noted the Cardinals had two weeks to prepare with Wells sliding into the starting quarterback role, a position where he got some snaps during spring practice, but not enough.

"That's on me," Eldridge said, adding that as head coach, he should have had Wells ready to go.

"Sam is a great football player and the quarterback of our defense," Eldridge told the Northwest Arkansas Democrat Gazette after the game. "The bottom line is I didn't have us prepared, mentally ready to roll offensively like I believe we are capable of doing. Our players fought hard, but we had way too many mistakes."

Mark Humphrey grew up among a vast extended family of the Crow Indians in south central Montana. His Indian name, "Sings With His Heart," was given unto him by his late adopted father, Walter "Merle" Big Medicine (July 19, 1941 - Nov. 22, 2021), of Dunmore, Mont. Humphrey is a member of a federally recognized tribe. Humphrey's poetry compositions derive from a rich spiritual and Native American heritage. Humphrey is a sports writer for the Enterprise-Leader. Opinions expressed are those of the author.

Harrison 21, Farmington 14

Farmington^--^7^0^0^7^--^14

Harrison^--^7^7^0^7^--^21

First Quarter

Harrison -- Braden Long 1-yard run (kick), 7:09.

Farmington -- Russell Hodge 3-yard run (Jorge Cervantes kick), 1:12.

Second Quarter

Harrison -- Caiden Hinson 5-yard pass from Mason Ketterman (kick), 1:51.

Fourth Quarter

Harrison -- Mason Ketterman 1-yard run (kick), 9:21

Farmington -- Peyton Funk 10-yard pass from Sam Wells (Jorge Cervantes kick), 5:42.

TEAM STATISTICS

Farmington^Harrison

Total plays^62^67

First downs^15^20

Total offense^235^312

Rushes-yards^28-121^42-204

Passing yards^114^108

Rush average^4.3^4.9

Comp-Att-Yds^TD^Int^12-23-114-1-2^10-16-108-1-0

Punts-Avg.^2-26.0^5-N/A

Penalties-Yds^16-122^8-90

Turnovers^3^2

Fumbles lost^1^2

Third-down conversion^2-10^9-16

Fourth-down conversion^2-4^2-3

Missed Field Goals -- Farmington, Jorge Cervantes 25 yards, blocked third quarter.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING -- Farmington, Sam Wells 15-85, Russell Hodge 8-29, Luke Elsik 4-4, Cooper Gardenhire 1-3. Totals 28-121. Harrison, 44-193.

PASSING -- Farmington, Sam Wells 12-22-114-1-1, Lawson DeVault 0-1-0-0-1. Harrison, Mason Ketterman 10-16-108-1-0.

RECEIVING -- Farmington, Lawson DeVault 5-29, Payton Funk 4-51, Jagger Gordon 3-34. Totals 12-114. Harrison, 10-108.