FARMINGTON -- An offensive lineman's dream came true for Farmington seventh grade center, Ethan Parker, who recovered a fumble and ran for a 2-point conversion on the game's final play.
That turned out to be a highlight for the Cardinals as Greenwood defeated Farmington, 20-8, in seventh grade football action Thursday at Cardinal Stadium.
Cohen Watkins capped a 5-play, 70-yard drive with a 10-yard touchdown. On the 2-point conversion Parker was in the right place at the right time, scooping and scoring off the fumble.
Farmington head seventh grade coach Austin Lewis played on the offensive line in high school for the Cardinals. He knows its every offensive linemen's dream to get to run the football and score.
"He was aware of his surroundings. He saw the ball, picked it up, just ran as hard as he could into the end zone. I love seeing big men get into the end zone," Lewis said.
The Bulldogs built a 14-0 lead, then added a third touchdown on a 52-yard run with 4:45 left in the game.
Farmington rallied for a late touchdown to erase the goose egg from the scoreboard on a 5-play, 70-yard drive.
Edwin Medina lost a yard to start the drive, the Cardinals overcame second-and-11 with Watkins running a sweep to the wide side of the field to bring up a manageable third-and -one.
Emma Bowen broke loose for 48 yards on the next play when he ran off left tackle and accelerated into the Greenwood secondary. He was hit near the sideline and fumbled, but the ball went out of bounds and Farmington retained possession.
The Cardinals set up shop with a first-and-10 from the Bulldog 13. Bowen carried for three more yards, then Watkins for 10 yards to paydirt, scoring Farmington's only touchdown.
The Cardinals went for two. The ball was fumbled. Parker scooped it up and ran it in for the 2-point conversion.
"I just saw the ball on the ground and I picked it up and ran it into the end zone. That's how that happened," Parker said.
Parker's never scored before so he was pretty excited. His 2-point run turned out to be the final play of the game.
His goals for the Cardinal offensive line are to get better as a unit, and for the team to advance to the conference championship game.
As a center he aims to "Just overall get better and keep on improving."
Farmington has 38 kids on its seventh grade roster.
"This seventh grade group has promise. They've been here the whole summer," Lewis said, noting workouts between their sixth and seventh grade year averaged 95 percent attendance.
"We got some dudes who can go. This group has got to keep on pushing and get better every single day, especially understanding plays on offense and the calls on defense," Lewis said. "This is going to be a good group. They may be a little slow out of the gate for this loss to start the season, but we'll come back next week even with more fire."