Farragut shows ‘fight’ against Wildcats
Johnny Jacobs leaped and hauled in the pass, turning to stiff-arm a defender as he picked up 10 more yards. The trickery preceded Jacobs’ fourth-down catch on the same drive, setting up Carter Collier’s 3-yard touchdown run to bring FHS within a score of Oak Ridge last Friday, Oct. 23.
It was an admirable response from the Admiral squad, which overcame a blocked punt that led to Oak Ridge’s first score of the night.
Neither that nor a fourth-quarter touchdown by Cruz Williams proved enough to overpower the Wildcats, however, as the home team held off the Admirals 35-14.
“I thought we fought for 48 minutes,” head coach Geoff Courtney said afterward. “Offensively, defensively. The special teams mishap there in the first half hurt us, but I thought our guys played with great effort and poise, able to capitalize on some of their mistakes and their penalties helped us out.
“We have to play better complementary football. We did that in long stretches, probably more than we have in any game outside of Bearden. Not the outcome we wanted obviously, but proud of our guys’ effort and fight.”
Farragut reflected that early, turning the Wildcats away with a fourth-down stop on their first drive.
When the Admirals regained possession, an incomplete pass and two short runs set up the punt, which was blocked to put the Wildcats at the FHS one-yard-line.
Tailback Damillyan Porter pushed into the end zone to draw first blood, but that was all the Wildcats could muster in the first quarter.
He found the end zone again less than 90 seconds into the second quarter, and Farragut responded with a nice return from Sadler before returning the ball to the Wildcats with another punt.
The Ads regained possession shortly thereafter, though, setting up their best drive of the season from their own 22-yard-line. Collier picked up 12 yards for a first down, then he took the ball again before Sadler hit Jacobs on the trick play. Two more Collier runs followed with a sack of Hayes Sharp in-between, giving FHS a fourth down with four yards to go. Undeterred, Sharp fired a dart to Jacobs to the 11-yard-line, and two more Collier runs put Farragut in the end zone.
The Admirals’ tailback provided plenty of tough yards throughout the possession, and Jacobs and Sharp connected well on two more key plays.
“He’s really had a good season,” Courtney said of Jacobs. “We’ve not been able to get him the ball as much as we would have liked, but we have grown up around him in other areas. It was good to see him be productive. Hayes, he had a couple ill-timed interceptions but settled in and made some good throws.”
Another Oak Ridge score followed, as Tennessee commitment Malik Howard snagged a TD in the corner to put the score at 21-7 going into halftime. The Wildcats ultimately stretched the lead out to 35-7 as Sharp was picked off twice, but Farragut freshman Easton Lear made an interception of his own to set up Farragut’s final score from Williams.
The visitors marched 88 yards to pay dirt, as Williams punched in the score before Caleb Bell’s PAT marked the final margin.
This week, the Admirals are turning their attention to Cleveland to wrap up the regular season with Senior Night.
“These seniors have led us and stuck together all year long,” Courtney said. “It has not been easy by any stretch, and it’s been frustrating. But they have managed to keep us together and a lot of guys in that group have been productive and great teammates. So we need to honor them the right way on Senior Night. Cleveland will be playing for a second-place home playoff game Friday, so we need to bring our A-game.”
