Farragut High School’s football team can go ahead and reserve the first Friday of November on its calendar.

The Admirals are heading back to the state playoffs.

Tanner Thomas rushed for 109 yards and three touchdowns on 20 carries as the Admirals, ranked No. 3 in Class 5A, cruised past Campbell County 31-0 on homecoming, clinching a playoff berth after missing the postseason a year ago.

“Sitting back as a team, we watched those playoff games, and it fueled the fire,” Thomas said. “This year, I feel like we’re really connected, and it shows on the field.”

Farragut’s renaissance season arrived on the heels of a 4-6 finish in 2014. It was the Admirals’ second missed playoff berth in three seasons, despite a winning record in the since-dissolved District 4-AAA.

Still, their advancement, confirmed by Clinton’s 49-14 win over Lenoir City, was never in doubt on Friday.

Farragut (6-0, 3-0 Region 3-5A) led 21-0 at halftime en route to sole possession of first place in the region. Thomas scored on runs of 14 and six yards in the first half, and quarterback Jacob Naumoff
connected with Justin Kirkendall on a 9-yard TD with 8 minutes, 53 seconds left in the half.

Thomas added a 12-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to help push the lead to 31-0, and senior kicker Carter Phillipy had
plenty of power behind a 50-yard field goal in the third quarter.

“We talked about missing the playoffs for a day and moved on,” Farragut coach Eddie Courtney said. “ This team has gotten better, and this is something they wanted to do.”

Farragut intercepted Campbell County quarterback Josh Lay four times, including two picks from sophomore reserve Griffen Swicegood and one from Logan Mitchell and Tanner Mengel.

The loss snaps a four-game winning streak for Campbell County, which rallied from an 0-2 start after inserting Lay, a junior, at quarterback.

The Cougars (4-3, 2-1) nearly outgained Farragut, mustering 281 yards to the Admirals’ 287. But they turned it over on downs twice in the red zone, and two of Lay’s interceptions came inside Farragut territory. Lay finished 20 of 46 passing for 176 yards, and rushed for 94 yards on 25 carries.

“The three losses we’ve had this year: Two times against Gibbs at the 1-yard line, against Central, four times inside the 20, and probably the same three or four times tonight,” Campbell County coach Justin Price said. “We’re just not scoring down there.”

A special thanks to Carlos Reveiz of CRFOTO for the action shots from the game. Every week be sure to checkout CRFOTO.com for a full photo gallery from Friday’s game. See a photo you like? They are also available for purchase directly from his website. Click here for this week’s photos.

 

OFFICIAL GAME STATS

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Farragut High School went 80 yards in its two first plays. Within three minutes, the Admirals had a touchdown on 66-yard pass

from Jacob Naumoff to Michael Travis. That was only a hint of things to come against Karns.

Naumoff threw for 245 yards and three touchdowns and the Admirals (5-0, 2-0 Region 3-5A) won 44-3 at Karns on Friday night.

Farragut senior running back Tanner Thomas was the other driving force for the Admirals’ offense. Thomas ran for 188 yards and two touchdowns.

“What we have to have is a balanced offense,” Farragut coach Eddie Courtney said. “We have to depend on the run game with Tanner to get the job done.”

Karns senior running back Devin Harper struggled to get loose throughout the game. The Oklahoma State commitment had 23 carries for 102 yards. Harper left the game in the third quarter

with a foot injury. The Karns coaching staff did not know the severity of the injury.

Karns (1-4, 0-2) limited its scoring opportunities due to penalties and botched snaps throughout the game.

“We have made mistakes in the first half of ball games or right at the start of the second half that we are not good enough yet to overcome,” Karns coach Tobi Kilgore said. “When you play a top-10 team in the state, you make any mistakes and they will capitalize.”

Farragut entered the game allowing only 10.8 points per contest led by senior cornerback Justin Kirkendall and senior defensive end Cole Strange. Kirkendall had his sixth interception of the season and is now three shy of breaking the school record for most interceptions in a season.

“We didn’t do a lot scheme wise,” Courtney said. “We wanted to just make sure every one played their assignment, and just play hard. I think that we did that.”

Blake Morgan  is a freelance contributor to the Knoxville New Sentinel

A special thanks to Carlos Reveiz of CRFOTO for the action shots from the game. Every week be sure to checkout CRFOTO.com for a full photo gallery from Friday’s game. See a photo you like? They are also available for purchase directly from his website. Click here for this week’s photos.

 

OFFICIAL GAME STATS

** Due to formatting click the image file to see in larger resolution**

TEAM STATS

OFFENSIVE STATS

DEFENSIVE STATS

KICKING STATS

RETURN STATS

Watch as Varsity All Access Mic’d up Coach Courtney during the pregame speech and recaps the Admiral’s 31-14 victory over Oak Ridge.

 

The season is still young, but Farragut High School already appears to be in the driver’s seat in Region 3-5A.

The Admirals, trailing 14-3 midway through the second quarter, scored 28 unanswered points to shock top-ranked Oak Ridge, 31-14, Friday night at Farragut.

“I’m proud of our kids,” said Farragut coach Eddie Courtney.

“They’ve worked hard, they’re very unselfish and they play as a team.”

Senior running back Tanner Thomas ran for 187 yards on 25 carries to spark the Admirals (3-0, 1-0 Region 3-5A) on offense.

“With Tanner, it’s all about getting yards after contact,” said Courtney.

Defensively, 6-foot-5, 252-pound end Cole Strange proved unblockable for Farragut, which has won eight of its last 10 games with Oak Ridge.

Junior wide receiver Tee Higgins got the Wildcats (2-1, 1-1) off to a fast start. Higgins hauled in touchdown passes of 37 and 15 yards from quarterback Jordan Dunbar as Oak Ridge led 14-3 with 8:16 to play in the first half.

Farragut struck back with a pair of devastating TDs in the final 2:53 as quarterback Jacob Naumoff found his groove.

Naumoff hit Cole Morgan and Alex Tindal on 4-yard touchdown tosses down the stretch.

Tindal’s grab came with 15.7 seconds to play in the first half, and gave Farragut a 17-14 edge — and the momentum.

“We had things rolling pretty well, but we just missed some opportunities to go up even further,” said Oak Ridge coach Joe Gaddis.

“They started having success on both sides of the ball, and things like this can happen.

The loss overshadowed another outstanding performance by Higgins, who committed to Tennessee last week.

The 6-foot-4 junior caught nine passes for 193 yards and had a 49-yard touchdown reception wiped off by a penalty.

Courtney said his team must build on the big victory over the Wildcats.
“The implication is it’s in our hands, but we’ve got to take care of it,” said Courtney.

 

 

Mike Blackerby is a freelance contributor for the Knoxville News Sentinel.

A special thanks to Carlos Reveiz of CRFOTO for the action shots from the game. Every week be sure to checkout CRFOTO.com for a full photo gallery from Friday’s game. See a photo you like? They are also available for purchase directly from his website. Click here for this week’s photos.

 

OFFICIAL GAME STATS

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Teams Stats

Offensive StatsDefensive Stats

Kicking Stats

Kick/Punt Return Stats

Farragut High School was better than Gibbs in several aspects Friday night in its 38-14 home victory.

But the non-region Class 5A contest can best be described as the Kirkendall game. With four key plays in the first half on offense, defense and special teams, senior Justin Kirkendall was the 24-minute man.

The 165-pound wide receiver/defensive back began by blocking Gibbs’ first extra-point attempt, and then intercepted a pass deep in Admirals’ territory.

And he was just getting started.

With Farragut (2-0) up 14-6, Kirkendall scored on a 32-yard punt return with 2:57 left in the second quarter. He then closed out his big first half with a 43-yard touchdown reception from Jacob Naumoff.

“Our team allowed me to make these plays,” Kirkendall said after the game.

His coach, Eddie Courtney, gave him a little more of the credit.

“He has made some plays,” the coach said. “He really has during the first two weeks on both
sides of the ball.”

Tanner Thomas, who finished with 160 yards rushing, scored the Admirals’ first two touchdowns on short runs.

Gibbs (1-1) scored once in the first half on an exciting 81-yard touchdown pass from Zack Beeler to Tanner Rhodes in the first quarter.

In the second half, the Eagles trimmed the lead to 14 with a short touchdown run by Demarcus Hight and a two-point run by Logan Wolfenbarger early in the fourth.

However, Farragut put the game away with a 32-yard field goal by Carter Phillipy and a 9-yard run by Amon Johnson.

“Our kids came out in the first half and made a lot of things happen,” Courtney said.

Gibbs coach Brad Conley praised Farragut, but saw plenty of room for improvement with his team.

We’ve got to do a better job of competing and responding to the challenges,” he said.

John Shearer is a freelance contributor to the Knoxville News Sentinel

A special thanks to Carlos Reveiz of CRFOTO for the action shots from the game. Every week be sure to checkout CRFOTO.com for a full photo gallery from Friday’s game. See a photo you like? They are also available for purchase directly from his website. Click here for this week’s photos.

 

OFFICIAL GAME STATS

** Due to formatting click the image file to see in larger resolution**

Teams Stats

Offensive Stats

Defensive Stats

Kicking Stats

Kick/Punt Return Stats