Friday night’s game against annual rival Oak Ridge marked the final game of a three-game homestand for the Admirals. The Wildcats won the toss and deferred their option to the 2nd half, giving the Ads the ball to start the game with the ball at their own 43. On the 8th play of the opening drive, Dawson Moore found Trace Corum for a 15-yard touchdown, giving the Ads a 7-0 lead with 8:42 left in the 1st. The Admiral defense would start the game off strong as well, forcing a three and out on the first Wildcat drive of the game. Starting their next drive with a similar field position to their first drive, the Ads only needed 5 plays this time to get into the endzone via a 9 yard Dawson Moore QB keep. Farragut lead Oak Ridge 14-0 at the end of the first quarter.
On a 13-play drive that spanned across the quarter break, the Wildcats scored on a 34-yard field goal cutting the Admiral lead to 14-3 with 8:45 left in the 2nd. On the ensuing drive, the Farragut offense failed to convert on a 3rd and 7 and a dropped snap by the punter allowed Oak Ridge to return the fumble for a touchdown, cutting the Farragut lead even further to 14-10 with 6:45 left in the 2nd. The next Admiral drive saw them unable to convert on a 3rd and 15, but a fumble by Oak Ridge on the punt return was recovered by Farragut. With the ball at the Wildcat 11, the Ads scored on the 2nd play thanks to another QB keep by Dawson Moore, this time from 3 yards out. Thanks to a big stop by the Admiral defense from the 2-yard line with 2 seconds left in the half, the Ads lead 21-10 at halftime.
The Admiral defense would carry their momentum over to the opening drive of the 2nd half, forcing a three-and-out by Oak Ridge. The Farragut offense rode the momentum as well on their first drive of the 2nd half, scoring on the 6th pay of the drive off of a 7 yard Dawson Moore to Ben Reed touchdown pass. After trading punts, the Ads lead Oak Ridge 28-10 at the end of the 3rd quarter.
As the fourth quarter began, the Wildcats had the ball at their own 41-yard line looking for points. On the 9th play of their drive, the Wildcats found the endzone via a 6-yard touchdown run and made the Admiral lead 28-17 with 10:35 left in the 4th. The Admiral offense was unable to get much going on their next two drives, but neither was Oak Ridge. The Admiral defense forced a sack-fumble on and gave the ball back to the Ads at the Wildcat 12 yard line. Rushes of 10 yards and 2 yards by Elijah Gibbs made the Admiral lead 35-17 with 2:20 left to play. A quick Oak Ridge touchdown coming from a 32-yard pass put the score at 35-24, advantage Farragut, with 31 seconds to play. The Wildcats recovered the ensuing onside kick and scored again on their 3rd play, but missed the extra point cutting the Ad lead to 35-30 with :08 to play. Another onside kick was recovered by the Wildcats, but a sack on the first play sealed the game. The Admirals won 35-30 and improved to 1-3 on the season.
The Admirals are set to step back into region play in Week 5 as they travel to Cleveland to face the Raiders. Cleveland is 3-1 on the 2021 season and 0-1 in region play. Kickoff is set for 7:00 pm and all tickets will be sold at the gate for $8, no presale tickets will be available.
A special thanks to Carlos Reveiz of CRFOTO for the action shots from the game. Be sure to check out CRFOTO.com every week 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.
