The Admirals returned to region play on Friday night as the Hilltoppers of Science Hill made their way to Bill Clabo Field for Farragut’s 2019 Homecoming.
The Hilltoppers won the toss elected to receive the ball to open the game. A five yard tackle for loss on first down was only the start of a big night for Eli Purcell, and this also set the stage for a three-and-out following Logan Foody’s interception. The Admirals, sparked by a 16-yard Gavin Wilkinson to Alec Keathley reception, marched downfield and saw Sam Kniss carry the ball two yards to cap of their opening drive with a touchdown.
The Admirals held a 7-0 lead with 8:48 left in the 1st. After trading punts, the Hilltoppers’ running back was able to a crease the defense, break several tackles, and take a swing pass 62 yards for a touchdown. The score would remain tied at 7-7 as play moved into the second quarter.
The Admiral defense came up on third-and-10 to sack the Science Hill quarterback and force a punt in the early stages of the 2nd quarter. Four plays later, it was the Hilltopper defense coming up big by intercepting a Gavin Wilkinson pass and returning it for a touchdown to give the Hilltoppers a 14-7 lead with 9:06 left in the 2nd.
The Admiral offense was unable to sustain a drive on the following possession and punted back to Science Hill, but a Camden Kuhn interception two plays later setup the Admirals in prime real estate at the Science Hill 34 yard line. A loss of 8 on a first down pass was quickly made up for when Gavin Wilkinson found Alec Keathley on a screen pass that went for 42 yards and a Farragut touchdown. This, along with a missed field goal attempt by Science Hill made the score 14-14 at halftime.
The Admirals offense received the second half kickoff, but was unable to overcome a first down penalty and punted the ball away. The Admiral defense would again come up big on third down as a tackle for loss forced a Hilltopper punt. Another three-and-out by the Admiral offense gave the ball back to Science Hill, who was able to march down and convert on a 43-yard field goal and take the lead at 17-14 with 4:43 left in the 3rd. Farragut’s offense regained possession and knew it needed to answer.
An eight play, 68-yard drive was capped off by a 5 yard Gabe Hensley touchdown run that put the Admirals back ahead 21-17 with :07 left in the 3rd.
The fourth quarter opened with the Hilltoppers taking over a their own 32 yard line. The Admiral defense would hold strong yet again, forcing a Science punt. However, this time the Admiral special teams would make an impact. Eli Purcell blocked the Topper punt and Dylan Cosey would scoop the ball up and return it for a touchdown, the first of high school career. The Admirals had assumed a 28-17 lead with 10:12 left to play. The ensuing drive would see Eli Purcell again make a big impact on the outcome of the game, this time he would intercept the Hilltopper quarterback on the first play of the drive.
The Admiral offense took over and wasted no time as Gavin Wilkinson would find Alec Keathley for their 2nd touchdown connection of the game to extend the Farragut lead to 35-17 with 9:53 left to play. A Hilltopper touchdown and two point conversion late in the fourth would make the final score 35-25 as the Admirals improved to 2-0 in region play.
The Admirals travel to Kingsport to take on the undefeated Dobyns-Bennett Indians on Friday, as both teams look to give themselves a leg up in the race for the region championship.
A special thanks to Carlos Reveiz and Ashley Wathen of CRFOTO for the action shots from the game. Be sure to checkout 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.