Farragut came into Friday night looking to be in the driver’s seat for the Region 1-6A title but standing in their way were the Indians from Dobyns-Bennett. The Indians made their way down from Kingsport having only given up 2 touchdowns all year and only allowing 17 total points through 6 games.
Friday night also marked the return of Head Coach Eddie Courtney to the Admiral sidelines after coaching the last two games from the press box while recovering from prostate cancer surgery.
The Admirals won the toss and elected to defer to the second, setting up the Farragut defense to take the field first. A 44 yard completion on the second play of the DB drive set them up at the Farragut 13, where they would score three plays later via a 3 yard run, giving the Indians a 7-0 lead with 9:03 left in the 1st.
An incompletion on third down for the Admirals on the ensuing drive brought on Brady Hodges to punt the ball away for the Admirals. On the second DB drive of the night, runs of 15, 8, and 4 yards were followed by a 40 yard touchdown pass. The Indians led 14-0 with 6:25 left in the first. The next Farragut drive saw runs of 6 and 12 yards followed by two runs totaling 0 yards and an incompletion, as another Hodges punt was in store.
On their next drive, the Indians would sustain their longest drive on the night so far, a 12-play 81 yard drive that was capped by a 4 yard touchdown run, extending their lead to 21-0 with 9:44 left to play in the 2nd.
The Admirals took the field on their next drive needing points to keep the game from slipping out of control. A 12-play, 58 yard drive was in store and culminated in an 11-yard Dawson Moore to Matt White touchdown pass, making the score 21-7, DB, with 3:40 left before half. The Indians took over at their own 31 yard line and four plays later a 52 yard touchdown run extended their lead to 28-7 with 1:35 left in the 2nd.
Armed with three timeouts and 1:35 on the clock, Farragut looked for points before half and to try and carry momentum into halftime as they got the ball after half. A 68-yard drive would see nothing but pass plays and ended with Dawson Moore finding Mason Collins in the end zone on an 8 yard touchdown pass, as the Admirals trailed 28-14 at half.
The Ads looked to carry momentum over from the end of the first half into the opening drive of the second half. The DB defense had other plans as Farragut was unable to gain any yardage on the drive and punted away to the Indians.
The Admiral defense held strong on their first drive on the second half by forcing the first Indian punt of the night after a three-and-out. The Farragut offense picked up a first down on the following drive, but an incompletion on 4th and 4 turned the ball over to DB. The Indians wasted no time, as a 46 yard touchdown run on the second play of the drive put the DB lead at 35-14 with 6:30 to play in the 3rd. The Admirals took the field desperately needing an answer.
The answer came in the form of an 8-play, 89 yard drive that ended in Trace Corum catching a 36 yard touchdown pass and cut the DB lead to 35-21 with 3:32 left in the 3rd. The Indians continued their dominance on their next offensive drive, this time marching 81 yards in 8 plays and scoring on a 21 yard run. The score was 42-21, Indian lead, at the end of the 3rd.
An interception ended the ensuing Admiral drive and gave the ball back to DB at the Farragut 49.
A 41 yard completion on 3rd and 5 was the spark that led to a 1 yard TD run three plays later for DB. The drive furthered the Indian lead to 49-21 with 6:17 left to play. On the next Farragut drive, a completion on 3rd down extended the drive and two plays later Dawson Moore found Mason Collins for his second touchdown reception of the night, putting the score at 49-28 with 4:16 to go.
The Indian offense responded quickly though, 69 yards on two plays got the Indians to pay dirt and extended their lead to 56-28 with 3:15 to play.The Admirals would follow-up with competitions of 39,10, and 21, the last being a touchdown strike to Zach Keasling that made the final score 56-35.
The Admirals fell to 4-3 on the season and 2-1 in region play following the loss to DB. Farragut will be on the road next week to play Bearden in the annual rivalry match looking to get back on track.
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.