Farragut High School was short on style points, but the Admirals did plenty on Friday night against Lenoir City to clinch the top spot in Region 3-5A.
Tanner Thomas ran for 192 yards on 22 carries and scored three touchdowns as the host Admirals downed the Panthers, 38-10, at Bill Clabo Field.
Farragut (7-1, 4-0 Region 3-5A) also got another strong effort by its defense as the Admirals came up with four sacks and held Lenoir City to just 72 yards in the first half.
“It (clinching the region title) feels incredible,” said Thomas, who scored on touchdown runs of 15, 20 and 12 yards.
“All of our seniors talked about it in our leadership council Sunday.”
Admirals coach Eddie Courtney said his team needs to finish strong against South-Doyle and Clinton before the playoffs.
“We still want to be 9-1 after the regular season,” said Courtney.
“I can’t say enough about how hard Tanner ran tonight, and how well the defense played as a unit.”
Farragut, which played without standout defensive end Cole Strange (concussion) for the second week in a row, surrendered only a 33-yard field goal and a 5-yard scoring run with less than a minute to play.
Carter Phillipy’s 26-yard field goal with 8:50 to play in the first quarter put Farragut on the board first.
Thomas scored twice in 13 seconds late in the first quarter as Farragut expanded its lead to 17-0.
The Columbia-bound senior darted in from 15 yards out with 1:33 to play in the quarter.
Farragut linebacker Tanner Mengel recovered a Lenoir City (2-5, 0-4) fumble on the first play of the ensuing series, and Thomas scored on a 20-yard run.
The Admirals took a 17-3 lead to the half after Sergio Cornejo’s field goal late in the second quarter.
Thomas, quarterback Jacob Naumoff and Cooper Hardin all scored on short runs in the second half as the Admirals broke the game open.
Courtney said his team has no shortage of things to improve on with the playoffs on the horizon.
Farragut was penalized heavily Friday, and the passing game was off.
“We’ve got to clean up some things, like penalties,” 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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