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Before Friday, it had been over 30 years since the Admirals hosted a a quarterfinal matchup.  It had also been 21 years since the Admirals last reached the state semifinals, and at halftime it looked as if it would be another year added to that total.  Ooltewah got out to a fast start, leading the Admirals 21-0 with 10:28 left in the first half, after two early interceptions led directly to 14 points for the Owls. While the Admiral’s  Griffen Swicegood was able to intercept the Owls in the first quarter, Farragut was unable to score. That changed  when senior quarterback Adam Fulton found Braden Collins for a 15 yard TD pass that made the score 21-7 with 8:14 left in the second quarter.

The Owls scored 5 plays later via a 63-yard TD run by Owls’ sophomore RB Sincere Quinn, but Farragut answered as Adam Fulton showed great pocket presence and found Braden Collins again in the end zone, this time for 7 yards, which cut the Owls’ lead to 28-14 with 4:26 left in the first half.

After forcing an Ooltewah punt from the Farragut 43 yard line, a penalty kept the Owl drive alive and moved the ball to the Farragut 28 yard line, where the Owls would score five plays later, to push the Owls’ lead to 35-14.  The Admirals’ offense would drive down the field, but a last-second, 47-yard FG attempt by Joe Doyle was just short.

The Admirals received the ball to begin the second half, but were unable to convert on 4th-and-1, turning the ball over on downs. The Owls would take over at the Farragut 40-yard line and throw a TD pass to extend their lead 42-14 with 9:08 left in the third quarter. While a 28-point comeback with just a quarter and a half left was improbable, but not impossible, the Admirals dug in.

Adam Fulton found Braden Collins for a 35-yard TD pass for the third time of the night, which tied the school record for most TD receptions, a feat Collins had already accomplished against Campbell County earlier this season. The touchdown and Joe Doyle extra point made the score 42-21 with just under 8 minutes left in the third quarter. After a pair of Ooltewah punts and a Joe Doyle punt, the Admirals found themselves down 21 points with 1:31 left in third quarter. After a 54-yard Cooper Hardin run, Adam Fulton again found Braden Collins for a 20-yard Farragut TD for his fourth score of the night.

After an Ooltewah three-and-out, the Admirals found themselves with the ball their own 34-yard line with just over 10 minutes left in the game down 42-28. After a punishing 52-yard Cooper Hardin run, tailback Amon Johnson punched it in from five yards out to make it a 7-point game with 9:12 left.  After a long Ooltewah drive stalled out, the Owls would punt and down the ball at the 4 yard line, leaving the Admirals 96 yards away from the end zone.  Adam Fulton would march the Admirals’ offense down the field,  completing 7 of 8 passes for 80 yards on the drive, culminating in an 8-yard TD reception by TE Jacob Warren, Fulton’s fifth TD pass of the game.  Joe Doyle’s extra point would tie the game at 42-all with 1:08 left to play.  A 28-yard kickoff return by Ooltewah gave them the ball at the 47.  The Owls were able to drive the ball downfield and setup their kicker for a game-winning, 28-yard FG try with :02 left on the clock, but the kick was wide right as time expired. The game was headed for overtime.

The Admirals won the coin toss and elected to play on defense first. With the ball placed on the 10 yard line, the Owls would work their way down to the 2 yard line. This brought up 4th-and-2 where the Owls would punch it in and take a 49-42 lead.  The Admirals would also get the ball on the 10 yard line, where it would take Cooper Hardin just two carries to punch it in the end zone. With the score tied at 49, a second OT would be needed.

After a roughing the kicker penalty in the previous OT, the ball would be spotted at the 5-yard line and the Admirals would take over 1st-and-goal. This time Cooper Hardin would only need one carry to get into the end zone to give the Admirals their first lead of the game 56-49.  Ooltewah took over at the 10 yard line, but quickly found themselves 4th-and-2 from the 2, needing to get in the end zone to force another overtime period.  This time, the Owls chose to run up the middle, but Farragut’s Devin Yarborough met the Owl RB at the 1, stopped his momentum and then was joined by other Admirals to drive the RB backwards and deny the touchdown.  This completed the 28-point comeback the Admirals needed to advance to the state semi-finals for the first time since 1995.  Quarterback Adam Fulton ended the game 22-of-35 passing for 294 yards, 5 TDs and 2 INTs. Running back Cooper Hardin carried 23 times for 168 yards and 2 TDs, while Amon Johnson carried the ball twice and found the end zone once. WR Braden Collins had 13 catches for 191 yards and 4 TDs, and 2 rushes for 70 yards.

This game saw several school records broken or tied  for Farragut:

• Most XPs Made in a Season–60 Joe Doyle

• Most Receptions in a Game–13 Braden Collins

• Most TD Receptions in a Game–4 Braden Collins

• Most TD Receptions in a Season–13 Braden Collins

• Most Passing TDs in a Game– 5 Adam Fulton (tied)

• Most Passing Yards in a Season–2,733 Adam Fulton

The Admirals will host the state semi-final game on November 25th against South Doyle. A special thanks to Carlos Reveiz 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.

OFFICIAL GAME STATS

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With his team up four points with just under seven minutes to play, Farragut coach Eddie Courtney elected to keep the field-goal unit on the sideline and go for a touchdown with the ball on Rhea County’s 2-yard line.

His aggressiveness paid off.

The touchdown by Cooper Hardin stretched the Admirals’ lead to 11 before the host Eagles knocked it down to a 33-30 final score. The win advanced Farragut to the quarterfinals of the Class 5A state playoffs and a visit from Ooltewah next week.

“We felt like we needed to be aggressive there because we didn’t want to kickoff to them with it being a seven-point game,” Courtney said.

“We felt comfortable with our line getting the push, because they were in my ear wanting to go for it.”

“That was the biggest play of the year and probably my career,” Hardin said about his 2-yard touchdown run. “Plays like that are all about execution, and we did it perfectly.”

Both teams’ play reflected their records and the playoff atmosphere in a first half that included four lead changes. The Eagles (9-3) had the grasp on the lead at the break, but the Admirals (11-1) struck first out of it.

Six quick plays netted Farragut a four-point lead after an Adam Fulton pass to Jack Devault. That lead held until the fourth quarter, when the teams took turns trading the advantage once again.

First, it was Rhea County and running back Mason Stephenson who took the lead early in the fourth on a 12-yard run to the outside.

Minutes later, Farragut quarterback Fulton found sophomore Jaden Gibbs downfield for a 46-yard reception that led to a scoring run by Hardin a play later.

After turning the Eagles over on downs for the third time, Farragut marched down to score on the 2-yard fourth-down play that essentially sealed the win.

“I told Coach (Mark) Pemberton that this truly should’ve been a game played in the semifinals,” Courtney said.

“I’m excited for our guys: We came down to a real tough and great place to play where everybody loves football and earned a big win.”

There was a penalty called on nearly every drive of the game, with most of them being on the Eagles — many stalling key drives.

“I guess this was a night where we made too many mistakes to win,” Pemberton said. “I’ll have to go and look at the film on whether some of the penalties were the right call, but that’s honestly not the reason we lost. We lost because we didn’t play well enough.

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John Mitchell, Chattanooga Times Free Press
Contact John Mitchell at sports@timesfreepress.com

A special thanks to Carlos Reveiz 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.

OFFICIAL GAME STATS

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Chris Thomas , Knoxville News Sentinel

A pair of fast starts extended Farragut High School’s football season on Friday at Bill Clabo Field.

The Admirals scored the game’s first 14 points and then the final 20 to spoil McMinn County’s postseason return, 40-21, in the first round of the Class 5A state playoffs.

Farragut (10-1) will travel to play Rhea County (9-2) in the second round for the second consecutive season. The Admirals fell to the Golden Eagles 40-34 last year.

“It’s going to be a good game,” Farragut running back/linebacker Cooper Hardin said. “We’re going to get it back for our seniors. I don’t think we should have lost that game.”

Farragut quarterback Adam Fulton completed 10 of 23 passes for 257 yards and three first-half touchdowns against McMinn County. He also threw an interception.

 

He threw first-quarter touchdown passes to Jack DeVault (25 yards) and Braden Collins (73) in the first quarter, giving the Admirals a 14-0 lead.

McMinn County responded with 21 unanswered points and led 21-20 at halftime after Donell Armour’s 57-yard scamper, Xavier Abernathy’s 1-yard dive and quarterback Bradley Hayes’ 57-yard reception from receiver Chris Knowles.

But it was all Farragut from there.

Fulton connected with tight end Jacob Warren on a 34-yard touchdown pass late in the second quarter, and Hardin shifted momentum in Farragut’s favor by recovering a Zane Byas fumble on the opening possession of the second half.

Hardin’s 4-yard TD run two plays later gave Farragut the lead for good at 26-20. The Admirals stopped McMinn County on downs on the ensuing possession, before pushing their lead to 34-21 on Amon Johnson’s 1-yard run with 3:56 left in the quarter.

Johnson added a 4-yard TD rush in the fourth. Farragut outgained McMinn County 396-260.

“We talked to our defense at halftime, about responding,” Farragut coach Eddie Courtney said. “We knew we could score, but we had to go in there and shut this thing down. And we did.”

 

Farragut played Friday without star punter/kicker Joe Doyle, an Under Armour All-American. Doyle suffered a mild hamstring injury when he slipped and fell in the hours leading into the game.

Freshman Aidan Barrett took over as placekicker, missing two point-after-attempts. Fulton punted admirably in Doyle’s place, including a 47-yarder out of his own end zone.

“We expect Joe to be back,” Courtney said. “But at that stage, we didn’t have time to wrap it. It happened about 5:30 today on our way down here.”

Armour rushed for 161 yards and the touchdown on 24 carries to lead McMinn County, making its first playoff appearance since 2012. The Cherokees mustered just 72 yards in the second half.

“We had a pretty good game plan,” McMinn County coach Bo Cagle said. “A lot of times those guys made good plays on catches. Our defensive backs were getting better the whole game, but our offense didn’t hold up long enough to give us a chance.”

Contact Chris Thomas at chris.thomas@knoxnews.com. Follow him at twitter.com/christhomaskns

A special thanks to Carlos Reveiz 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.

OFFICIAL GAME STATS

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By Mike Blackerby of the Knoxville News Sentinel

Farragut High School heads into the Class 5A state playoffs riding a wave of momentum, thanks in large part to its record-setting quarterback, Adam Fulton.

The 6-foot-2, 212-pound senior broke the school single-season record for touchdown passes in the Admirals’ 49-21 win over visiting Clinton on Friday night at Bill Clabo Field.

Fulton connected on 10 of 17 passes for 234 yards and three touchdowns – all in the first half.

Fulton’s 5-yard scoring toss to Braden Collins with 1:06 to play in the first half gave him 25 touchdown passes, breaking the mark of Reese Browning.

Now an assistant coach for the Admirals, Browning presented Fulton with the game ball in the post-game celebration.

“He (Browning) basically has taught me everything I know,” said Fulton, who has thrown only two interceptions all season.

“And my line has done a great job all season.”

 

Farragut (9-1, 4-1 Region 3-5A) heads into its home playoff opener next week against McMinn County (7-3) on the crest of a seven-game winning streak.

The Admirals, the second-seed out of Region 3-5A, haven’t lost since falling to region champion Oak Ridge on Sept. 2.

“After we lost by five points to Oak Ridge, these guys just stayed together,” Farragut coach Eddie Courtney said.

Fulton also had touchdown passes of 38 yards to Collins and 30 yards to Isaiah Gibbs as the Admirals bolted to a 35-7 halftime lead against the Dragons (1-9, 1-4).

Amon Johnson added a 9-yard touchdown run and Cooper Hardin tacked on an 11-yard dash in the first half for the Admirals.

Hardin, who also scored on a 1-yard run in the third quarter, led Farragut in rushing with 121 yards on 10 carries.

The Admirals capped their scoring with a 58-yard pass from Jake Evans to Wyatt Lucas in the fourth quarter.

 

 

Clinton quarterback Luke Harrison threw three touchdown passes, and also had two interceptions.
Harrison connected with J’Quan Thomas on scores of 14 and 12 yards late in the fourth quarter, and also hit S.J. Powers with a 6-yard touchdown pass.

Mike Blackerby is a freelance contributor.

A special thanks to Carlos Reveiz 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.

OFFICIAL GAME STATS

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