A rainy night at Bill Clabo Field couldn’t damped the Admiral spirit as they looked to capture the Region 1-6A championship Friday night against Hardin Valley.
The Admirals received the opening kickoff and the offense started off firing on all cylinders. A 70 yard pass from Gavin Wilkinson to Kyle Carter on the second play of the game helped sparked the Ads. However, a fumble a few plays later on the HV 6 yard line killed the promising offensive drive. The Admiral defense answered the bell after the fumble by forcing a turnover themselves, via a Matt White interception. With the ball at the 15, it would take just two Kyle Carter runs to punch it into the end zone and take the lead 7-0 over Hardin Valley with 7:25 left in the 1st. The Farragut defense came back onto the field looking for another stop.
They continued their season long stance of bending but not breaking with a missed 29 yard field goal attempt by the Hawks. On the next offensive drive by the Ads, two completions for negative yards forced a punt to begin the 2nd quarter.
A stop on third and long by the Admiral defense forced a Hardin Valley punt.
A balanced dose of run and pass propelled the next Farragut drive that ended with an 18 yard Gavin Wilkinson to Wyatt Lucas touchdown pass that extended the Admiral lead to 14-0 with 4:33 left to play before half. Another strong stand by the Admiral defense forced a Hardin Valley punt. The Admirals took over with just under 2 minutes before half looking for points, but back-to-back penalties squashed those hopes. The Admirals ran the clock out to take a 14-0 lead to halftime.
Farragut kicked the ball away to start the 2nd half looking to stop the Hawks from making it a one possession game. The Admiral defense did just that, as Matt White collected his second interception of the evening on a fourth down conversion attempt. The Admiral offense however couldn’t get the drive going and punted away to the Hawks. For the second consecutive drive, the Admiral defense would force an interception, this time by Tanner Corum.
The very next play, Corum caught a 32 yard TD pass from Gavin Wilkinson that put the Admirals ahead 21-0 with 3:02 left in the 3rd. Another patented Admiral defensive series saw the ball in the red zone for the Hawks, but the Hawks would come away empty handed thanks in part to a 5 yard tackle for loss by Matt White gave them 4th and 17, which they were unable to convert.
The Admirals started the fourth quarter strong, but the drive stalled out just inside the red zone at the 18 yard line. A missed field goal would be the end result of the drive, with Hardin Valley taking over at their own 20.
Two plays later, Tanner Corum came up with his second interception of the game, and the forth for the Admiral defense, that setup the Ads at the HV 29. Five plays later, Kyle Carter found pay dirt and insured the Admirals would beat Hardin Valley, 28-0.
The Admirals won their first region title since 2015 and earned home field advantage in the TSSAA playoffs. The Admirals will host Cleveland, a team they hosted in Round 1 last year as well, next Friday at Bill Clabo Field. Reminder that kickoff for playoff games is 7:00pm.
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.
OFFICIAL GAME STATS
**Click To Enlarge**
