Farragut High School entered the 2016 season with a familiar foe on its schedule.
Powell is the only team the Admirals play this year that appeared on Farragut’s first season schedule back in 1948. The Admirals went on to win that game 24-2.
After routing Powell last season, it was much of the same Friday night as the Admirals dominated the Panthers 55-6 in the opening game of the season.
Admirals coach Eddie Courtney said after the game he was pleased with the Admirals’ effort.
“I challenged (the team) all week that we had to come out and be explosive, and we did that,” Courtney said. “I was proud of the way we did. We got a punt return, got a couple of interceptions, got a great long pass completion … We just jumped on them early and our kids just took advantage of it.”
It was Farragut running back Amon Johnson that helped the Admirals pull away from the Panthers early. Johnson scored the first touchdown of the season, and first on the new field turf at Bill Clabo Stadium, for the Admirals in the first quarter on a 9-yard cutback run to the right. A 1-yard run and a 13-yard gash capped off Johnson’s performance.
Running back/linebacker Cooper Hardin, who went down with a knee injury in the first half, said that he looks to Johnson to take some of the offensive load off of him when he comes out of the game.
“It’s great because now I can go focus on defense and whenever he’s gassed, I can go give him a couple of plays,” Hardin said. “It’s a lot of load off me and off the coaches knowing he’s in there and he can make the plays.”
Hardin also said after the game that his “knees buckled” and the injury wasn’t serious.
Johnson’s other two first quarter touchdown runs and a pick-six
from Drew Butler gave the Admirals a 28-0 lead after one quarter, and Farragut didn’t look back from there.
The Admirals will take on Gibbs next week at Gibbs High School. It’s the first time since the 1970s that Farragut has visited the Eagles.
Trenton Duffer is a freelance contributor for the Knoxville New 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
