Admirals Claim 28-21 Victory Over Oak Ridge

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Anyone who read the Knoxville News-Sentinel Prep Extra section on the morning of the Farragut-Oak Ridge game might have thought it was a waste of time for the Admirals to make the trip to the Secret City. Oak Ridge was ranked as the #4 team in the Prep Extra area and was also rated as the #3 team in the state in the first poll of the season. On the other hand, the Admirals were not even rated in the top twenty in the Prep Extra rankings so this game was obviously destined to be a mismatch, right?

Well, as the old saying goes football games are not played on paper and a tough group of Admirals proved to be the superior team at Blankenship Field as they claimed a 28-21 victory over the Wildcats. To make the victory even more convincing, the Admirals overcame several untimely penalties and turnovers that allowed Oak Ridge to keep the game close. In the end, though, it was simply a matter of Farragut refusing to be denied as they claimed their sixth straight win over the Ridgers.

Both teams moved the ball well on their initial possessions but they ended up trading turnovers at the end of their drives with the net result being that Oak Ridge ended up on the Farragut 40 yard line. The Wildcats wasted no time in moving to pay dirt as Bradley Zulliger tossed a 23 yard touchdown pass to put Oak Ridge up 7-0. Farragut responded with an 85 yard drive that featured the running of Jacob Johnson and Cody Rule. The drive was topped off with a seven yard run by Rule that knotted the score at 7-7.

The rest of the first half featured the Admirals moving the ball at will but not being able to close the deal with a touchdown. One drive resulted in a missed field goal, but they followed that with a short drive right before the half that ended with a 49 yard Jonathan King field as time expired. That gave the Ads a 10-7 lead at the break.

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The offensive fireworks continued in the second half especially on the Farragut side of the ledger. The Admirals moved deep into Oak Ridge territory on their first drive of the third quarter but a penalty and a failed fourth down pass ended this possession. The Wildcats took over at their 33 yard line and started a long drive that ended with another Zulliger touchdown pass. This score gave them a 14-10 lead and some short lived momentum. The reason for the short term momentum was that the Admirals offense promptly drove the length of the field and scored an apparent touchdown on a Rule 12 yard run. Unfortunately this TD was disallowed because of a illegal formation penalty but the Admirals were still able to salvage a 27 yard field goal by King that left the score at 14-13 in favor of Oak Ridge.

Oak Ridge took the ensuing kick off and drove to midfield but Jake Bruce tipped a Zulliger pass to Austin Cooper who returned the interception 17 yards.  This put the Ads in business at the Wildcats 35 yard line. Farragut took advantage of this turnover and drove for a score that came on a Jacob Johnson run. A two point conversion run by Rule put Farragut up 21-14 early in the fourth quarter. The Ridgers quickly responded with a long drive of their own that featured the running of Zulliger and Ryan Hall with Hall scoring the touchdown on a 12 yard run. This put the score at 21-21 with 9 minutes to go in the game.

The Admirals showed their courage and tenacity by responding with a powerful 80 yard drive that essentially won the game. Most of these 80 yards came on the running of Jackson Fain who topped off the drive with a 22 yard touchdown run. The extra point gave the Admirals a 28-21 lead with less than six minutes to go in the game. Oak Ridge tried to rally but they ran out of steam when a fourth down pass fell incomplete near midfield. The Admirals then took over and ran out the clock to claim the 28-21 victory.

Heroes were plentiful for the Admirals. Fain, Johnson and Rule all piled up rushing yards behind an outstanding effort by the offensive line. Rule was also effective passing the ball and Madison Brown made some clutch receptions. The defense gave up a lot of yards but made some critical big plays with the two biggest being the interceptions by Christian Jetton and Cooper. The defensive front and linebackers also were able to put pressure on Zulliger who is one of the best quarterbacks in the state. Jonathan King had an outstanding all around kicking performance especially with his booming kick-offs for touchbacks that forced Oak Ridge to start on their 20 yard line on all but one possession.

Farragut gets into division play next week as they play host to the undefeated Catholic Fighting Irish on September 2 at 7:30. This will be the first district game of the year and promises to be an intense battle between two bitter rivals. The last two games have been hard fought affairs that came down to the final minute of play. This year’s game should be no different.

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