The Admirals rolled into Blankenship Field on Friday night to take on the Wildcats from Oak Ridge. The home team has won every year in this matchup going back to 2013, but the Admirals were looking to change that Friday night.
For the second consecutive week, the Admirals received the opening kickoff and started the game on offense. The tone was set early that points would be at a premium as both offenses started off with punts on their first drives.
A 10-yard sack by Jake Parsons helped get the Admiral defense off the field on the first Oak Ridge possession. An interception on a tipped ball ended Farragut’s second offensive drive and gave the Wildcats the ball at the Admiral 25. Two plays later, Oak Ridge threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to take a 7-0 lead with 5:08 left in the first frame. This was an unfamiliar spot for the Admirals, as it is the first time they had trailed all season. The next Farragut offensive drive ended with a punt back to the Wildcats.
The Admiral defense opened the second quarter in a tough spot, but were able to stop the Wildcats on a 4th-and-1 from the Farragut 2-yard line. The Farragut offense found themselves against their own goal line at the 2, but a 56-yard run by Kyle Carter on second down gave the Admirals some breathing room.
Four plays later Gavin Wilkinson found Tanner Corum all alone on a 50-yard TD pass that tied the score at 7-7 with 9:48 left in the second quarter. The Admiral defense forced a quick Wildcat punt on the next possession, thanks to a 7-yard tackle for loss by Eli Purcell, and gave Farragut the ball back near midfield. A 41-yard Tanner Corum catch setup a 3-yard Gavin Wilkinson TD run to give the Ads a 14-7 lead with 5:47 left before half. The Admiral defense would again hold strong, this time after a 17-play drive ended in a missed Oak Ridge field goal as time expired in the first half.
The second half started the same as the first did for the Admiral defense, forcing an Oak Ridge punt on their opening drive of the second half. The Admiral offense marched down to the Oak Ridge 8 yard line, thanks to passes of 32 and 28 yards from Gavin Wilkinson to Jaden Gibbs and Tanner Corum. However, the Oak Ridge defense had other plans by intercepting a Gavin Wilkinson pass and taking it 99 yards for a tying touchdown.
The score was tied at 14-14 with 8:28 to play in the third quarter. Farragut and Oak Ridge would again swap punts and the Admirals found themselves with the ball once again. A 22-yard completion to Tanner Corum sparked the next Farragut offensive drive and setup Daniel Bethel for a 46-yard field goal attempt. Bethel booted it through the uprights to give the Admirals the lead, 17-14 at the end of the third quarter.
A 13-yard sack by Benji Cheatham, which forced a Wildcat punt, jump started the Admiral defense to begin the fourth.
The Farragut offense then embarked on an 18-play, 63-yard drive that took 8 minutes and 39 seconds from the game clock. The drive ended in another big field goal for the Admirals, this time Bethel’s attempt was good from 32 yards and made the score to 20-14 with 1:50 left to play. After the ensuing kickoff the Wildcats took over at their own 10-yard line with just 1:38 to play. The Admiral defense would continue to do as it did all night long, stand strong against a potent Oak Wild offense.
On what would be the final play for the Wildcats, Alec Keathley and Neyland Harmon both met the Oak Ridge quarterback as he dropped back to pass, Keathley stripped the ball out as the sack was being made and Caleb Kuhn recovered the fumble. As the clock expired, the Admirals improved to 4-0 with a 20-14 victory over Oak Ridge.
Next week is homecoming for the Admirals as they play host to the Patriots of Jefferson County in an important Region 1-6A matchup.
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
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