It’s high school football time!! Farragut taking the field at Powell #prepxtrapic.twitter.com/oFP3hHwKqC

— Courtney Lyle (@sportney_lyle) August 21, 2015

 

By: Nathan Rutherford, freelance reporter,  contributor to the Knoxville News Sentinel.

Farragut High School opened in dominating fashion, using a disruptive defense and punishing ground game to win at Powell 49-6 in the two teams’ first meeting since 2006.  For the time time since 2008, the Admirals didn’t open with Dobyns-Bennett.

Farragut took control early, scoring on six of its eight possessions in the first half. All six scoring drives lasted less than three minutes.

“We wanted to come out and be confident in the way we play,” Farragut coach Eddie Courtney said. “We did make a few mistakes, but it’s week one, so we can correct those mistakes.

“I thought we had great effort, and we competed and made plays when we had to.”

The Admirals finished with 443 total yards of offense and had 371 of those yards at halftime. The defense didn’t allow a score until Brandon Smith’s touchdown with 11 seconds left in the game. Farragut forced seven Powell turnovers, including four on Powell’s first six possessions.

Tanner Thomas, who led the Admirals with 23 rushing scores in 2014, rushed for four touchdowns and 121 yards in just the first half.

“He wants the team to do well, and he’s very unselfish,” Courtney

said of Thomas. “He worked hard to get those touchdowns, and he’s fine as long as we win.”

Thomas wasn’t Farragut’s only playmaker. Justin Kirkendall, who had one interception all of last season, picked off three passes against the Panthers, including one on a botched punt attempt.

“Our whole defense was flying around the ball, and it just allowed me to be there at the right time,” Kirkendall said.

Farragut won its season opener for the first time since 2009.

“We were very productive on both sides of the ball,” Courtney said, “but the most important thing is we got a win on week one, and we needed to do that. I hope this win gives us confidence because it shows that if you work hard, good things will happen for you.”

A special thanks to Amanda Gillen for the game action photos on Friday nights. You can follow her on Twitter, @amandajgillen, for all of the Friday night action shots.