The Admirals got off to a quick start defensively, as Isaiah Gibbs returned a fumble 43 yards for the Admirals touchdown on the Cherokee’s first offensive play of the night. The Admirals and Cherokees would both then trade series, forcing punts, before a Farragut fumble set up the Cherokees with the ball at the Farragut 12 yard line.
Five plays later, McMinn County would punch it in, but a blocked XP try by Wyatt Lucas kept Farragut ahead 7-6 with :51 left in the 1st quarter.
The Admirals wasted little time answering, as Gavin Wilkinson found Jacob Warren three plays later on a 75-yard TD pass.
The Admirals and Cherokees would then trade series until the Admirals were able to put together a potent two-minute drive as the 2nd quarter wained. Unfortunately, the 64 yard play drive would end at the Cherokee 12 yard line after a Farragut interception. McMinn would kneel the ball and head to halftime trailing Farragut 14-6.
The Admiral defense opened the half with what would have been a 3-and-out, but a running into the kicker penalty on a McMinn punt put the Admiral defense back on the field. The defense was able to force another McMinn punt five plays later. The Admiral offense wasted no time, as it only needed one play to find the end zone, on a 74-yard Kyle Carter run to extend the lead to 21-6 in favor of the Admirals.
The Cherokees did not give in though, instead answering with a 10-play touchdown drive, that also saw them convert a 2-pt conversion to cut the Admiral lead to 7 with 1:29 left in the 3rd.
Farragut’s ensuing drive spanned into the 4th quarter. The Admirals moved in 7 plays for 55 yards, and was capped off by a 2-yard Kyle Carter touchdown run. But, a missed extra point made the Farragut lead 27-14 with 11:35 left to play.
McMinn’s next drive started off promising, but stalled as the Cherokees failed to convert on a 4th and 5. Again, the Admirals only needed one play to score, as Kyle Carter ran 55 yards for a touchdown to make the final score 34-14.
The Admirals improve to 2-0 and will have their first home game of the season, as they take on Morristown-West. The game is on Thursday night, as it it being televised by Rivalry Thursday, and kickoff is set for 7:00pm at Bill Clabo Field.
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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