Farragut High School’s football team can go ahead and reserve the first Friday of November on its calendar.
The Admirals are heading back to the state playoffs.
Tanner Thomas rushed for 109 yards and three touchdowns on 20 carries as the Admirals, ranked No. 3 in Class 5A, cruised past Campbell County 31-0 on homecoming, clinching a playoff berth after missing the postseason a year ago.
“Sitting back as a team, we watched those playoff games, and it fueled the fire,” Thomas said. “This year, I feel like we’re really connected, and it shows on the field.”
Farragut’s renaissance season arrived on the heels of a 4-6 finish in 2014. It was the Admirals’ second missed playoff berth in three seasons, despite a winning record in the since-dissolved District 4-AAA.
Still, their advancement, confirmed by Clinton’s 49-14 win over Lenoir City, was never in doubt on Friday.
Farragut (6-0, 3-0 Region 3-5A) led 21-0 at halftime en route to sole possession of first place in the region. Thomas scored on runs of 14 and six yards in the first half, and quarterback Jacob Naumoff
connected with Justin Kirkendall on a 9-yard TD with 8 minutes, 53 seconds left in the half.
Thomas added a 12-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to help push the lead to 31-0, and senior kicker Carter Phillipy had
plenty of power behind a 50-yard field goal in the third quarter.
“We talked about missing the playoffs for a day and moved on,” Farragut coach Eddie Courtney said. “ This team has gotten better, and this is something they wanted to do.”
Farragut intercepted Campbell County quarterback Josh Lay four times, including two picks from sophomore reserve Griffen Swicegood and one from Logan Mitchell and Tanner Mengel.
The loss snaps a four-game winning streak for Campbell County, which rallied from an 0-2 start after inserting Lay, a junior, at quarterback.
The Cougars (4-3, 2-1) nearly outgained Farragut, mustering 281 yards to the Admirals’ 287. But they turned it over on downs twice in the red zone, and two of Lay’s interceptions came inside Farragut territory. Lay finished 20 of 46 passing for 176 yards, and rushed for 94 yards on 25 carries.
“The three losses we’ve had this year: Two times against Gibbs at the 1-yard line, against Central, four times inside the 20, and probably the same three or four times tonight,” Campbell County coach Justin Price said. “We’re just not scoring down there.”
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
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TEAM STATS
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