The Admirals played host to former region rival Ooltewah Friday night in Round 2 of the 2018 TSSAA 6A Playoffs.
The Admirals won the coin toss and elected to receive the opening kick, hoping the offense would come out firing on all cylinders as it has done the last few weeks.
That proved to be the case, as the Ads needed only four plays to march 85 yards on a drive that ended with a 31 yard Kyle Carter touchdown run. The Admirals found themselves with an early 7-0 lead only 40 seconds into the game. The Admiral defense would come out hot as well. Wyatt Lucas came up with a third down interception giving the Ads the ball back at the Owl 38.
Farragut’s offense would again come out blazing, this time an eight-play scoring drive was capped off by a 12 yard Gavin Wilkinson to Isaiah Gibbs touchdown pass. This gave Farragut a 14-0 lead over the Owls with 7:01 left in the 1st. The Farragut defense would stand strong on the next drive, forcing a three-and-out. After only and 8 yard punt by Ooltewah, the Admiral offense went to work at the Owl 45.
On the seventh play of the ensuing drive, Kyle Carter carried the ball into the end zone from one yard out, extending the Admiral lead to 21-0 with 3:17 left in the opening quarter. The Owls would then march downfield on a 15-play drive that spanned into the 2nd quarter.
Ooltewah took the ball 73 yards and found the end zone via a 5 yard pass. The Owls had cut the Farragut lead to 21-7 with 8:48 left before halftime. Two big third down conversions on the next drive helped spark an Admiral offense drive that saw four first downs picked up. That drive ended with a 26 yard Gavin Wilkinson to Jaden Gibbs touchdown reception, which took the Farragut lead to 28-7 with 5:36 left before half.
The Admiral defense stood strong on the next drive, thanks to an Eli Purcell five yard tackle-for-loss on 3rd and 1. Farragut took over at their own 26 yard line looking for points with just 2:34 remaining in the 1st half. A healthily dose of Gavin Wilkinson was on tap, completing 7-of-7 passes on the drive including a 7 yard pass to Wyatt Lucas for the touchdown. The Admirals led 35-7 at halftime over Ooltewah.
The Owls received the opening kickoff of the second half, but a failed fake punt attempt stopped the drive. The Admiral offense took over at their own 37 and their success from the first half carried over.
Five plays into the drive Jake Evans scored from 30 yards out on a QB keep, thus starting a running clock and extending the Admiral lead to 42-7 with 6:24 left to play in the 3rd. The next Ooltewah offensive drive would be ravaged by the Farragut defense. First, it was Eli Purcell that sniffed out a screen pass and tackled the receiver for a 3 yard loss, then two plays later Caleb Kuhn sacked the Owl QB for a 6 yard loss forcing a punt. A Wyatt Lucas punt return setup the Admiral offense at the Owl 38.
Then, a 36 yard Jake Evans to Alec Keathley pass, setup a 14 yard Isaiah Gibbs touchdown run two plays later to begin the 4th quarter.
With a 49-7 lead and a continuous clock, the Admiral defense saw the opportunity to get some valued reps with it’s backups. The Ooltewah offense was able to march down the field on 14 plays and eat up the entire 4th quarter, scoring with :15 to play. As the final horn sounded, the Admirals had defeated Ooltewah 49-14 and advanced to the Quarterfinals of the TSSAA 6A Playoffs.
The Admirals will be on the road next week at Maryville looking to avenge a loss last year in the playoffs. Game time is set for 7:00pm from Shields Stadium.
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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