Four Admiral players were named All-State this week in Class 6A for the 2022 season. Reese Keeney (Mr. Football Finalist for Kicker of the Year) was named Class 6A 1st Team All-State by both the Tennessee Sports Writers Association and the coaches of the Tennessee Football Coaches Association. Joining Keeney were classmates Luke Johnson (Quarterback) and Ashton Auker (Wide Receiver) on the TnFCA Class 6A 1st Team All-State team. Returning Admiral linebacker Jack Alley earned 1st Team All-State as a junior from the TnFCA. Additionally, Offensive Coordinator Geoff Courtney was recognized as the Assistant Coach of the Year for Class 6A from the TnFCA.
In post-season high-school football, each game is a win-or-go-home affair. “Survive and advance” is a common psychological approach.
Friday night, Nov. 4, at Bill Clabo Field, Farragut High School’s football team survived its first-round game of the 6A state playoffs against Jefferson County and advanced to the second round.
But the 17-7 home win wasn’t pretty.
The Patriots (7-4) had more total offense than the Ads (9-2), numerous sacks and only three penalties (21 yards) to Farragut’s nine (86 yards). FHS did win the turnover battle 3-2.
“It wasn’t clean,” Admirals’ head coach Eddie Courtney said. “I thought at times we just weren’t disciplined enough. We got frustrated some. But our kids hung in there. We just kept making plays when we had to.
“They pressured a lot,” Courtney added about the sacks. “They brought that fifth and sixth guy. We didn’t pick them up enough.”
It was Courtney’s 200th win as head coach of the Admirals. After the game, FHS principal Dr. John Bartlett and athletic director Don Dodgen presented him with the game ball. (See photo on page 1A)
The game had numerous momentum swings, with both teams seldom able to capitalize. At least three times FHS defenders almost had an interception but didn’t grab hold.
Farragut took a 7-0 lead with 3:40 left in the first quarter when, on second-and-1 from the JCHS 35, quarterback Luke Johnson hit Ashton Auker over the middle for the score.
Johnson was 16-of-24 for 224 yards and the TD to Auker. Landis Davila was Johnson’s favorite target, hauling in seven passes for 83 yards. Auker caught four for 73.
“I have all the trust in the world in my receivers,” Johnson said.
“It kind of feels like a loss,” Davila said. “We’ll get some stuff together and come out like we usually do.”
A turning point came early in the second. Down 7-0, the Patriots were driving. On first down from the FHS 18, quarterback Izaiah Hall threw into the end zone. Admirals’ cornerback Jordan Sheppard went up and made a spectacular one-handed interception.
Farragut took over on its 20 with 10:17 left and promptly drove 80 yards in nine plays for the touchdown and a 14-0 lead. Elijah Gibbs scored from 7 yards out on first-and-goal.
Entering the game with 1,094 for the season, Gibbs was held to just 70 on 22 carries against Jefferson County.
Farragut completed its scoring with 3:31 left in the half when kicker Reese Keeney’s 24-yard field goal attempt was good. The Admirals went into intermission up 17-0.
The Patriots’ lone score came on the opening drive of the third quarter when running back Bryson Letterman ran 28 yards for a touchdown.
Jay Smiley had 11 tackles, five solo, for FHS. Kent Carbaugh had 10 total, seven solo.
A special thanks to Carlos Reveiz of CRFOTO for the action shots from the game. Be sure to check out 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.
It was a game worthy of its storied rivalry, and of the playoff implications it carried.
Thursday night, Oct. 27, at BHS’s Bill Young Field, Farragut High School’s football team started slow and fell behind 7-0, roared back to lead 28-7, then held off a furious Bulldogs rally.
The 28-21 Region 2-6A win — the Admirals’ seventh straight — to end the regular season put FHS at 8-2 overall while finishing 4-1 in the region. Bearden fell to 6-4, 3-2.
Farragut, region co-champs but the No. 2 seed due to a tiebreaker, will host Jefferson County (No. 3 seed from Region 1-6A) beginning at 7 p.m., Friday night, Nov. 4, in the first round of Class 6A state playoffs. Admirals skipper Eddie Courtney will be seeking his 200th head coaching victory while facing the Patriots (7-3).
Bearden, No. 3 seed, will travel to Kingsport to play No. 2 1-6A seed Dobyns-Bennett (8-2).
“I think we started off like we have been, played well the first half,” Courtney said. “We lost a little bit of intensity in the second half.“
“We were very inconsistent,” Bulldogs head coach Josh Jones said. “We did some good things and did some things we didn’t need to do. Having pre-snap penalties is totally unacceptable. Gotta do a better job of fixing that.”
It wasn’t a clean game either way. Bearden had 13 penalties for 91 yards and Farragut had four turnovers. In the previous nine games, FHS had six.
The Bulldogs led 7-0 with 4:21 left in the first when quarterback Drew Parrott hit Ethan Ford for a 13-yard score. The Admirals’ offense in the first quarter was virtually nil.
But then came the second.
The Admirals tied it at 7 with 8:55 left in the half when quarterback Luke Johnson scored on a 1-yard keeper.
After Ashton Auker returned a Bearden punt to the Bulldogs 25, Farragut needed but five plays to make it 14-7 when running back Elijah Gibbs took it in from the 2.
Late in the half, Jordan Sheppard intercepted Parrott and returned it to the Dawgs 2. On second down, Gibbs scored his second touchdown from the 3, and FHS led 21-7.
“They weren’t long runs, but they were hard runs,” Gibbs said. “I felt like during this game we really needed a couple of those.”
Johnson (12-of-24 passing for 164 yards, one TD and one interception) hit Auker for an 86-yard bomb with 7:29 left in the third, making it 28-7.
Bearden, however, rallied.
A fumbled punt by Farragut gave the Bulldogs the ball on the Admirals 42 with 6:46 left in the third. Nine plays later, Kai Ironside’s 1-yard run made it 28-14 with 3:09 left. “… That gave them a score and some momentum,” Courtney said.
Another fumble by Farragut put Bearden back in business late in the third. With 9:58 left in the fourth, Parrott went in from the 1, and it was 28-21.
“We kept competing, we were resilient,” Jones said.
“That’s a good Bearden team,” Courtney said. “They took advantage of a couple things. …”
Bearden had one last chance, taking over with 3:43 left in the game on its own 17. A three-and-out gave the ball back to FHS, which ran out the clock. An 18-yard run by Gibbs, who was held to 48 yards on 22 carries, sustained the drive.
Auker had five catches for 129 yards and a score. “Luke was throwing me great balls and the O-line was doing a great job blocking for him,” Auker said.
Junior linebacker Jack Alley had 13 tackles for the Ads.
“We just made too many mistakes to beat a quality team like Farragut,” Jones said.
A special thanks to Carlos Reveiz of CRFOTO for the action shots from the game. Be sure to check out 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.
What early on looked like a game that might come down to who had the ball last turned out to be anything but.
On Senior Night at Bill Clabo Stadium, Farragut High School continued its offensive onslaught and rolled to a 63-24 win over Fulton High School in a non-region game.
The Admirals’ sixth straight win improved their record to 7-2, and set up a huge road clash against archrival Bearden Thursday night to finish the regular season.
“I’m just proud of what these guys are doing,” said Farragut coach Eddie Courtney. “Our receivers are doing real well. It all starts with the offensive line. Those guys have gotten better every game. Now we’re running the ball and we’ve got good pass protection.”
Farragut needed all of 16 seconds to take a 7-0 lead when wide receiver Ashton Auker fielded the opening kickoff on the 10 and galloped 90 yards for the touchdown.
But the Falcons answered right back on their first possession when, on third and 10 from their own 40, quarterback Marcellus Jackson found receiver Daveon Shenault wide open for a 60-yard score.
The blocked PAT left the score 7-6 Farragut.
Farragut made it 14-6 on its next possession when quarterback Luke Johnson hit Hank Devault for a 34-yard touchdown. The drive covered 97 yards in eight plays.
For the game, Johnson was eight of 12 for 110 yards and three touchdowns, all in the first half.
“Hoping for a good night offensively and that’s what we had,” Johnson said. “Line’s doing their job, receivers catching balls, (running back) Elijah (Gibbs) is running hard. It’s a good offense.”
Fulton again responded and made it 14-12 with 2:39 left in the first when Jackson finished a six-play, 80-yard drive with a 19-yard scramble for a score.
It was easy to think at that point the back-and-forth scoring might continue to the end. It wouldn’t.
Farragut continued to score – six touchdowns on six first-half possessions – but Fulton didn’t. The half ended 42-12 and the game was long over. The second-half clock was continuous.
Up 14-12 with 2:39 left in the first, the rest of the Admirals’ first half scores came from: Gibbs’s five-yard run late in the first; Gibbs’s 57-yard tackle-eluding run with 9:52 left in the half; Johnson’s one-yard pass to Landis Davila less than two minutes later; and a two-yard Johnson-Davila hookup with 3.9 seconds left in the half.
The senior Gibbs carried seven times for 109 yards and a pair of scores in the first half. His performance put him over the 1000-yard mark for the season. He now has 1046 yards on 144 carries, and 14 touchdowns.
“Shout out to my linemen,” said Gibbs. “It feels real good. I’ve been trying to do this (get 1000 yards) my entire life. We’ve been focusing on our tempo, get our plays right, communicating with our offensive line and receivers and everything.”
Davila had five receptions for 34 yards and two scores.
Jackson, who ran for 181 yards and two scores on 15 carries, was nothing short of dazzling. His 81-yard touchdown run with 4:05 left in the third seemed to evade every single Admiral defender.
“That quarterback, he’s one of the quickest I’ve ever seen. He’s special,” Courtney said of the senior Jackson.
Barrett Smith took over for Johnson in the second half and threw two touchdowns on four of five completions. Jack Alley had eight tackles for the Admirals, six solo.
Attention now turns to regular season finales and the playoffs which start Nov. 4. The Farragut-Bearden winner will finish no worse than second in Region 2-6A, and will win it if Maryville loses to Bradley Central.
Fulton travels to Carter where a win will ensure second place in Region 2-4A. Seeding implications are big in both games.
“We gotta have a good game plan next week,” said Courtney. “These guys have to go out and execute.”
A special thanks to Carlos Reveiz of CRFOTO for the action shots from the game. Be sure to check out 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.
CLEVELAND — It was an up-and-down performance for Farragut High School’s football team Friday night, Oct. 14, on the road at Bradley Central High School.
But a standout running back and a formidable defense ensured the Admirals would roll to their fifth straight win.
Senior running back Elijah Gibbs ran for 220 yards on 22 carries and scored three touchdowns as FHS defeated the Bears 31-10 at Bear Stadium. Farragut improved to 6-2 overall, 3-1 in Region 2-6A.
“The running game went really well,” FHS head coach Eddie Courtney said. “Elijah Gibbs ran the ball real hard tonight. Our offensive line has gotten so much better in run blocking and pass blocking.”
“I think it went pretty good today,” Gibbs said. “We had a full week to correct some mistakes and watch their film. I think our O-line really did it for us today, honestly. I’ve got to take care of the O-line.”
Farragut’s stout defense had two linebackers with double-digit tackles: Jack Alley with 12 (10 solo) and Jay Smiley with 11 (five solo). Defensive lineman Brice Fontenot had a pair of sacks to go along with his six tackles (three solo).
John Duncan and Jackson Fisher each had seven tackles. Cornerback Griffin Mashburn had an interception
“The (defensive) line was unbelievable, so many sacks,” Alley said. “I thought the corners and the safeties played great, (having) coverage sacks. That was awesome.”
“Our defense stepped up and made a couple of turnovers,” Courtney added. “We had to have that. Our secondary made some plays back there. We got pressure up front.”
It was a dominant first quarter for the Admirals, as they built a 17-0 lead after one period. The first score came when Gibbs broke through the line and ran 29 yards for the touchdown. The score came with 9:14 left in the quarter.
On its next possession — which started on the BC 19 when Bradley’s fourth-down pass failed — the Admirals had a first and goal on Bears 5, but could manage only a 22-yard field goal by Reese Keeney with 4:39 left in the first.
When Ashton Auker returned a Bradley punt to the Bears 31, Farragut was right back in business. On second and goal from the BCHS 5, quarterback Luke Johnson hit Landon Collins who plowed his way into the end-zone.
With 14 seconds left in the quarter, it was 17-0 Admirals.
For most of the next two quarters, however, Farragut struggled offensively. Two second-quarter possessions resulted in three-and-outs. The first two drives in the third period ended with a punt and an interception.
With 3:38 left in the third, Farragut took over on BC’s 39 and needed but three plays to score. On third and two from the 31, Gibbs went up the middle, then cut right and outran the defenders to the endzone.
The touchdown made it 24-3 with 2:02 left in the third, and put the game out of reach.
Gibbs’s third score, a 9-yard run with 9:03 left in the game, completed the Admirals’ scoring.
“We started off pretty good and we were able to seal it at the end,” Courtney said. “… a big, important region win tonight.”
During its five-game winning streak, Farragut has outscored its opponents 190-37. The Admirals return home Friday, Oct. 21, to play Fulton in a non-region game.
A special thanks to Carlos Reveiz of CRFOTO for the action shots from the game. Be sure to check out 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.
