Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Home sweet home
Sturgeon, Cardinals win first game in new stadium FARMINGTON 27, PRAIRIE GROVE 7
FARMINGTON — Drew Sturgeon wasn’t about to let Farmington take a loss Friday night. Not in the first game to be played in Cardinal Stadium. Certainly not against longtime Highway 62 rival Prairie Grove.
Sturgeon scored a pair of touchdowns, and the Farmington defense did its job as the Cardinals knocked off their rivals 27-7 in the season-opener for both teams in front of a packed stadium.
“It’s always great to beat PG in the first game of the season,” Sturgeon said as he celebrated with teammates and Farmington students after the game. “We’ve talked about this game every day. This will give us momentum to keep fighting. With this being a new stadium and playing PG here in this first game, it was just a perfect setting to kick this off and beat them.”
Farmington withstood a textbook opening drive by Prairie Grove (0-1) as the Tigers drove 80 yards in 13 plays — all on the ground — and consumed 6 minutes, 28 seconds to take a 7-0 lead. The Tigers fed junior fullback Foster Layman for most of the drive and Layman capped the march with a 1-yard scoring run and the 7-0 lead. Layman had 101 yards rushing in the first half, but only 15 in the second half.
The Cardinals had an answer on their opening drive, although it wasn’t as clean. Farmington mixed the run and pass well and overcame a 19-yard holding penalty. Quarterback Marqwaveon Watson hit Sturgeon for 19 yards on a third-and-six, then Watson ripped off a 22-yard run on a second and long. On fourth down at the Prairie Grove 5, Watson hit Sturgeon on a slant for a touchdown to tie the game at 7-7 with 9:52 left in the second quarter.
Prairie Grove again put together a ground-chewing drive, marching from its own 14 to the Farmington 8. But on fourth down and short, Cardinals linebacker Hayden Cox hammered Layman for no gain and the half ended two plays later.
“That was huge,” said Farmington defensive coordinator Jay Harper. “When we went in at halftime, that’s what we were buzzing about. We were pumped. We got the stop and did not let them score right there, and I knew we could make some adjustments at halftime that could help us, and the kids did a great job, and our coaches did a great job.”
Farmington (1-0) took the opening drive of the second half and drove 81 yards to take the lead. The Cardinals lost running back Jaden Schader on an ejection for his second unsportsmanlike conduct penalty,
but that did not seem to faze them. Caden Elsik ripped off a 47-yard run, and Farmington moved ahead on Ian Cartwright’s 1-yard run with 9:04 left in the third quarter.
The Cardinals’ defense set the tone in the second half, shutting down Prairie Grove’s run game. Farmington added two fourth-quarter touchdowns. Cox came up with another big fourth down stop and Farmington capitalized on Sturgeon’s 16-yard jet sweep and a 21-7 lead.
Josh Stettmeier added a late touchdown for the Cardinals to cap the scoring.
“Our defense has really taken on the name of dogs because we want them to play
like dogs,” Harper said. “We want them to really be aggressive, and they came out and won the second-half battles. We were trying to prevent the big plays that Prairie Grove is famous for and we did not want that and the kids did a great job preventing that.”
FOUR DOWNS
• Prairie Grove did not attempt a pass in the first half. The Tigers compiled 142 yards of offense and consumed 15:24 of the first-half clock.
• The Tigers were 1 of 4 on fourth down attempts. Farmington scored two of its four touchdowns after the fourthdown stops.
• Two skydivers made successful landings before the game, with one delivering the game ball and the other delivering a U.S. flag.
• Prairie Grove will travel to Dardanelle next week. Farmington will travel to Gravette.