Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Farmington Seventh Grade Enjoyed Unbeaten Season
FARMINGTON — The seventh- grade Farmington football team coached by Spencer Adams and assisted by Ronnie Davis went undefeated during the 2016 season, beginning with a decisive 38-14 victory over rival Prairie Grove on Sept. 1.
Prairie Grove coach Mason Pi nk l ey wa s impressed with the physical play by Farmington in the season opener.
“We weren’t ready for the physicality that Farmington showed,” Pinkley said.
Adams used two different quarterbacks, noting Miles Harvey and Caden Elsik each contributed.
“Miles Harvey has been a quarterback his whole life, he does a good job of managing the offense,” Adams said. “Caden Elsik is a good athlete. He does a good job, too. We’re real confident in both of them, so we put both of them out there.”
The Cardinals turned an early 6- 0 lead into a 14- 0 advantage with their second touchdown and a 2- point conversion with just under eight minutes to go in the first half. On the ensuing possession the Tigers went three and out with Farmington’s Braden Bullington smothering a running play. He was not fooled by a double handoff out of the Wing-T formation and stopped the play on thirdand-8, setting up a simulated punt.
Farmington took over at their own 43 and on first down, Devonte Donovan turned the right corner and broke a 57-yard touchdown run, knocking off would-be tacklers on his way to the end zone. Playing quarterback, Elsik ran a bootleg for a 2- point conversion and Farmington led 22-0 with 2:51 remaining in the first half.
Prairie Grove answered with a two- play, 70- yard scoring drive. The Tiger quarterback picked up 9 yards by stiff-arming away defenders. On second-and-1 from the 39, a Tiger running back broke loose off right tackle and raced 61 yards for a touchdown. Prairie Grove was penalized twice, but still converted a third 2- point try with their quarterback getting outside the contain- ment and running 15 yards around left end to make the score, 22-8, at halftime.
Farmington’s defense came up with a key stop on the opening drive of the second half. Prairie Grove lost yardage on third-and-3 when Farmington’s Trey Hill slammed the quarterback, forcing a simulated punt. Hill, then made his star shine on offense by running untouched off left tackle for a 64-yard touchdown.
“He’s good to have, he’s a player,” Adams said. “The kid hadn’t played a lot of tailback until earlier this summer. We figured out he needed to run and we put him back there.”
Donovan added a 2-point run pushing Farmington’s lead to 30-8.
On Prairie Grove’s next play from scrimmage, a runner attempting to cut back was hit hard and the football popped loose. Dakota Bogan recovered the fumble for Farmington, which brought out their offense at their own 31. Donovan showed great patience waiting for blocks to develop on the next play. Once the blockers were in place, he ran hard, shaking off a last-ditch tackle effort by Prairie Grove at the Tiger 12 and scoring a 69-yard touchdown. A 2-point run made the score, 38-8.
Prairie Grove added a late touchdown to cap an 11-play drive against Farmington reserves to make the final, 38-14.
Adams also had high praise for the offensive line.
“Coach Davis is working with them to teach them a whole new system,” Adams said. “We’ve seen a lot of improvement.”
Farmington never let off during the course of the season, finishing with an 8-0-1 record while playing an independent schedule that included 7A schools. Two of their opponents were eighthgrade teams. Adams said they played to a tie against a 7A eighth- grade team from Kirksey Middle School at Rogers, and defeated an eighth- grade squad from Stilwell, Okla., 28-21.
“It was a lot of fun,” Adams said. “We didn’t have a lot of kids, but the ones we did have played really hard. They were very receptive to coaching. You don’t always see that at the seventh-grade level. It’s nice to have.”
As for the future, Adams predicts a lot of really good football players will come out of the class.