Farmington Cardinals READY FOR FOOTBALL

The Red/white game was held Monday. Cardinals prepare for season.

FARMINGTON — The Farmington Cardinals showcased their football skills in the annual Red/White game held at Allen Holland Field on Monday.

The scrimmage was well-attended with a cool breeze sifting through the stadium and lower temperatures bringing much welcome relief from the heat wave. As the scrimmage got under way, all elements of an actual football game were present with Farmington cheerleaders, dance team and band all out in numbers to support the football program.

Megan Disney, cheerleader advisor, is looking for a Farmington student to take over the role of Hot Wings, the Cardinal mascot, vacated by graduated senior Jamie Luther. Interested students should contact her.

Frankie Ball, dance advisor, said the Cardettes have been working all summer long and have been to private camp, in addition to practicing 10 hours a week.

The pee wee teams were introduced complete with each having their own set of pee wee cheerleaders all decked out in fashionable Cardinal red and white. The senior high dance team wore sparkling silver tops glistening in the sunshine. Cheerleaders tumbled gracefully across the field doing cartwheels and players, cheerleaders and the dance team all stretched out.

From the stands, fans held players accountable, urging the Cardinals to make the play. When a sure-fire interception with touchdown written all over it was dropped, a vocal reprimand was issued from the stands. “What was that?” Thus the community embarked on another football season with lingering memories of last season’s 11-3 season and run to the state 4A semifinals raising the bar in the hopes the Cardinals can once more replace nine graduated starters on defense and put together a solid season.

A trio of seniors were singled out by head coach Mike Adams for demonstrating leadership in practice; Brennan Warren, Zach Nichols and Matt Brackett.

“Those are the guys filling that role right now. We need more,” Adams said.

Adams was not thrilled with the offensive production, noting the pass protection was poor and all three quarterbacks vying for the starting position didn’t make good decisions.

Adams saw more positive things occurring on the defensive side of the ball. An interception was run back for a touchdown, the defense also recovered a fumble in the middle and solid coverage in the secondary forced a sack. There were good individual plays like Michael Ingram coming up from the corner- back spot to avoid a block and nail a pass receiver at the point of the catch for no gain and Lance Wood batted down a pass on a rush.

On the first series, after giving up yardage, the defense stiffened inside the red zone and stuffed the run on three consecutive plays. That was a trademark of last year’s stingy Cardinal defense, bend but not break.

“We tackled fairly well and we didn’t give up a bunch of big plays,” Adams said.

Despite the offensive deficiencies, Adams plans to work on. There were instances of individual players turning nothing into something.

Tanner Gustin had a pitchout pop up in the air but the senior running back kept his eye on the ball and alertly yanked it back in and picked up a short gain. Gustin also bobbled a kickoff yet showed his speed by breaking it up the middle after initially mishandling the kick.

Spencer Boudrey illus- trated his ability to cut back with a big gain and added another after catching a short pass, and as the offensive unit worked on their blocking, they sprang Josh Blew, who went more than a 1,000 yards rushing last season in junior high, for a touchdown run.

Warren said it was the job of this year’s seniors to keep on and build on what was accomplished by last year’s seniors.

“They created us all a base and we’ve got to continue to work off it,” Warren said, going on to say he’d like to be remembered for being a state champion.

“I want to be remembered as doing better than last year and giving our all,” Nichols said.

Nichols complimented the Cardinal coaching staff.

“I think our number of coaches helps us out. They work with us one-on-one and with all the teams,” Nichols said. “I’d like to thank coach Adams for being such a great coach this last couple of years.”

The Cardinals host Greenland in a scrimmage Monday at Allen Holland Field with starting time set at 5:30 p.m.

Brennan Warren, senior lineman, has merged as one of the team leaders for the 2012 Farmington Cardinal football team.