Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Farmington’s Defense Slams Door On Ozark
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FARMINGTON — The Cardinal offense produced four first-half touchdowns but the difference in Friday’s 39-23 win over Ozark was Farmington’s defense.
Cory Henry returned an interception 23 yards for a touchdown and Michael Lusher added a 66-yard runback on a pick six. Factor in those two defensive scores and a pair of goal line stands in the fourth quarter and Farmington won by 16 points to remain tied with Lincoln for second place in the 1-4A standings with two weeks left in the regular season.
“We’ve got two tough games in front of us,” Adams said, referring to Farmington’s road game
this week at Pea Ridge, which narrowly missed an upset of conference- leader Prairie Grove on Friday, and senior night against Lincoln Nov. 8.
“We have a chance to get a home playoff game and that’s big but we’re going to worry about Pea Ridge right now and that’s all we’re going to worry about.”
For much of Friday’s game, Farmington appeared to have little worries with Ozark. Josh Blew opened the scoring with a 2-yard touchdown run 4:45 into the game and the Cardinals tacked on a second score with Keaton Austin passing to Michael Ingram for a 43-yard scoring strike.
Ozark countered with Gage Battles’ 2-yard run on the first play of the second quarter. Farmington went up by two touchdowns on Blew’s 5- yard score 1: 22 later. Henry’s interception return made the score 27-7 and Blew’s third touchdown extended the margin to 33-7 at halftime.
Ozark took the opening kickoff of the second half and faced a second-and-10 situation. Jake Simpson tried to throw deep but Lusher stepped in front of the receiver and raced down the left sideline, hesitating briefly as he picked up a couple of key blocks on his way to the end zone and 39-7 Farmington advantage.
The Cardinal offense sputtered and Ozark dominated the remainder of the third period, scoring twice on Battles’ 78-yard run and Coleman McClure’s 9-yard pass from Simpson trimming Farmington’s lead to 39-21 with 3:59 on the third quarter clock.
“We were our own worst enemy in the second half,” Adams said. “We had three first downs nullified by penalty. If we make any of those we get momentum and keep the clock running.”
With 8:23 left in the fourth frame, Battles carried the ball inside the Cardinal one before being brought down inches short of the goal line. Ozark looked like they were in business with first-andgoal but Farmington dug in and heartily defended the scant piece of real estate between the Hillbillies and the end zone. Gage was met by a wall of defenders in the middle of the field on second down and lost a yard. On second down, Gage was trying to scoot around left tackle only to be cut down by John Larabee three yards behind the line of scrimmage.
“Coach called a great blitz. I just tried to keep my feet moving,” Larabee said, describing how he made the play while being blocked by driving his legs and reaching out to seize hold of the ball carrier.
On third and goal, the Hillbillies again tried to go left with a quick screen that was disrupted when Gabe Sequichie penetrated the backfield and nearly intercepted the ball. On fourthand-goal, Jake Simpson was halted just shy of the goal line and the ball turned over on downs.
Later in the game, Ozark drove deep into Cardinal territory again and Farmington stuffed them. Chas Turner reached around a receiver to deflect a pass at the Farmington three but a roughing-the-passer penalty set up the Hillbillies with a first-and-goal from the eight with 2:05 remaining.
Simpson ran the ball to the one on first down but Matt Duffy dropped Battles for a three-yard loss and the Cardinals forced two straight incomplete passes with a big rush on both plays and Turner in position to defend a pass on fourth down.
“Our coaches really test us in practice. They try to make it as real to a game situation as possible with the intensity in practice that really prepares us for game situations,” Turner said.
Ozark had burned all their timeouts and Farmington twice took a knee but the officials awarded Ozark a safety with 12 seconds to go making the final score, 39-23.
“Our defense came up big down here and that was huge. They really took the life out of them,” Adams said.