Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Farmington Wins Homecoming Game
FARMINGTON — Justice Hobbs’ career performance ensured the Farmington Cardinals celebrated homecoming in style, beating the Clarksville Panthers 46-14 on Friday at Allen Holland Field.
Hobbs averaged 12.25 yards per attempt on 24 carries for a total of 294 yards. He scored five touchdowns, ran for a two-point conversion, and threw for a second two-point conversion.
Farmington coach Mike Adams said it was Hobbs’ best game, topping last week’s 209- yard effort against Greenbrier. He was never stopped for negative yardage.
“When you control the line of scrimmage like that, you’ll win some games,” Adams said.
The Panthers ( 1- 5, 0- 3) actually scored first to take a short- lived lead when Mason Schucker connected with Keonnis Graves for an 18-yard score. That’s when Hobbs took over.
After Farmington ( 3- 3, 1-2) accidentally downed the ensuing kickoff on the 12-yard line, the Cardinals just gave the ball to Hobbs for the entire drive. It only took the Cardinals seven plays for Hobbs to go the full 88 yards to the end zone. Hobbs then broke a tackle on the two-point conversion attempt and was barely able to get a pass off to Jake Oskey to convert the two-point attempt.
With the 8-7 lead going into the second quarter, the Cardinals started to pour it on.
Oskey blocked and recovered a Clarksville punt to set up Farmington at the 29-yard line, which set up Hobbs for a 24-yard touchdown run two plays later. Farmington then forced a three-and-out, and, two plays later, Hobbs broke free for a 55-yard touchdown run up the middle. The Panthers went through another quick three-and-out, and this time Farmington needed six plays for Hobbs to score again.
The Panthers came out of halftime with momentum and got the ball first. Clarksville drove down the field behind big running from Jason White, who finished with 107 yards, but the drive stalled in the red zone when White was tackled for a one yard loss, and Schucker was sacked on fourth down by Stephen Piha.
Farmington then set up deep in their own territory and a couple of holding penalties kept them from moving the ball. They ended up in a third-and-17 and decided to take a shot downfield, and it paid off. Brice Waggle connected with Xavier Staten down the middle of the field. Staten ended up behind the Clarksville defense and sprinted the last 50 yards with the ball to complete the 85-yard scoring pass.
“Oh, it was huge,” Adams said. “[Clarksville] scored and it was keeping it close, but Staten just did a super job to take it all the way.”
Clarksville kept fighting, driving into the red zone on the ensuing drive, but again turned the ball over on downs instead of scoring. Hobbs scored again to follow up and Farmington was able to claim their first 5A West victory of the season.