Farmington Spoils Harrison’s Playoff Hopes

Farmington began Senior Night last Friday with only faint playoff hopes, needing a win and some help to make postseason play.

Trailing Harrison 25-14 with 11 minutes, 13 seconds to play, it didn’t look good.

The Cardinals did their part with a furious fourth-quarter rally to pull out a 28-25 victory over the Goblins in the 2015 regular season finale, but they didn’t get the news they’d hope for as Little Rock Christian won to keep them outside looking in.

“It was a nice win, especially for these seniors,” Farmington coach Mike Adams said. “These guys were in a hole, but they didn’t want to go out with a loss and they dug down and played hard in the fourth quarter to come up with a win.”

Farmington (5-5, 3-4 5A-West) did play spoiler, knocking Harrison (4-6, 3-4) out of the playoffs with the win. Harrison would have had the No. 4 spot with a win.

“Harrison put it on us pretty good last year, so it was nice to knock them out,” Adams said. “It’s looking like a little bit of a rival game. Both teams are evenly matched.”

The game was back-and-forth all night as the teams traded scores.

Harrison led 18-14 at the half and the Goblins took control with an impressive 15-play, 95-yard scoring drive that exhausted most of the time off the clock in the third quarter and left Farmington down by 11.

Led by senior quarterback Bryce Waggle and senior running back Justice Hobbs, the Cards answered the bell.

Hobbs broke loose an 18-yard run, followed by a 13-yard run that set up a 2-yard touchdown as Farmington cut it to 25-23 in just minutes.

After the Cardinal defense came up with a stop, Waggle marched the Cards 70 yards capped by a 24- yard touchdown catch and run by fullback Blake Puttnam. A two-point pass from Waggle to Nick Huff made it a 28-25 lead with 2:48 left.

Another senior, Stephen Piha, helped seal the game with an interception of a Harrison pass with 1:47 left.

“We accomplished a lot, this is our second year since moving up to 5A and we finished in a tie for fourth place and just got pointed out for the playoffs,” Adams said. “We lost a few close games but they played hard all year and kept fighting until the end.”