Washington County Enterprise-Leader
Morrilton Overwhelms Cardinals
FARMINGTON DROPS HOME GAME, 48-6
FARMINGTON — After trading punts to start the game, Farmington turned the ball over with Morrilton recovering a fumbled pitch they would transform into points, a scenario that was repeated all too often.
Morrilton scored off the turnover to take an early 7-0 lead, spoiling the Cardinals’ bid to stay alive in playoff contention Friday by a 48-6 score. Morrilton quarterback Caleb Canady passed to a wide- open Danny Smith coming out of the backfield on a 25-yard touchdown pass on third-and-11 with 5:19 left in the first quarter. The Cardinals punted on their second possession and Morrilton again marched to the end zone with Oshae Erby running the ball in on a 4-yard touchdown to give the visitors a 14-0 lead with three seconds to go in the first period.
An unwillingness to pick up the football on the ensuing kickoff cost Farmington 10 yards of field position. The ball scooted on the ground past two upbacks, neither of which seemed interested in retrieving the pigskin. Deep returner Trenton McChristian was game, but had nowhere to run, while trying to backtrack to avoid Morrilton’s kick coverage team. On first down, Farmington quarterback
Trey Waggle faked right and ran a bootleg to his left, throwing to tight end Jacob Grey for 18 yards and a first down. Sophomore tailback Reid Turner picked up 4 yards on a sweep, but the drive stalled and Farmington lined up in punt formation. Punter Kelton Price took a direct snap and executed fake punt to perfection. Running to his left, Price picked up a first down, but he wasn’t done yet. Reversing field, Price ran like the wind and nobody caught him. The official length of the touchdown run was 56 yards, but Price actually ran a lot farther, accounting for receiving the snap 8 yards deep, then running the near width of the field as he crossed from left to right.
Farmington appeared to have converted a 2-point run, but the officials weren’t in position to see the ball break the plane, and while acknowledging to the Farmington staff they might have missed a call, there was no changing the ruling and the score stood at, 14-6, in favor of Morrilton. From that juncture, the game and Farmington’s hopes for a playoff berth went south. Deiontae Duncan returned a punt 40 yards for a Morrilton touchdown pushing the visitor’s out to a 21-6 lead, the first of three Morrilton scores in the last 5:44 of the first half, including two in the final 1:23.
Farmington’s offense couldn’t answer and went three and out. Another Duncan punt return deep into Cardinal territory was nullified by a holding call, but Farmington still couldn’t keep Morrilton out of the end zone. The visitors drove 64 yards in 3: 31 to go up, 27-6, on Smith’s 1-yard run. Farmington’s best play from scrimmage in the first half came on the next series with Jared Oskey (7 rushes, 82 yards) ripping off a 40-yard run to the Morrilton 30-yardline. The drive ended when Morrilton intercepted a pass near the right sideline and returned the ball to their own 41 with 38 seconds to go in the second quarter. Morrilton scored as time expired in the first half on Canady’s 18-yard pass to Laken Dillard.
Farmington trailed 34-6 at halftime and things didn’t get better in the second half. Morrilton added two more scores on touchdowns by Grahm Heidenreich on a 2-yard pass from Canady in the third quarter and Alex Chambers’ 20-yard interception return with 1:05 to play in the fourth. Farmington will wrap up the 2016 season at home Friday against Harrison. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.