Junior Cards Join 7A West

CONFERENCE AFFILIATION SECURED

FARMINGTON — Farmington has been without conference affiliation at the junior high football level since leaving the 4A-1 after the 2013 season.

In 2016, the junior Cardinals were invited to join the 7A West Conference, but declined. They elected to embrace the opportunity beginning with the 2019 football season.

Head junior high coach Cody Napier said the process led the junior Cardinals that direction.

“The last several years we’ve picked up a lot of their bye weeks and played them so even though we’re officially in the conference, we’ve kind of unofficially been in that conference,” Napier said. “It’s been a lot of confidence booster for the kids going to be able to compete with those boys in the past.”

Napier said joining the 7A West at the junior high football level had support throughout the administration.

“It was all approved top down from our athletic director Brad Blew to our varsity head coach Mike Adams,” Napier said.

Napier met with the 7A West coaches and got a schedule in the spring.

“We get to join up. It’s exciting now to get back in conference and get to compete for a conference championship and the way they do it is kind of fun,” Napier said. “You get a certain amount of conference wins and then week 10, you play somebody else in your conference with the same percentage of wins. We don’t know who our week 10 game is right now. It will be determined based off our wins in the conference.”

Quarterback Competition

Competition for the starting quarterback job between classmates Cameron Vanzant and Samuel Wells illustrates a desire for success at the junior high level.

Vanzant’s older sister, Makenna, won a starting position on the varsity girls basketball team as a freshman in 2015-2016 and has led the Lady Cardinals in scoring three-straight years coming into her senior season. She displays tenacity and a drive to outperform the competition. According to Napier, Cameron’s personality contains a similar mindset.

“Cameron is a competitor. He wants to do the right thing and he wants to do it really well, and that’s what we love about Cameron,” Napier said. “He asks questions and he wants to know the proper way to do it and he’s going to execute it. He’s a competitor, he’s going to win, and that’s the kind of kids we’re looking for is that, ‘Hey, it’s me versus you and I’m going to win.’ That’s what we want right there, especially at our quarterback position.”

Wells rotates a lot at wide receiver and Vanzant knows how to play that position as well. Both take snaps and they know what how the offense is ran and operates.

“It’s a great position to be in because we’ve got two really phenomenal kids there, athletically and just in their leadership as well, at that position competing,” Napier said. “They’re going to be on the football field somewhere because they’re competitors and they make us better when they’re out there.”

Cardinal Stadium

All the teams play on turf in the 7A and with the completion of

Farmington Sports Complex and Cardinal Stadium the junior Cardinals will be among them.

“I tell you what, it’s nice. It’s definitely one of the nicest ones in this area for sure. We got the turf and the stadium and all the amenities and stuff here. It is a massive blessing. The community’s excited about it. The kids are definitely excited about it,” Napier said.

Friday morning storms rolled through the area. A year ago, football wouldn’t have been able to practice due to lightning, but that all changed with the availability of an indoor practice facility.

“This morning we get our kids up here and we just continue on in our 60-yard indoor without a hiccup,” Napier said. “It’s a massive blessing to have that and to just keep things rolling and to not have to worry about inclement weather on the outside.”

The 7A West teams won’t feel like they’re stepping down a level to play games at Farmington.

“(In the past) we had some of those guys come play us and those kids probably never played on grass. They probably practiced on it, but for a football game they never played on grass,” Napier said. “There are some things that are great about grass, but definitely it’s nice to have that turf out there where you can go and practice on it every single day and not tear it up and have the relation of your field and just being on the place where you’re going to actually play football at is nice instead of a practice field.”

Iron Sharpens Iron

Playing in the 7A West at the junior high level will prepare players for varsity competition in the tough 5A West.

“It’s huge as far as competition-wise. You know 7A West is arguably one of the best conferences in the state when you look at their varsity programs and state champions they’ve locked up,” Napier said. “We’re playing the best competition we can in the junior high and that’s just only going to reap benefits for our senior high program.”

Farmington has filled a void for the 7A West over the past couple of years with its ninth grade schedule because the 7A West had an odd-numbered set of team leaving them with bye weeks.

“It got the point where they’ve done a little bit of stuff different. Some of the teams want to play on Monday night and some want to play on Thursday night and it kind of opened a door up for us to get in there. It helps us out because it gives us a full seventh grade, eighth grade and ninth grade schedule,” Napier said. “We fit right in there. Our kids are excited about it, we’re excited about it to step up to that competition level cause you know iron sharpens iron. You’re just going to get better and better every single week.”