Pass Protection, Turnovers Break Down Cardinals

FARMINGTON — Drew Sturgeon kicked a 40-yard field goal with 3:18 to go and Farmington’s defense got the ball back but couldn’t make a first down.

The Cardinal defense gave the team a chance by shutting out Greenbrier in the second half after giving up 24 first half points, but the offense couldn’t push through, and the squad suffered its first loss of the 2019 season, 24-17, at Greenbrier Friday.

Farmington squandered a golden opportunity set up by Kyle Welkley’s interception which gave the Cardinals a short field starting from their own 43. On the last play of the third quarterback Marqwaveon Watson ran to the Greenbrier 43 with 15 yards tacked on to the end of the run due to a personal foul by the Panthers.

Three plays into the fourth quarter Greenbrier was flagged twice on the same play drawing a facemask coupled with a spearing penalty advancing the ball to the Panthers’ 9. Yet, another flag positioned Farmington with first-and-goal from the four, but they couldn’t break the plane and turned the ball over on downs at the two.

Greenbrier picked up one first down at the 12 aided by a Farmington off-sides penalty. Ian Cartwright recovered a Panther fumble and ran the ball 12 yards into the end zone. Sturgeon’s extra-point kick pulled Farmington within 24-14 at the 8:36 mark of the fourth quarter.

The defensive touchdown accounted for Farmington’s first points since taking a 7-0 lead on its first possession with fullback Josh Stettemeier breaking a 43-yard touchdown run.

Greenbrier scored 14 points over a span of 1:57 to take a 14-7 first quarter lead on a pair of Cooper Wilcox touchdown passes of 29 yards to Brody Johnson and 25 yards to Ryan Barnard. The second Panther touchdown came on the heels of a Cardinal fumble recovered in Farmington territory at the 44.

Farmington’s offense was hampered by several sacks robbing the Cardinals of excellent field position. Backto-back false start penalties were compounded by consecutive Greenbrier sacks putting Farmington in fourthand-33 from its own 24 on a series that began at the Cardinal 47. The negative yardage contributed to Greenbrier’s next drive, a 7-play, 52-yard march for a touchdown on Trey Havens’ 1-yard plunge.

Farmington coach Mike Adams said Friday night’s loss was very disappointing because the team played so poorly after five consecutive weeks of playing really well.

“Offensively we turned the ball over three times on their end of the field, including one on their one-yard line. Defensively we didn’t tackle as well as we needed to and we had some guys play very poor technique, which caused our scheme to break down,” Adams said. “As always, our kids gave great effort, but just did not play well enough to beat a good team in our league.”

This week Farmington returns to Cardinal Stadium to face Vilonia. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.