Strong youth football week
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Lincoln Lockhart of Farragut’s 6th-Grade (11-U) team brings down the West quarterback at Gibbs High School Saturday morning, Sept. 16. - Photos by Alan Sloan
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Farragut’s Brody Jump finds running room to the outside versus West. - Photos by Alan Sloan
Four wins by Farragut Youth Football’s four oldest teams last week adds up to three remaining perfect, while the other has suffered just one loss in 2023.
That included Roy Stone’s Varsity MAC 8th-Graders staying perfect at 5-0 — and earning the team’s fourth straight shutout — after a 28-0 win at Alcoa Thursday evening, Sept 14.
Junior Varsity MAC
Zack Holmes’ Farragut 7th-Graders marched into Alcoa High School Sept. 14 and took charge quickly, blanking the host team 34-0 while improving to 4-1 on the season.
After earning a safety thanks to a bad punt snap, Nicholas Stewart’s 25-yard kickoff return landed Farragut at the Alcoa 20. Overcoming a 10-yard penalty, Brayden Wilder’s 21-yard run set up Nicholas’ 5-yard scoring run. Gavin McClurkin’s first of what would be four 2-point conversion kicks, with Oliver Jett holding, pushed the score to 10-0 with 2:12 left in the first half.
Nicholas cranked it up on the next Farragut possession, this time rushing 38 yards to paydirt. It was 18-0 with 4:49 remaining in the third quarter.
Farragut’s passing game wasn’t to be denied in terms of scoring, as quarterback Harrison Holmes fired deep and found receiver Carter Maltais open inside the Alcoa 5 for a 30-yard scoring pass on fourth down. The Mini Ads’ lead was now 26-0 win just nine seconds left in the third frame.
That same combo, Harrison to Carter, connected on another 30-yard scoring pass with just 54 seconds left in the game.
Defensively for Farragut, Reid Gabel, Jacob Beilstein, Ilar Valedon, Jacob Alley, Colt Newby, Ben Stiles, Porter Smith and Brayden each had at least one minus-yardage tackle for a super-dominant Blue and Gray defense.
6th-Graders
Justin Johnson’s 6th-Grade Farragut troops also stayed unbeaten at 4-0 after a successful trip to Gibbs High School Saturday morning, Sept. 16, shutting out West 20-0.
Case Culbreth did most of the offensive damage early on the ground while scoring on two short TD runs. Teammate Elias Huskey broke free on a couple of end-around plays.
Going through the air for a big scoring play in the final seconds of the first half, quarterback Rocco Childers fired an 18-yard TD pass to Brayden Peterson with just eight seconds left before halftime.
A big play on Farragut’s second scoring drive came when Ty Wilson not only avoided disaster by recovering a fumble, but gained 16 yards on the play.
Add a Jack Ferrie 2-point kick, with Rocco holding and Zachary Campbell snapping, plus some stingy Baby Ads defense, and the Blue and Gray lead was 20-0 at halftime.
An interception by Drake Lewis ended the first half, and Farragut kept West from ever seriously threatening to score in the second half.
Defensively, Elias, Casen, Drake and Lincoln Lockhart each had big minus-yardage tackles — Drake’s coming on a fourth-down stop with 3:42 left in the game. That doesn’t include a sack by Baylon Houston and Ian Brown.
“It was a great team win today,” coach Johnson said. “We played great in all three phases of the game: we won on special teams, offense and defense today.”
5th-Graders
It was back to Alcoa High School, this time for Joe Galardi’s Farragut 5th-Graders versus Bearden early Saturday afternoon, Sept. 16. It was another blowout win for the Blue and Gray, 24-0, keeping these Tiny Ads unbeaten at 4-0 and atop the YAC standings.
Running back Da’Vaughn Jackson ripped off carries of 18 and 22 yards, setting up quarterback Max Glover’s 24-yard scoring run with 5:07 left in the first quarter.
On the next Farragut possession, Max got loose on a 12-yard run before using his arm to hit receiver Andrew Floyd inside the Bearden 5 for a 31-yard scoring pass. It was 12-0 with 2:50 still remaining in the first frame.
An interception by Robbie Sills and 9-yard return set up the Blue and Gray at the Bearden 32. Skylar Yeager’s 14-yard end-around scoring run early in the second quarter upped the lead to 18-0.
Max added runs of 30 and 12 yards late in the first half.
On fourth down midway into the third quarter, a Max pass deep saw receiver Bo Gary go up over a defender and snag the pigskin for a first down at the Bearden 35. Max’s 15-yard run, plus a penalty, set up Da’Vaughn’s 19-yard scoring run with 2:55 left in the third.
Defensively, Da’Vaughn, Bo, Solomon Hughes, Davidson Miller and John Long each had at least one minus-yard stop.
“When we play a team and we start subbing a lot of folks, you don’t see a big drop-off,” coach Galardi said.
“And we’ve got a great set of coaches volunteering their time to help us out,” he added.
