Making a big splash
Farragut 5th-Grade team beats Alcoa, Oak Ridge to earn 2nd-place in YAC
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Farragut Fifth-Grade (10-and-Under) football finished as YAC runner-up after beating Oak Ridge and Alcoa during the playoffs. - Photos by Alan Sloan
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Tiny Admiral gang tackling includes Graham Galardi (7) and Robbie Sills (15) during the title game versus Austin-East at Gibbs High School Saturday, Nov. 4. - Photos by Alan Sloan
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Farragut defender John Long pursues an A-E running back. - Photos by Alan Sloan
KNOXVILLE — Having reached the Knox County YAC Football Fifth-Grade championship game, No. 4 seed Farragut surprised some people with playoff victories against Oak Ridge (13-12 in the quarterfinals) and one week later versus Alcoa (14-6 in the semifinals) en route to earning a championship game showdown with No. 1 seed Austin-East at Gibbs High School Saturday afternoon, Nov. 4.
While the Tiny Roadrunners eventually won 25-0, Farragut proudly took home a well-earned second-place YAC trophy, as these Tiny Ads finished the season with an 8-3 record.
“We kind of called it our revenge tour this year because Oak Ridge knocked us out of the playoffs last year (the Fourth-Grade level), and Alcoa was one of the teams that beat us this year” in the regular season, Farragut head coach Joe Galardi said. “We got revenge on them. We had a great playoff run.”
Though not reaching the end zone in the title game, Farragut’s defense did force two fumbles it recovered, courtesy of Cade Coleman and Solomon Hughes, before defensive back Max Glover intercepted an Austin-East pass near the FHS goal-line in the closing seconds of the first half.
Bo Gary booted a 37-yard punt. Several Farragut defenders had key tackles to stop A-E on downs in the third quarter.
From the beginning of the regular season, “No doubt about it, we’ve grown a lot,” Galardi said. “The mental toughness of this group ... they had to play through some serious adversity throughout the season.”
In short, “this group never quit,” the Farragut coach added. “To me, when we think about football — at this age in particular — knowing this (no-quit mentality) will probably translate into every day life, that they’re probably not going to quit when it comes to school or when something else is going on, because they’ve dealt with that.
“To me, that’s what I’m most proud of. … Making these kids better and stronger, that to me is worth everything.”
Illustrating the progress his team has made the past three seasons, as a Third-Grade YAC team in 2021, “We finished in sixth place,” Galardi said. “Last year (Fourth-Grade YAC), we finished third, and this year we finished in second place.
“And we had a handful of new kids who came in and contributed, also,” he added.
