West beats Farragut, 38-3
By Mark Nagi
The West Rebels have had the upper hand in their rivalry with the Farragut Admirals in recent years, and last Friday’s matchup was no different. Make it six straight wins for the Rebels, following a convincing 38-3 victory at Eddie Courtney Stadium.
“This game historically is a dogfight to the end,” said West head coach Lamar Brown. “I was really proud of our kids. They came out ready to play and played a great 48 minutes.”
“They are just a really good football team,” said Farragut head coach Geoff Courtney. “We are still growing and trying to develop.”
The game could not have gotten off to a much better start than it did for the visiting Rebels. Following an opening drive 3 and out by the Farragut offense, the Admirals were forced to punt. Antwain Burdine caught the punt at midfield, split the Ads defense and was finally knocked out of bounds at the 2-yard line.
“He (Burdine) starts at safety, he plays every position on offense, he’s the guy that offensively we want to move him around,” said Brown. “The more times he touches the football the better we are.”
Two plays later, Anterius McAlister muscled the football into the end zone from a yard out. The game wasn’t even two minutes old, and West was on top 7-0.
Farragut (0-3) was able to move the football effectively for the first time on their third drive of the game. It started with a beautiful 29-yard pass play from Noah Haag to Landon Collins. That put the Admirals into West territory at the 36-yard line.
The Ads would get as far as the West 15 but had to settle for a 37-yard FG from Ryan McCue. That made it a 7-3 game.
After these teams exchanged punts, West (2-1) began to take control of the game. First came a 9-play, 46-yard drive which ended when quarterback Parker Dubon called his own number and scored on a 7-yard TD run, making it 14-3.
Following a Farragut turnover, the Rebels marched 54 yards on 11 plays. A Dubon TD pass gave West a 21-3 advantage at intermission.
“I thought it was by far the best game that Parker has played,” said Brown. “Especially in the first half. He made great strides this week, getting more comfortable in the offense. Just an unbelievable job.”
In the third quarter, Farragut senior safety Kent Carbaugh picked off two passes, but it was a 97-yard pick 6 by West’s Jack Keith that put the game out of reach.
“I think that’s his third interception in three games,” said Brown. “He’s got a knack of always being around the football in the run game or the pass game. I was so happy for that kid. He finally got that touchdown he’s been dreaming about.”
“They are great on defense, creating turnovers,” said Courtney. “They were really capitalizing on some things that we were trying to do. They make it so tough for you in the red zone just because they are so good in stopping the run. They present a lot of challenges so… guys were in there trying to make plays, trying to scrap and claw get back in the game… just a couple of big plays broke our back.”
On Friday night the West Rebels will try to continue their winning ways when they host Maryville. The Farragut Admirals will look for their first victory of the season when they play at Cleveland. It will be the Ads’ first District game of the season.
