Bearden’s football team put a damper on a big Saturday night at Farragut.
Senior quarterback Drew Parrott ran for two touchdowns and threw a touchdown pass in the Bulldogs’ 38-14 victory over the rival Admirals.
It came on the night when Farragut’s football stadium was dedicated as Eddie Courtney Stadium in honor of its former Hall of Fame coach.
“We’ve told our kids all week long that Bearden-Farragut means a lot to our school,” Bearden coach Josh Jones said. “It means a lot to our community, but for us, it had to be about winning another region game.
“We could not get caught up in the rivalry of Bearden-Farragut and all of the extra. For us, it was to get another region game and to wake up on Sunday morning at 2-0 in the region. That was our goal and I thought our kids did that.”
Bearden (3-2, 2-0 in Region 2-6A) will play host to Maryville (6-0, 2-0) on Thursday night for first place in the region; Cleveland (5-0, 1-0) is also unbeaten in the region.
Maryville stayed unbeaten in the region Saturday with a 49-7 victory at Hardin Valley Academy (1-5, 0-2).
“We’ll enjoy this one for maybe the next 12 or 15 hours,” Jones said, “and then we’ve got to get to work on Maryville, which is obviously a giant of an opponent. Coach (Derek) Hunt and his staff do such a really good job. We’ll have to have a really good week of prep to give ourselves a shot.”
Parrott likely will move to wide receiver for the Maryville game with the anticipated return of sophomore quarterback D.J. Hunter.
Hunter, a transfer from Horn Lake, Mississippi, has been sidelined with a shoulder injury since the second game of the season, a 24-22 home loss to Alcoa on Aug. 30.
Hunter was cleared to play against Farragut.
“Tonight was just more precautionary,” Jones said. “(Hunter) probably could’ve (gone) if it was a playoff game or whatever, but we just went one more week to let him rest up his shoulder.”
Parrott has been a more than capable replacement, having started at quarterback for Bearden since his freshman year. He moved to wide receiver this year with Hunter’s transfer while also starting in the defensive secondary.
“I can’t say enough great things about Drew Parrott, man,” Jones said. “He’s the ultimate teammate. He’s going to do whatever he’s asked for his team and he’s going to do it at a very, very high level.”
Parrott completed 8 of 14 passes for 101 yards and a touchdown against Farragut (0-5, 0-2 in Region 2-6A).
Parrott also rushed for 63 yards on four carries – his rushing total included an 11-yard loss on a fumbled snap – and scored on runs of 66 and 1 yards.
“I thought (Parrott) did really well tonight,” Jones said. “I thought he played at a high level, ran the offense really well, managed the offense, made some great reads, made some great decisions, and it was just nice to see. He’s a playmaker.”
Bearden had 339 total yards, while Farragut had 237 total yards.
The Bulldogs had 315 total yards at halftime when they had a 24-7 lead.
Bearden rushed for 238 yards in the game, averaging 6.4 yards on 37 carries.
Junior Jayzon Thompson (5-10, 182 pounds) rushed for 117 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries – all in the first half – and junior Torian Riggins (5-9, 218) rushed for 60 yards on 12 carries.
Riggins had one carry for 1 yard in the second half.
“They make me a better coach,” Jones said of his two running backs. “Thunder and lightning. Torian Riggins is RB1 at a lot of schools in this area. He just happens to share the backfield with Jayzon Thompson.
“They’re both really good, so we try to incorporate both of them. They bring different things to the table and they complement each other. Neither one is selfish. They’re always rooting for each other.”
Thompson scored Bearden’s first touchdown on a 3-yard run, capping its third possession of the game.
William Pendergrass’s PAT kick made it 7-0 with 14 seconds left in the first quarter.
Farragut gained two first downs and punted.
Bearden drove from its 17 to the Farragut 7, and Pendergrass’s 24-yard field goal made it 10-0 with 5:06 left in the half.
Farragut went three and out.
On second down, Parrott dropped back to pass, then raced into the open field and down the sideline for a 66-yard touchdown and 17-0 lead with 2:49 left in the half.
The Admirals answered when sophomore Corbin Hobson threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to Robbie Jacobs. Ryan McCue’s PAT kick cut the deficit to 17-7.
Bearden started at its 43 with 1:11 left in the half.
Parrott completed 3 of 3 passes for 51 yards as the Bulldogs moved to Farragut’s 7-yard line.
Riggins ran for a 6-yard gain, and Parrott’s 1-yard touchdown run made it 24-7 with 25.8 seconds left in the half.
“The game plan tonight was to run the football, lean on them, and when we got a chance to make a play in the pass game, make one,” Jones said. “But the game plan tonight was to run the football early and often, and I thought our guys did that. I challenged our O-line to be more physical and I thought they were.”
Tra Dennard recovered a Farragut fumble at the Admirals’ 9-yard line on the third play of the third quarter.
On first down, Parrott threw a 9-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Tory Beaufort, who had five catches for 68 yards.
Bearden led 31-7 with 10:54 left in the third quarter.
Kenny Simon’s 40-yard interception return of Hobson’s pass made it 38-7 with 9:54 left in the third quarter, starting the running clock.
Bearden finished with 10 penalties for 101 yards and had two touchdowns called back in the first half for holding penalties.
“Penalties are drive killers,” Jones said. “We’ve got to fix that, and that’s on me as a coach, but outside of that, I thought our run game was really good tonight.”
Farragut’s Luke Finnegan scored on a 3-yard run with 25 seconds left to play.
“Bearden is a good, talented football team,” said Farragut coach Geoff Courtney, Eddie Courtney’s son. “We’re still trying to grow and develop, but we’re playing hard.
“You’ve got to give (Bearden) credit. They pretty much did what they wanted to at the line of scrimmage, ran the ball well, threw it well, gave us trouble most of the night. We’ve got to continue to grow and get better.”
Junior Noah Haag started at quarterback for Farragut and completed 5 of 13 passes for 36 yards. Hobson rotated in for Haag and completed 7 of 15 passes for 77 yards.
Jacobs had three catches for 42 yards and Landon Collins had four catches for 37 yards.
Farragut plays at Bradley Central (2-3, 0-1) next Friday in a region game.
“We’ve seen them on film a couple of times,” Courtney said. “They’re kind of like us, still searching a little bit. But we’ll see. We’ve got to go out there and play well and still play hard.”
Article written by David Link/ 5Star Preps
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