FARMINGTON — Jared Martin laughed and mugged for the cameras with his teammates.
The Farmington senior basked in the glow of his team’s 58-37 win against Shiloh Christian. And he had every right.
Martin rushed for 181 yards, scored four rushing touchdowns and added a touchdown pass as the Cardinals (8-2, 5-2 4A-1 Conference) locked down the No. 3 seed and a home playoff game next week against Dumas with the win.
“This is great,” Martin said. “Shiloh is our huge rival. My linemen gave me huge holes to run through. I’ve got to give it all to my linemen and my team. They did a great job.”
Farmington coach Mike Adams said the Cardinals opening drive of the second half was big. The Cardinals led 22-16 at halftime, but opened the third quarter with an 80-yard drive, capped by Martin’s 47-yard touchdown run with 9 minutes, 39 seconds left in the third quarter.
It took just 1:06 to expanded the lead more when Tre Rowe intercepted Shiloh Christian quarterback Casey Paraday, and returned the pick to the Saints 43. One play later Martin, on a halfback toss, pulled up and hit Brandon Merrick on a 43-yard scoring pass, extending Farmington’s lead to three touchdowns.
“That drive was huge,” said Adams of the scoring drive to start the half. “We got backed up there third and long, then got the first down and got things going. That was huge to get that drive right there. We knew they were going to keep scoring, so we knew we had to try and keep their offense off the field.”
The Saints (5-5, 4-3), who will head to Heber Springs next week in a rematch of the season opener, managed to put points on the board as Paraday, in his first start, was 39-of-59 for 483 yards and two touchdowns.
“I thought Casey came out and did a nice job,” Saints coach Josh Floyd said. “He made some really good throws and was calm under pressure. I thought we did a pretty good job offensively.”
Special teams were a different story, however, as the Saints failed to cover two short kickoffs that led to two Farmington touchdowns, including the opening kickoff. Shiloh Christian also gave up a fake punt for a first down.
“It was a huge play,” Floyd said of the opening kickoff. “We were getting the ball to start the game, and hopefully going to go score. Then they get the momentum and score.
“We made some huge mistakes.”
And Farmington made the most of those mistakes with its power running game. The Cardinals also got a solid outing from senior quarterback Deon Clay, who rushed for 56 yards, was 9-of-16 for 176 yards passing and had several big stops on defense.
“He was outstanding tonight,” Adams said of Clay, who was a perfect 3-of-3 passing in the second half. “We didn’t throw much, but when we did, he always hit the right guy with good reads.”
GAMEBREAKER
FARMINGTON 58, SHILOH CHRISTIAN 37
WHY THE CARDINALS WON
Jared Martin ran for four touchdowns and passed for another, and the Farmington special teams recovered two botched Shiloh Christian kickoff returns that resulted in two touchdowns.
WHY THE SAINTS LOST
Shiloh Christian’s defense was shredded for 550 total yards, including 331 on the ground. The Saints also had four turnovers.
Prep Football
4A-1 Conference
FARMINGTON 58, SHILOH CHRISTIAN 37
Shiloh 6 10 7 14 — 37
Farmington 8 14 15 21 — 58
First Quarter
Farm — Martin 10 run (Clay pass to Sims), 10:27.
Shil — Clark 2 run (run fails), 4:33.
Second Quarter
Shil — Michaelis 29 pass from Paraday (Hale kick), 4:36.
Farm — Martin 15 run (Magana kick), 3:29.
Farm — Brackett 42 pass from Clay (Magana kick), :33.
Shil — FG Lee 41, :00.
Third Quarter
Farm — Martin 47 run (Magana kick), 9:39.
Farm — Merrick 43 pass from Martin (Giezentanner run), 8:36.
Shil — Thompson 7 pass from Paraday (Hale kick), 5:09.
Fourth Quarter
Farm — Martin 4 run (Magana kick), 7:21.
Farm — Donovan 7 run (Magana kick), 5:21.
Shil — Thompson 15 pass from Paraday (Hale kick), 4:31.
Farm — Boudrey 9 run (Magana kick), 2:59.
Shil — Smith 4 run (Hale kick), :44.