FARMINGTON — Ian Cartwright jumped up after planting his knee to the turf and held the football high as he and his Farmington teammates celebrated near midfield.
The Cardinals turned away Class 7A Springdale High twice late in the game to secure a 14-7 win in their final nonconference game of the season Friday night at Cardinal Stadium.
Farmington (2-1) scored a pair of second-half touchdowns on passes from Cartwright to wide receiver Devonte Donovan, and the Cardinals’ defense came up with the big plays when they needed it late in the game to seal a big win over the Red’Dogs (1-2).
“I thought our defense played great all night long,” Farmington coach Mike Adams said. “We put them in one bad situation when we failed to maintain the corner on a punt return and gave up one score, but they played great. Our secondary did a great job covering some good receivers, and we were able to make a couple of picks late.”
Springdale took a 7-0 lead in the first half when LaDarius Wonsley scooped up a low Farmington punt and found a lane down the left sideline. Farmington punter Tate Sutton was able to bring Wonsley down with a low tackle, but not before the Red’Dog senior reached the Cardinals’ 25.
From there, Springdale stayed on the ground as Gilberto Dominguez carried on all five plays, the last going for the touchdown from the 5-yard line and a 7-0 Bulldogs lead with 1 minute, 48 seconds left in the first half. Other than a few plays, that was about the only bright spot for Springdale the rest of the game as Farmington’s defensive front dominated in the trenches.
“We’re finally getting guys on the defensive line healthy,” said Adams. “We feel like once we can get everybody healthy we can be pretty good up there, and it showed tonight.”
Springdale’s defense had plenty of bright spots itself, forcing three Farmington turnovers.
Farmington finally broke through midway through the third quarter and was able to find success through the air. With Springdale loading the box to stop the Cardinals’ run game, Cartwright was able to find an opening over the top, hitting Donovan in stride for a 58-yard scoring pass with 3:11 left in the third quarter. The extra-point attempt failed, and Farmington still trailed 7-6.
“We saw that they were leaving some of our receivers uncovered because they were up close to stop our run game and screens,” Cartwright said. “We were able to hit a couple over the top, and my receivers made great plays.”
The Cardinals’ defense was put to the test after the touchdown when Farmington muffed a Spring-dale punt with Ricardo Gonzales recovering the ball at the Cardinals’ 34. The Bulldogs moved backward in three plays.
Midway through the fourth quarter, Farmington was able to put together a 74-yard drive to take the lead. Cartwright hit Donovan early in the drive, and Caden Elsik, who rushed for 126 yards, broke loose on a 30-yard run to move the ball to the Spring-dale 35. Three plays later Cartwright hit Donovan on a slant for a 24-yard touchdown with 5:46 left in the game. Farmington went for two points after the score, and Donovan was able to pull in a Cartwright pass for the 14-7 lead.
Twice in the closing minutes, Farmington came up with key interceptions, the first by Aiden Robinson on a tipped pass, then later with under a minute left, Jacob Jay intercepted another tipped pass to seal the win.
“Our kids responded this week like we hoped they would,” Adams said, referring to last week’s loss to Prairie Grove. “We played awful, and when you do you can expect those kinds of results. It was just a weird night, and everything that could go wrong did. But we responded in practice this week, and our goal was to just get better and we did that.”
4 DOWNS
• Cartwright was 15 of 22 for 188 yards and two touchdowns with one interception for the Cardinals.
• Wonsley did not play in the second half for Spring-dale after suffering an injury near the end of the first half.
• Springdale coach Zak Clark played for Adams as a prep quarterback at Farmington.
• Both teams are off next week for their open week.
Chip Souza can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWAChip.
FARMINGTON 14, SPRINGDALE HIGH 7
Springdale..........0 7 0 0 — 7 Farmington.........0 0 6 8 — 14 Second Quarter
Spring — Dominguez 5 run (Martinez kick), 1:48.
Third Quarter
Farm — Donovan 58 pass from Cartwright (Kick failed), 3:11.
Fourth Quarter
Farm — Donovan 24 pass from Cartwright (Cartwright pass to Donovan), 5:46.
This story was originally published at 7:45 a.m.