Injury-ridden Gentry shut out

Ajay Beach, 15, of Gentry High School runs through Farmington High School defense and slips away from Jared Martin, 9, Friday in Farmington.

Ajay Beach, 15, of Gentry High School runs through Farmington High School defense and slips away from Jared Martin, 9, Friday in Farmington.

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

— It only took the Farmington Cardinals 96 seconds of game clock to put up points in their 4A-1 Conference opener Friday, and they didn’t even start the game with the football.

Deon Clay intercepted Gentry quarterback Dylan Ochs on the second play from scrimmage and it was all downhill from there for the Pioneers as they lost 35-0.

Exactly 400 offensive yards later, Farmington (4-0, 1-0 4A-1 Conference) finished off a 35-point shutout of an injury-riddled Gentry squad.

The Cardinals carried the ball 48 times for 290 yards and five touchdowns, including three scores by senior running back Jared Martin. Dimitri Donovan and Deon Clay added 110 total yards through the air.

Despite allowing two scores early, Gentry (0-4, 0-1) maintained the 14-point deficit until the middle of the third quarter, when a long fourth-down conversion for Farmington sparked a scoring binge that triggered the 35-point mercy rule just inside the fourth quarter.

“Our big focus this yearhas been finishing games. We scored twice in the first half and had other opportunities where we didn’t do it,” Cardinals coach Mike Adams said. “(Coming out of half-time) we drove the length of the field and scored, and from that point on I felt like we wore them out and finished like we wanted to.”

The Cardinals had to earn every score, as their average starting field position after the initial drive was their own 29-yard line. But strong special teams play by Gentry could only slow Farmington down, not stop it.

The Cardinal defense was just as robust, yielding less than a yard per carry and a stingy 38 yards of net offense. Farmington controlled the line of scrimmage and forced three turnovers in the Homecoming rout.

But Gentry faced an uphill battle even before the opening kickoff. The Pioneers were without a firstteam halfback, linebacker and multiple linemen.

“When you’ve got four or five starters out, it’s hard to play ball. I don’t want to make excuses, but when you don’t have any depth to start with it really has an impact,” Gentry coach Brian Little said. “ It’s demoralizing, and we felt like if we had been healthy we could give them a much better fight."

The Pioneers’ best chance at pay dirt came in the third quarter with a 30-yard jump ball at the goal line, but Cardinal defender Jacob Naylor wrestled it away from the receiver for the pick. Six plays later Martin dashed 57 yards to put Farmingtonahead 28-0, in the process out-gaining Gentry’s entire offensive output with one footrace to the end zone.

“They’re a good team, they took advantage of the opportunity, and you see what the outcome is,” Little said.

Prairie Grove travels to Farmington this week, while Gentry will vie for its first win at home against undefeated Gravette.

Sports, Pages 9 on 09/28/2011