— By Brendan Giusti —
The Daily Times
KIRTLAND — The Farmington Scorpions culminated their best season in years Friday with a win at Kirtland Central.
FHS stung the Broncos early, winning 17-7 and all but guaranteeing the team of its first playoff berth since 2005.
Farmington (6-4, 2-1 District 1-4A) turned the ball over on downs at the Kirtland 13-yard line with 1:45 left in the first quarter. Kirtland (3-7, 0-3) drove several minutes, into the second quarter, before punting with more than 11 minutes left in the first half.
Farmington started the drive that broke open a scoreless game on its own 41-yard line with 8:25 left.
Tyler Hough, a candidate for District Player of the Year, capped it with a touchdown run.
Thomas Thijs returned the ensuing kickoff to the Farmington 39 yard line, but the Broncos squandered good field position with a series of penalties and runs that got stopped short. The drive ended with a missed field goal attempt less than seven minutes before halftime.
Farmington's offense capitalized, ramming the ball into the end zone a second time. Daniel Lacey connected with Alec Berve with 21 seconds remaining in the half, putting Farmington up by two touchdowns.
The never relinquished the lead.
FHS received the kickoff to start the second half and the offense ran almost the length of the field before KC's defense stiffened, stopping the Scorps near the goal line.
Avery Killifer made a short field goal
Kirtland wasn't finished.
Patrick Aspaas ran the kickoff back to Kirtland's 35-yard line and the Broncos drove down the field with a series of passes before quarterback Ryder Hathaway connected with Easton Sherwood on a 6-yard pass in the end zone with 3:31 left in the quarter. The extra point made it 17-7 with more than 15 minutes left to play.
Both squads made failed attempts during the fourth quarter as drives stalled.
Penalties took their toll on Kirtland's comeback attempt, erasing yards as the team tried to drive down the field.
"Keep fighting," Broncos coach Tom Adair said to his squad late in the fourth quarter. "Good things can happen. Just keep fighting until the end of the game."
The efforts weren't enough to overcome a 17-point deficit early in the second half.
"We had a chance," Adair said. "Our kids kept fighting."
The win for Farmington wrapped a successful turnaround in coach Gary Bradley's second season at FHS. The Scorps finished 2-8 last year, a four-win improvement that likely will place them in the 4A playoffs when the selection committee announces the field tonight.
"Kirtland's a great team and they played well," Bradley said. "It was just a hard-fought game. I'm glad we came out on top."
FHS hasn't learned their first-round opponent, but Bradley said it's good to be in the postseason.
"We'll be ready to play," he said.
Brendan Giusti: bgiusti@daily-times.com
Farmington 17, Kirtland Central 7
Farmington 0 14 3 0 — 17
Kirtland Central 0 0 7 0 — 7
Records: Farmington 6-4, 2-1 District 1-4A; Kirtland Central 3-7, 0-3 District 1-4A
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