Farmington Embraces Underdog Role in 4A- Region 1

The McDonalds Team of the Week is Farmington, considered to be a middle-of-the-pack team in the 4A this year. But three straight wins to start the season has the Cardinals confident that they can win a conference title and beat the favorites, Prairie Grove and Ozark.

“I honestly do,” said senior linebacker Javier Claudio. “I think our defense is good enough to stop their offense and our offense has the potential to actually beat them. We just got to work on it.”

“Everybody’s putting us down,” said senior receiver Matt Brackett. “So, being the underdog is a good thing. You have nothing to lose. Just go out there and put everything out on the field. If you lose, you’re expected to lose. If you win, it’s an upset. You don’t have anything to lose, so expect to win.”

That’s Farmington footballs motto “expect to win”. But if they want to win their conference they know they have a long way to go.

“That’s what championship teams are made of,” said head coach Mike Adams. “They get better each week. We’ve gotten better so far each week.”

Farmington beat Huntsville in a sloppy game in week one, 14-8. Then they posted back-to-back shutouts of West Fork and Paris.

The Cardinals start seven sophomores on this team. That’s way more than any coach would like. But they are encouraged with the young kids’ progress, especially their sophomore quarterback Keaton Austin.

“He’s a perfect example,” said Adams. “First night I think we were five out of 18 passing. Then last week he was 15 out of 21 for 205 yards and three touchdowns. So he has gotten better. He’s getting more confident and that’s hopefully what all those sophomores will do.”

“I think our sophomores are really stepping up,” said Brackett. “It’s just the maturity level mentally. They get to that point where it’s almost unstoppable. We’ve got a lot of big guys who can do a lot of things.”

The Cardinals start league play this Friday at Gentry and then they’re thrown right into the fire next week at conference favorite Prairie Grove.