The Farmington defense spent too much time on the field and the new spread offense suffered some growing pains as Hudson, Wis. defeated the Tigers 30-13 in the season opener Sept. 3 at Tiger Stadium."There were some positives to take away from this game," Farmington coach Mark Froehling said. "I thought the hitting on defense was good at times and we had some kids perform well in their first varsity game. It was tough going up against an option offense in the first game and they (Hudson) already had a game under their belt. We learned a lot about where we are and what things we need to work on next week."
The Raiders dominated play in the opening half but led just 10-7 at intermission thanks to a couple of big Farmington plays.
First, C.J. Record recovered a fumble inside his own three-yard line. A series later, sophomore quarterback Darren Beenken connected with senior wideout Dayne Eich (pictured above) on a 74-yard pass play to set up Beenken's one-yard touchdown with just seconds remaining in the half.
Hudson took the second half kickoff and looked headed for the north end zone when Tyler Grubb scooped up yet another fumble and outraced the entire Hudson team for a 65-yard touchdown. Unfortunately, that would be end of the Farmington highlights on opening night.
Hudson controlled the clock and the statistics, finishing with 263 yards rushing and 95 passing for 358 total yards. The Tigers, meanwhile, gained 166 yards passing and -11 rushing for a net of 155 yards. Farmington gained just five first downs in the contest.
Beenken had a solid game in his first varsity start, completing eight of 15 throws for 166 yards and scoring the only offensive touchdown.
"Darren did a nice job," Froehling said. "He was poised and he didn't get rattled under pressure."
Eich led the receivers with three catches for 125 yards. Alex Chadwick caught two balls for 37 yards.
Eric McWright had eight tackles and Blake Weinand notched seven to lead a defense that spent much of the night on the field.
The Tigers will be looking to clean things up this week as they prepare to open Missota Conference play against Red Wing Friday, Sept. 10, at Tiger Stadium. The Wingers snapped a 22-game losing streak with a season-opening 19-0 win over Austin.
