12 carries, 63 yards rushing, 1TD
14-25 passing, 182 yards, 1TD
(photo by Jim Lindquist)
The Tigers' modest two-game winning streak came to a screeching halt in a 30-17 Missota Conference loss to New Prague Wednesday night at Tiger Field.
The Trojans bottled up the Farmington running game and used a handful of big plays to end the Tiger regular season with a 3-5 record; 3-4 in conference play. New Prague finished 2-6 overall and 2-5 in the conference.
"We didn't play very good football in most aspects of our game," Tiger coach Mark Froehling said. "We are by no means a dominant enough team to make the mistakes we made tonight and expect to win.
"You can't give up long kickoff returns, drop passes, miss open receivers, miss tackles, and have touchdowns called back by penalties. You have to be able to block at the line of scrimmage and move the football. Some of our weaknesses really showed."
The game was decided in the opening period when the Trojans scored three times on three big plays.
The first came when a pass interception set up a short 26-yard scoring drive. The second followed a 77-yard kickoff return and the third was a 58-yard run from scrimmage.
The only Farmington response was a 72-yard drive capped by a Darren Beenken's 30-yard run and Athen Ashton's two-point conversion run. New Prague led 22-8 after one period.
"We went in the toilet early and we never did get completely out," assistant coach Gary Burr said.
The Tigers did make a move in the third period, first pulling to within 22-14 on an eight-yard touchdown pass from Beenken to Dillon Jones and then scoring an apparent tying touchdown only to be whistled for a holding penalty.
The Trojan defense stiffened; the Tigers had to settle for a short Reid Taubenheim field goal and that was it until another big play, a 76-yard touchdown pass with 10 minutes to play, sealed the deal for the visitors.
The New Prague defense held the Tigers to 119 rushing yards
(photo by Jim Lindquist)
One of the keys for New Prague was limiting the Tigers to just 119 yards rushing. Beenken picked up 63 yards on 12 carries and Ashton 40 yards on 17 tries.
Beenken went over the 1200-yard mark passing for the season with 14 completions in 25 throws for 182 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions.
John Dittman was the leading receiver with four catches for 37 yards. MacKinley Bassett had three for 54 yards and Jones three for 39. Austin Bassett grabbed two for 37 yards.
Drew Hegseth, team-high 11 tackles
(photo by Jim Lindquist)
Linebackers Drew Hegseth and Ryan Schoening topped the Tiger tackling charts with 11 and 10 respectively. Kevin Clifton and Kevin Olund each had seven and Blake Weinand and Alex Chadwick chipped in with five apiece. Schoening also had a fumble recovery for the Tigers.
The loss assured Farmington of the seventh seed in the upcoming Section 1 tournament and set up an opening round match-up at second-seeded Owatonna on Tuesday, Oct. 25.
