Big second half carries Tigers

Godfrey Mpetey 4.5 tackles, fumble recovery (photo by Jim Lindquist)

In what has become an early season trend the Tigers followed up a sluggish first half with a dominating second and a sold victory, this one a 37-7 Missota Conference win Friday night at Red Wing.

The victory was the third straight for unbeaten Farmington now tied for the league lead with Chaska with a perfect 2-0 mark.

The one-sided final score was anything but after the first two periods which saw the upstart Wingers total more yards and more first downs than their guests. The Tigers led just 14-7 at the break.

"It's not that we aren't aware of our getting off to a slow start," Tiger coach Mark Froehling said. "Coming out with better energy and better execution was our focus all week in practice.

Reid Taubenheim, FG, 4 PAT's (photo by J. Lindquist)

"It wasn't that we were terrible or anything. We did some great things in the first half but we didn't do them with any consistency....That's really where we are after three games. Doing a lot of good things but not on a consistent basis. We have to do that for a complete game, especially with the good teams we will be playing down the road."

Tyler VanWinkle threw touchdown passes to Jordan DeCroock for six yards and Mac Bassett for 15 to account for the Farmington first half scoring.

The Tiger team that took the field the second half played with a different resolve, using the bruising offensive line play of center Josh Patterson, guards Ryan Gowen and Edwin Martinez, tackles Alex Robinson and Jake Roepke and tight end CJ Wynings to pave the way for the slashing runs of Noah Kary.

Kevin Clifton 6.5 tackles (photo by J. Lindquist)

Kary got the call the first five plays of the second half, gaining 47 yards and setting up a 12-yard touchdown dash by Nick Buhta who scored on his first varsity carry.

Reid Taubenhein's booming 32-yard field goal ended the next Tiger drive late in the third period and VanWinkle's 15-yard touchdown toss to Wynings on the first play of the final period upped the visitors' lead to 30-7.

While the offense was hitting on all cylinders the Tiger defense was shutting down the Winger no-huddle offense and gaining good field position. Farmington allowed the Wingers fewer than 100 yards of total offense in the second half.

The Farmington reserves saw much of the playing time in the final period and the second offensive unit made its mark with quarterback AJ Croucher engineering a scoring drive set up by Godfrey Mpetey's fumble recovery. Senior tailback Spencer Kabran did most of the legwork on the drive and scored the touchdown on a three-yard run.

Kary had a career night running the ball, picking up 155 yards on 28 carries. The Tigers finished with a season-high 259 yards rushing.

VanWinkle connected on 14 of 26 passes for 121 yards and three touchdowns. Bassett had five catches for 41 yards, DeCroock five for 41 and Wynings four for 44.

Mason Auge topped the Tiger tackling charts with nine. Kevin Clifton totaled 6.5, John LeBlond five and Mpetey had 4.5 to go with his fumble recovery.

Next week the Tigers entertain New Prague for homecoming as Froehling and his team continue to work on bringing more energy and focus for an entire game.

"We as coaches and our players are never satisfied," Froehling said, "and that's the way it should be. We'll be doing everything we can to improve every game. I think we are on the right road to do that."