Lakeville North survived a first half Farmington threat and brutal wind conditions to defeat the Tigers 39-14 in a Section 1AAAAA quarterfinal game played Wednesday night, Oct. 26, in Lakeville.
The highlight of the night for the visitors was another quality performance by senior tailback CJ Record who gained an unofficial 123 yards on 23 carries and scored a pair of touchdowns on 14 and 48-yard runs. The yardage pushed Record past the 1000-yard mark (1006) for the season.
The loss closed the season for Farmington which finished 1-8, the first time since 1982 the Tigers have posted just one victory.
The 40-mile per hour wind gusts played havoc with both teams over the first 20 minutes of the opening half that featured among other things: a -12 yard kickoff; a two-yard punt; a kickoff that sailed through the uprights; runaway officials' caps flying around the field like Frisbees and a pass reception by an unsuspecting line judge.
Through all of that the Tigers trailed just 7-6 with fewer than four minutes to go before halftime thanks to a 14-yard touchdown run by Record.
But from that point forward North lived up to its second-seed ranking. The Panthers scored 10 points in the final 3:25 of the half and then scored again on the first possession of the second to build a commanding 24-6 lead.
North dominated play on both sides of the ball in the third period, scoring two touchdowns and a safety while holding the Tigers to a net of 10 yards and one first down on three possessions.
"I thought our special teams did a good job of keeping us in the game in the first half," Tiger coach Mark Froehling said. "But defensively I didn't think we tackled very well and offensively, we just couldn't get our inside running game going. When we don't do those things, we are going to have problems."
After falling behind 33-6, the visitors got back on the board in the final period when Record skirted left end and outran the Panther secondary on a 52-yard scoring jaunt. Earlier in that drive a 60-yard scoring run by Tyler Grubb was wiped out by an illegal block penalty.
Panther reserves scored the final touchdown on an 80-yard march late in the final period.
Record's performance made him the first Farmington runner to pass the 1000-yard barrier in a season since Derek Waldbillig gained 1196 in 2008. The rest of the offense struggled, however, picking up fewer than 60 yards.
Defensively, Blake Weinand led the way with seven tackles. Nathan Graham finished with six and Sebren Baer, Eric McWright and Ryan Schoenning each chipped in with five. Grubb came up with a fumble recovery for the Tigers.
