Flat Tigers share Missota championship

Derek Klotter second straight 100-yard rushing night (file photo by Jim Lindquist)

Farmington held its destiny in its hands heading into Wednesday's regular season finale at Shakopee. A win meant outright possession of the 2012 Missota Conference championship; a loss a share of the crown with any or all of three other teams.

At the end of the day, the Tigers had to settle for a piece of the crown after a disappointing 35-7 loss to the Sabers. Farmington, Holy Angels and Chanhassen all finished the conference season with 5-2 records.

"Unfortunately we were not able to accomplish our goals," coach Mark Froehling said . "A list of reasons will only look like excuses for the loss, but I did think that our energy was low. Match-up problems contributed to some of our difficulties."

The trouble started on the game's first possession when Shakopee marched 80 yards in 11 plays to take a quick 7-0 lead.

While the Farmington offense sputtered most of the opening half, the Sabers moved the ball at will. The Tigers managed just three first downs in the half and compounded their problems with an untimely interception that gave the Sabers a short field.

It came on the heels of the lone Tiger highlight of the half when the overworked defense put together a goal line stand to stop Shakopee on fourth down at the one-yard line.

From the Farmington 37 The Sabers needed just six plays to find the end zone again to build a 14-0 halftime lead.

"We needed to control the ball more and sustain drives," Froehling said  "We did some good things (in the second half) but really only moved the ball between 20's."

The Tigers showed a little spark on their first drive of the second half but the march died at the Saber 43 where a short punt once again put Shakopee in business. This time it took six plays for the home team to hit pay dirt and push the lead to three touchdowns.

Shakopee made it 28-0 a couple of minutes later after holding the visitors to minus yardage on their next possession. The scoring drive covered 45 yards and took just five plays.

C Wynings 4 catches for 31 yards (file photo by Jim Lindquist)

Down four scores heading into the fourth period, the Tigers put together their best drive of the night but once again it stalled, this time when Derek Klotter came up inches short on a fourth-and-two at the Shakopee 29.

What wind remained in the Tiger sails disappeared with the measurement and nine plays later the Sabers were back on the board.

To their credit, the Tigers put together a scoring drive before time expired. Johnny Dittman set the table with a kickoff return and Noah Kary did the scoring honors on a six-yard run.

Farmington finished the night with just 186 yards of total offense, their second lowest total of the season. Shakopee, meanwhile piled up 397 yards, 293 of that number on the ground.

Klotter picked up 102 yards on 19 carries in his second varsity start. Beenken completed seven of 15 passes for just 52 yards. Tiger end CJ Wynings caught four of them for 31 yards.

Mason Auge kept his spot atop the Farmington tackling charts with 8.5 stops. Nick Ruark and Kevin Clifton had 7.5 apiece and Eli Rockett added 5.5. Johns LeBlond returned from a hip injury and had five stops, including the only Tiger sack.

John LeBlond 5 tackles and a quarterback sack (file photo by Jim Lindquist)

The loss hurt more than in the final conference standings. It also dropped the Tigers to No. 2 in Section 3AAAAA rankings behind Apple Valley.

Farmington will still draw a bye for next Tuesday's opening round before playing the Minneapolis Southwest (7-1)-Bloomington Jefferson (0-8) winner Saturday at Tiger Stadium. The semifinal winners meet Friday, November 2, at the higher-seed.

"Season one is over and we have much to be proud of with a conference championship, a two-seed in the section with a bye and a home game," Froehling said

"Season two starts now. The bye will help us get healthy so we can play at full strength as we go into section play."