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FARMINGTON — There might be something brewing in Farmington; at least head coach Daniel Coats sure thinks so.
"My goal is to be at Rice-Eccles fighting against whoever shows up to be there with us," the former BYU tight end turned high school coach said.
Two weeks into the season, there's nothing to say that goal doesn't look realistic, especially after a dominant 24-3 win over Bountiful Friday in KSL.com's Game of the Week.
Farmington has quickly emerged as the Region 1 favorite behind an experienced quarterback and a stifling defense — the latter of which was especially on display against the Redhawks.
The Phoenix allowed just 3 points, had an interception, a fumble recovery for a score and even blocked a punt. It was an impressive effort from a defense that is built more on speed than brute force.
"It's just our communication, our chemistry, we've been playing together since we were like 4 years old — like not 4, but literally like 8 to 10 years old," senior captain linebacker Luke Hansen said. "We've all played together; we have each other's backs, so we just have chemistry."
Farmington used an array of packages to get into the backfield and forced Bountiful into punt after punt. The Redhawks never got comfortable against the swarming Phoenix defense and didn't get on the board until midway through the fourth quarter.
"I want to give credit to our D coordinator. He puts us in the right spot, like he's always calling the right thing," Hansen said. "We're like a smaller team, but we're quick so we get to our spots and we execute it."
In the third quarter, Farmington senior corner Jaxson Eastman picked up a fumble and ran it back 38 yards for a touchdown to make it 17-0. That was the beginning of the end of the game. Up to that point, Bountiful's defense had kept the Redhawks in the game with some opportune stops, but with how Farmington's defense was performing, 17 points was too much to overcome.
"When you have guys that can be on an island and work together, they can do pretty much everything," Coats said. "It makes it amazing as an offensive caller because I know that they have my back."
That meant he wasn't afraid to call for some long balls, especially with a quarterback he trusts.
In the first quarter, junior signal caller Easton Wight found Ben Stucki for a 64-yard touchdown to open up the scoring. Wight later found Adam Stucki for a 20-yard score in the third quarter.
"Easton — I feel like I've had him forever," Coats said. "Eazy E is what I call him because he is the calmest cucumber you'll ever meet, and he's not scared of any situation. As a freshman, he stepped in against Lone Peak and Corner Canyon without batting an eye. So these regular games, he's just living the dream."
It wasn't all perfect for Farmington, though; the Phoenix left plenty of points on the field. In the second quarter, the Phoenix failed to score after getting first-and-goal. Coats opted to go for it on fourth down from the 3-yard line, but Wight's throw was dropped.
The next possession, Farmington's drive stalled out right at the edge of the red zone. The major culprit that time: penalties. It was also the reason Bountiful was able to get into scoring position on its lone field goal of the night.
"It's kind of been a rough start for us this year with penalties," Coats said. "In the first game, we had a ton; I think we had 12 or something like that — some ridiculous number. And then we had way too many here. That's easily a shutout if we don't do those stupid things."
It's only Week 2, so there's plenty of time to clean those things up — and have the season they're hoping to have.
"We're gonna do some things this year here," Coats said.
