- Farmington overcame a tough start to beat Fremont 24-17 on Thursday.
- Tanner Nielsen's 37-yard touchdown and strong defense sealed the fourth-quarter comeback.
- Farmington improved to 3-4; Fremont missed key players Salesi Moa and Cade Hadley.
PLAIN CITY — Farmington had lost its last three games, two of which by single digits — including last week's Region 1 opener against Weber.
This week presented a whole host of additional challenges: a short week of practice before Thursday's televised non-region game at a one-loss Fremont, and rival Davis lurking on the schedule in a week's time.
The Phoenix trailed most of the night, but rallied for a fourth-quarter comeback to beat Fremont 24-17 and to improve to 3-4.
"It was a short week, we came in and we knew what we had to do. We knew that this game, if we win it, it'd turn the momentum around," Farmington quarterback Will Peterson said. "Everyone was dialed in with the short week. I feel like with a short week, I feel like we had a better week of practice even with the long week."
Tanner Nielsen caught a go-ahead 37-yard touchdown pass from Kava Fiefia with 4:43 left in the game, sandwiched between consecutive fourth-down stops by the Farmington defense.
Earlier in the fourth, Fiefia caught Peterson's 18-yard touchdown throw that tied the game at 17-17.
"(The offensive) line blocked great, everyone did well, receivers did well, it was awesome," Peterson said.
The Silverwolves were without Tennessee commit receiver/safety Salesi Moa due to a targeting penalty picked up against Northridge, and leading running back Cade Hadley due to an injury.
Fremont still took a 3-0 lead on Cam Graves' 39-yard field goal in the first quarter, but early signs showed they missed their key offensive players in some areas.
Miscues dragged Farmington down early. Farmington was flagged for a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct call due to some sort of equipment violation, which set the offense back for a third-and-21.
On the next drive, the snap shot under Fiefia, resulting in a 20-yard loss on third-and-2. Later, a bad snap on a long third down sent a play into chaos, eventually resulting in a fourth down.
Despite all of that, Farmington kept it close. Fiefia ran for a 1-yard touchdown out of the Wildcat formation to put the Phoenix up 7-3, following the defense's fourth-down stop that gave Farmington the ball at the Silverwolves' 32-yard line.
Fremont quarterback Manase Tuatagloa threw a contested 10-yard touchdown pass to Slade Parker to give the Silverwolves a 10-7 halftime lead.
That TD pass came at the end of a 14-play, 80-yard drive where Fremont converted two third downs and a fourth down. Farmington's Jaxon Beynon hit a 22-yard field goal to tie the score at 10 in the third quarter, before Tuatagaloa finished off another long drive with a 5-yard TD run.
After that, the fourth quarter was all Farmington.
"Fremont's a good team, but we were doing stupid stuff, shooting ourselves in the foot. And then later on after halftime, everyone came out and we knew we could win this game, everyone was confident and we just put them to bed," Peterson said.
Farmington running back Drew Love's two previous games against Weber County schools this season, Roy and Weber, saw him rack up 32 carries, 297 yards and all four of his season rushing touchdowns to date.
The four games against everyone else: 45 carries, 88 yards.
Thursday night, according to unofficial tallies: 19 carries, 91 yards, four catches, 28 yards. Most of that came in the second half.
Next up, Fremont heads to Box Elder for a big Region 5 showdown, while Farmington hosts Davis in a heated rivalry game that could play a big part in who wins Region 1.
