By Bill Sorrell
Special to the Express
Before and after the game, Arlington Head Coach Adam Sykes had a challenge for his football team.
Before it, he told the Tigers they had to start fast and not wait on something to happen. After it, he told them to avoid social media.
Playing archrival Bartlett at 7 p.m. Friday in Bartlett, there would be problems for any player, providing locker room bulletin board material because of social media posts.
After the Tigers toppled Brighton 42-7 on Friday in Brighton, Sykes said, “I preach that every week. Stay off social media.”
With the improved Panthers at 4-3 (1-1 in Region 7-6A), they are the first of the “biggest three games of the season coming up,” said Sykes.
“If you can’t get up for that game you need to hang your stuff in the locker room and not come back on Monday. I told them if I have to fire them up for that game, I don’t need to be the coach here and they shouldn’t be players here because it is a rivalry. That is why you play football, to play rivalries.”
The Tigers (5-2) took to heart Sykes’ words in the opening seconds against Brighton.
The first of three Cardinal sins, a fumbled kickoff, led to a 16-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Zach Baker to Cannon Linebaugh with 10:09 left in in the first quarter.
A fumbled pass reception and then an 18-yard touchdown run by Mitchell Faulkner made it 14-0 one minute later after he ran the two-point conversion.
Faulkner, who also plays linebacker, leapt sky-high for an interception that set up John Davis’ 21-yard touchdown run with 10:55 left in the second quarter, and it was 21-0.
“After they fumbled the opening kickoff it was on,” said Sykes. “The guys were in the right position to make the play. We had to get some good things going early and our guys did that. Scoring real quick off the turnover and getting the ball back, then scoring again, helps regardless of who you are playing.”
Brighton quarterback Nick Johnson said, “Turnovers killed us at the beginning, and you are playing from behind the whole time. You can’t come out slow like that. You have to come out firing on all cylinders, and we didn’t tonight. It’s hard to win games. You shouldn’t let it set the tone for your team, but momentum is one of the biggest parts of football. If they have all the momentum like they did at the beginning, it is hard to turn it back in your favor. You have to get up early and build on it. There is no other choice — you can’t let yourself get down. If you get down, it is going to be even worse.”
Said Brighton offensive left tackle Jackson Kelley, “They knocked us off our feet at the very beginning. Coming out, it was a struggle. Coming out in a hole is extremely difficult for any team.”
The “heck” of a win as Sykes told his team afterwards was fueled by Faulkner’s season-high three touchdowns and Baker’s 167 passing yards, including two touchdown passes to Linebaugh, defense that held the Cardinals to 11 yards rushing.
“A lot of guys played well. I told them I was proud of them. We knew tonight coming in that we had to be multidimensional,” said Sykes. “We had to get our run-pass. Mitchell is a big part of our offense. He is a load. He is a three-year starter. He was doing this as a sophomore at 175 pounds. Now he is 205 and gained 30 pounds of muscle. He is a great player on both sides of the ball. Typically as he plays we go.”
Baker said, “Mitchell’s game is very sharp and productive. He pays close attention to every detail and tries to improve as best he can. He is a very big leader and we know we can trust him with anything.”
With 4.5 40 speed, Faulkner rushed for 133 yards on 27 carries, averaging 4.9 yards per carry.
“What clicked for me was the run game. Without my line I wouldn’t have done what I did. They helped me by opening the hole so I could get all those rushing yards,” he said.
Kelley said, “I think he was tough. He has power to break tackles. If our defense had wrapped up a little better and had more of a powerful line, I don’t think he would have got as far but he is a powerful runner, and he impressed me.”
The Tigers got 356 yards total offense with 189 rushing, 167 passing. Brighton had 176 yards total offense with Johnson completing 15 of 25 passes for 165 yards.
Arlington’s quick touchdowns provided the momentum that proved hard for Brighton (2-5) to overcome.
“You can’t afford to turn the ball over three times against a team like Arlington. That was disappointing, but we have to keep battling in the midst of adversity. If things go wrong you have to step up and play,” said Brighton Head Coach Michael David.
A senior, Johnson said, “I saw a lot of fight. We have had some tough losses, but there is not a player on our sideline who ever quits. That goes a long way whether you are winning or losing, on the field or off. That is special.”
Kelley, a senior who is 6-3, 240, said the Cardinals can create comebacks.
“Knowing we have become a second-half team as much as I dislike that I’d rather come out at the beginning of the game. I know how many comebacks we are able to make. I knew we could come out and hit them in the mouth, and we did that second half.”
In the first half, the Tigers recovered the muffed kickoff at the Brighton 27. Their first play from scrimmage was Baker’s 7-yard pass to Dylan Keith. From the 15, Baker hit Linebaugh for Linebaugh’s fifth touchdown of the season.
Johnson threw a pass to Michael Armour, who fumbled it at the Tigers’ 41. From there Baker hit Linebaugh with a 26-yard pass, and then Faulkner followed up with a 16-yard touchdown run and a two-point conversion for a 14-0 lead.
On the Tigers’ 40, Faulkner intercepted Johnson’s pass with 2:44 left in the first quarter. An excellent run by Baker went for 10 yards and a first down at the Brighton 49. An 18-yard sprint by Faulkner got a first down and Davis ran for the third touchdown from 21 yards out. Conner Ford kicked the extra point to make it 21-0. There was 10:55 left in the first half.
Baker’s 20-yard touchdown pass to Linebaugh and Ford’s PAT put the Tigers up 28-0 at halftime.
“It’s tough to give them a short field like that so many times,” said David. “That puts them in too good of a position. I liked our second half play. I thought we played hard. That is what you want, to continue to fight and play hard.”
In the third quarter the Cardinals would drive the deepest into Tiger territory they had all night. From his 43, Johnson threw a 38-yard pass to Tyler Burnett to the Tigers’ 16. Joe Williamson ran to the 12. A pass interference penalty on Arlington moved the ball to the 6. Williamson ran to the 5 before Arlington made a gigantic defensive stand, pushing them back. An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the Cardinals put them at their 30 with 6:43 left.
Johnson’s fourth-and-30 pass fell incomplete.
David said, “It kept us out of the end zone. We score there and you never know. I thought we were moving the ball pretty decent. To not get in at that point hurt us.”
Said Sykes, “That was a big stand. The guy (Burnett) made a great catch and they go first and goal from the 5. We had three big plays, and fourth down we stopped them. These are the kind of things you need to see as you go farther into the season. You have to see guys, whether it’s offense or defense, make big plays in big-time situations. They bent a little but didn’t break in that situation.”
Johnson said, “We proved we could move the ball on them. We moved it really well. We knew we could do that the rest of the game. Our sideline stayed very up.”
Taking advantage of another Cardinals turnover, Arlington recovered a fumble at the Brighton 44. A 29-yard pass from Baker to Keith got to the 15 and Baker’s pass to James got to the 5. Faulkner scored from there and with Ford’s PAT it was 35-0 with 2:05 left in the third. The clock began to run nonstop.
“It is more (pressure) than you think. Wow, this far ahead we have caused this running block. It’s more a kick in the behind to get things moving,” said Kelley. “When we are down 35-0 you don’t fight for yourself, you fight for the player next to you, the ones behind you and in front of you. If all 11 are not playing in unison it’s not going to work out. I’m proud of our guys for staying in as long as they did and for fighting in that fourth quarter.”
The Cardinals would begin a 78-yard touchdown drive. Johnson threw first down passes to Ande Blackthunder, Mitchell Armour, Burnett, Bryce Chaco that went to the Arlington 6. Joe Williamson scored with 7:37 left in the fourth. Ethan Starnes’ 19th PAT of the season out of 20 attempts made it 35-7.
A 55-yard drive capped off Arlington’s seven touchdown game. Six straight runs by Faulkner zenithed in a 1-yard touchdown with 1:15 left. Ford kicked it to 42-7.
“We can be a great team. I hope you believe in yourselves,” Sykes told his players afterward. “These things are not easy. You better enjoy this. The guys are getting better and better. They are playing for each other. Guys know, if they are on the field, you can’t let that guy beside you down.
“Brighton has a very big offensive line and defensive line. We preached all week that we couldn’t get pushed around. We couldn’t play them heads up because they were so big they would swallow us. We try to block man-to-man, but they have got some big guys inside who are hard to move. We found some runs that we liked, and we found some intermediate passes we thought we could hit and we did.”
Baker called Johnson a “definite weapon. His arm is very strong. He showed a lot of poise in tough situations. You can tell he has some game experience and knows how to lead.”
Johnson (6-1, 215) entered the game completing 58 of 116 passes for 8 touchdowns. Last season he passed for more than 2,000 yards and 20 touchdowns.
In his first year as head coach after being offensive coordinator for four seasons, David said, “Nick does a great job running the offense. He throws the ball extremely well. We try to throw it quite a bit.”
Johnson, who has a 3.9 grade-point average and is in the Top 25 in his class, is “a big kid with a good arm. He has some play makers around him. He is a good player,” said Sykes.
A senior, Burnett had 7 receptions for 101 yards.
“He’s always there. He seems to always be open. He is a great play maker. I think all of our receivers are great play makers. Our O-line protected me very well. Our receivers caught the ball well,” said Johnson.
Armour finished with 2 receptions for 23 yards, Blackthunder 3 for 21, Emmanuel Thurman 1 for 13 and Chaco 2 for 7.
Dyland led Tiger receivers with 69 yards on 4 receptions. Linebaugh had 6 receptions for 67 yards, James 1 for 25. Baker threw one pass in a 51-6 win over Sheffield the previous week.
“We didn’t need to pass the ball that much last week,” said Sykes.
Baker said that Linebaugh played a big role on offense.
“We didn’t change anything we’ve been doing the past six weeks. I had a good passing night, and Cannon caught a lot of really tough throws,” said Baker. “Me and my receivers have really focused on our passing game and staying in the pocket and making big throws. All 22 of our guys were play makers on offense and defense. We all played together and made plays and kept the momentum rolling on both sides of the ball. It was a big team win. Nobody was worried about personal stats.”
While the Tigers try to set the tone with the run, they have improved doing that by crowding the box. That gives time for Baker to “take some shots with our receivers,” said Sykes.
It was a great game, said Faulkner, who is running with authority like the Wake Forest freshman running back Kenny Walker did when he was at Arlington. (The Demon Deacons are 5-0 and ranked 19th in the Associated Press poll.)
“It was team, not just one player doing everything. Everybody was a factor,” said Faulkner, adding his confidence comes from within. “If I don’t have confidence within myself, who will?”
Johnson said, “They had a very good offensive scheme. They moved in different formations and run the ball well. They threw when they needed to. It was a well-rounded offensive game.”
Defensively, the Tigers were sparked by Jalen Thomas, who had 7 tackles (5 solos), Jake Golday 6 (5 assists), Braxton Tompkins 4, C.J. James 4, Cyrus Sin-Berry 5 (2 assists), Julian Maxwell 3, and Faulkner 3 (2 assists). Thomas had 3 tackles for a loss for 8 yards. Glover Devouncey, Tompkins and James each recovered fumbles.
The Cardinals, who are 1-2 in Region 8-5A, have successive Region games against Southwind, Ridgeway and Overton.
“They are very winnable as long as each player does his job and doesn’t play for himself,” said Kelley, whose favorite Bible verse is Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”
After Bartlett, Arlington plays Region opponents Collierville and Cordova.
“We build on every win because we carry it over into the next week of practice,” said Baker.
Said Sykes, “We have to be playing our best football by Week 10.”
