It was only a week ago that Farmington, ranked No. 7 in Class 5A, turned the ball over six times in a 28-3 loss at Chanhassen.

But looking at the field on Friday night against Holy Angels, the Tigers’ lone loss this season seemed a distant memory.

Farmington scored on its first six possessions, and its defense held the sputtering Stars in check for an impressive 41-28 victory at home.

The win helped the Tigers clinch at least a share of the Missota Conference title.

“Our kids were just really focused, and they just needed to come out and play football and not worry about everything that happened last week,” Farmington head coach Mark Froehling said.

“That’s what they did.”

Farmington quarterback Darren Beenken carried the offense early. The Tigers (6-1, 5-1) played without their leading rusher, senior Athen Ashton, who tore an anterior cruciate ligament in last week’s loss.

Beenken scored Farmington’s first touchdown on a 12-yard scramble. He finished the night 8-for-11 passing for 128 yards. He also rushed for 73 yards.

“This was huge for us to show that we were still the team to beat [in our conference] and get us going for the rest of the season,” Beenken said.

“We had some bad injuries and we didn’t have Athen, but we had a lot of guys step up.”

Junior Derek Klotter, who filled in for Ashton at running back, had 140 yards rushing to go with two touchdowns.
The turning point, though, came on a pass from Farmington junior wideout Jordan DeCroock.

The Stars had just cut the Tigers’ lead to 17-10 late in the second quarter. Farmington handed off to DeCroock on third-and-11 from the Tigers 43. Rolling to his right, DeCroock pulled up and threw a dart down the right sideline to Johnny Dittman, who went untouched for the 57-yard score.

The game was never in doubt again.

The Stars did, however, find a little rhythm in the fourth quarter.

Quarterback Sam Keis threw three touchdown passes to Jordan Dembley, and he finished the night 14-for-24 for 240 yards with four touchdowns.