Prep football: Fremont undone by mistakes, Farmington 4th-quarter rally
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- Farmington’s Kava Fiefia, right, leans forward for extra yards as Fremont’s Jak Masters (32) and Aisa Tuatagaloa, bottom, haul him down on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025, in Plain City.
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- Farmington’s Kava Fiefia (0) tracks down a loose ball after a high snap as Fremont’s Mathis Bell (6) closes in on a tackle-for-loss on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025, in Plain City.
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- Fremont’s Ryker Shepherd lines up for a play against Farmington on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025, in Plain City.
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- Fremont High receiver Slade Parker (2) tries to fight off Farmington tackler Tanner Nielsen (5) on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025, in Plain City.
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- Fremont’s Manase Tuatagaloa lets a pass fly in a game against Farmington on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025, in Plain City.
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- Fremont’s Taylor Graham (14) carries the football with Farmington’s Emmett Bowcut (10) pursuing on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025, in Plain City.
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- Farmington’s Drew Love (2) hauls the football against a tackle attempt from Fremont’s KenDen Green (27) on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025, in Plain City.
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- Fremont’s Cam Graves steps into a kick in a game against Farmington on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025, in Plain City.
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- Fremont High’s Taylor Graham carries the football against Farmington on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025, in Plain City.
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- Fremont High’s football team lines up for the national anthem before a game against Farmington on Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025, in Plain City.
PLAIN CITY — There is something about Farmington High football that Fremont can’t figure out.
Thursday night, the Silverwolves fell 24-17 to their teal-and-white kryptonite, now in different regions. Fremont is now 1-5 against Farmington, including last year’s road loss that saw the Phoenix and Silverwolves share the Region 1 title.
Thursday saw the Phoenix (3-4) outscore Fremont 14-0 in the fourth quarter and make two fourth-down stops in the final minutes.
Fremont (5-2) didn’t have leading receiver Salesi Moa (targeting penalty suspension) and rusher Cade Hadley (injury) for the game, which certainly complicated things.
But Silverwolves head coach Nate Tuatagloa said Fremont’s problems went a little deeper Thursday.
“I think we felt like we could just show up and do whatever we wanted to; we didn’t execute nothing. Every play, we had a missed assignment somewhere and it just showed,” Tuatagaloa said. “Good on Farmington, man, they played hard, did all their stuff and did what they were supposed to do.”
Fremont’s Cam Graves started the scoring with a 39-yard field goal in the first quarter. The 3-0 lead may not have seemed significant, except that it was the Silverwolves’ first made field goal of the season after four attempts.
Defensively, the Silverwolves got stops aided by Farmington errors: an unsportsmanlike conduct call for a uniform violation, a bad snap that resulted in a 20-yard loss on third down, and another bad snap on a third down that threw the Phoenix into disarray.
Still, Fremont couldn’t take full advantage. After the Silverwolves were stopped on fourth down in their own territory, Farmington’s Kava Fiefia made them pay with a short touchdown run out of the Wildcat formation to put the Phoenix ahead 7-3.
Fremont quarterback Manase Tuatagaloa found Slade Parker in the near corner of the end zone for a 10-yard touchdown pass to end a 14-play, 80-yard drive, giving the Silverwolves a 10-7 halftime lead.
But Fremont got cute in the second half. The Silverwolves gave the ball away when Westin Stewart picked off Calvin Cooper’s pass on a trick play, and Farmington’s Jaxon Beynon converted a short field goal to tie the game at 10 midway through the third quarter.
The Silverwolves answered, putting together another long drive (11 plays and 66 yards), ending with a Manase Tuatagaloa TD run.
Earlier in the drive, Manase Tuatagaloa delivered an on-the-run, third-down strike to Dean Hall for 24 yards to the Farmington 21-yard line. A couple plays later, the QB called his number and ran in for a 17-10 lead.
Farmington responded with a seven-play, 81-yard drive (helped by 25 Fremont penalty yards) where Will Peterson found Fiefia for a contested, 18-yard TD throw to tie the game at 17.
A Fremont punt pinned the Phoenix at its own 1-yard line, only for running back Drew Love to dash out for 24 yards to get Farmington out of jail. The Phoenix punted, then stopped Fremont on fourth down on the next drive.
“I just think that when we’re beating teams and we’re making a lot of mistakes, even though we run over it in practice, our kids tend to not take it as serious as something like this. I’m hoping this will catapult us now into — now they can see what we’re talking about,” Nate Tuatagaloa said.
The Silverwolves gave up the go-ahead TD — a 37-yard TD pass from Fiefia out of the Wildcat to Tanner Nielsen — with 4:43 left.
Fremont’s last chance came on fourth down on the next drive at their own 26: dropped pass.
