Daily’s big night powers Alma to 56-35 win over Farmington
Kevin Taylor
Alma Schools
Alma quarterback Jackson Daily went for a run Friday night. When his night was over, he had almost run for a mile.
Daily ran for a school-record 320 yards and six touchdowns - also a record - as Alma ran away from Farmington, 56-35, for its fourth consecutive victory.
A win over Pea Ridge this Friday would give the team its first five-game win streak since 2016.
For those into numbers, that's 0.181818 miles worth of running and more than 959.99904 steps.
An exhausted Daily spoke on behalf of his offensive line, and receivers, who helped the Airedales carve out a school-record 650 total yards.
Daily broke Logan Chronister's four-year-old rushing mark (281) with a 90-yard jaunt to put him at 300 yards for the game. He could have at least three more yards, and another touchdown, had coach Rusty Bush not called for a 'victory formation' on the game's final play.
Daily’s the first Airedale in school history to top 300 yards, and the 10th overall to have 200 or more yards in a game.
"My line did great all night, and the receivers even blocked great, which is why I had those long runs because Drake (Stogsdill, Samuel Schlegel, and (Brayden) Polecat ... they all blocked their guy and I was able to take it to the house," Daily said. "They've (offensive line) had some tough times this year; I'm just so proud of those guys."
Through five games, Daily has 926 yards rushing and 14 touchdowns. Dallas Smith set the single-season rushing mark (1,457 yards) back in 2002.
Smith had broken Daily’s late grandfather, Marvin Daily’s 32-year-old school record single-season rushing mark of 1,306 set in 1970.
Daily wasn't the only Airedale with big nights against Farmington. Carlos Gonzalez ran for a career-high 176 yards, and Schlegel caught six passes for 134 yards.
Two huge plays contributed to Alma's win as well, including Daily's 2-yard TD throw to Stogsdill who caught the ball and momentarily had the wind knocked out of him right before the half.
"When I brought that ball in, straight to the stomach, it knocked the breath out of me," Stogsdill said. "The significance of the win ... it was everything we wanted. We wanted to win this game, and it was a, 'We had to win this game' sort of thing.
"It's going to give us the confidence to keep pushing through the conference."
"We were kind of in a tough spot right before half," Daily said. "He's (Stogsill) one of my best dudes so I just gave him a chance to make a play."
Jackson scored three times in the first half on runs of 5, 4 and 12 yards. He opened the third quarter with a 76-yard bust on the first play of the second half.
Leading 35-21, Ashton Chahnouvong helped extend the lead with a sensational 51-yard interception return for a score, the team's fourth defensive touchdown in four games.
Bush and offensive coordinator coach Chris Smith couldn't say enough good things about Alma's somewhat makeshift offensive line.
Due to a hand injury, offensive line coach Eric Marsh flipped starting center Zach Millsap and Jayden Parker, with Parker taking over at center and Millsap moving to right tackle. Right guard Joey Lynn, making his second career start, had a solid night.
The same was true of the left guard, Richard Taylor, and the left tackle, Easton Daily.
"Parker, we moved to center because on one leg practically, and Zach out to tackle, and he hasn't even played tackle," Bush said. "Joey Lynn and Easton Daily, two sophomores starting for us, and Richard Taylor give us a look, and Eric Johnson and Jackson Mitchell giving us a look. Coach Marsh and Coach Smith, we kept working them all week. We weren't sure what the recipe and mix was going to be if someone got hurt or got tired, but every man had to step up."
"Parker was banged up a little bit, so we moved him to center, which was less movement for him," Smith said. "We knew that's where we were going to struggle. But I told the kids if they believed in the plan that we would have a big night; all the coaches thought so.
"But Jackson Daily; he's a senior quarterback who put us on his shoulders and carried us to victory.