It is not often that a one-loss football team gets the chance to avenge that blemish in the same season. Farragut is one that gets that chance tonight.

The Admirals came into their game at Ooltewah on Oct. 17 owners of a 7-0 record and the No. 1 ranking in the Associated Press Class 5A state poll. They left on the short end of a 31-3 result.

The rematch comes in the form of a TSSAA quarterfinal on the same field as last time. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.

Each team is coming in off another rematch against a Region 2 opponent. No. 5-ranked Farragut (11-1) hosted and defeated McMinn County 28-10 on Sept. 19 and beat the Cherokees 17-7 last week.

The Admirals’ season has ended in a quarterfinal each of the last three years. They lost to Oak Ridge in 2005 after defeating Ooltewah and lost to Ooltewah in 2006 after beating William Blount.

“Weeks two and three in the playoffs, we expect to see the same people we’ve played before,” Farragut coach Eddie Courtney said. “That’s how strong our region is.”

No. 3-ranked Ooltewah (10-1) beat Soddy-Daisy 55-21 on Oct. 31 and won 17-6 again at Ooltewah two weeks later. Owls coach Benny Monroe said his team will have to compete better than it did last Friday.

“I think they learned a little bit this last week about being ready to beat somebody,” Monroe said. “Beating somebody handily before doesn’t mean that’s going to happen again. It just doesn’t work that way. It’s a sudden-death tournament now. For seniors this could be their last practice. Some of them will never play again.

“This time of year you don’t have a second chance. You lose, you hang it up. I think they realize that.”

Things started fine for the Admirals in the regular-season meeting. Brad Galloway’s 44-yard field goal gave them a 3-0 lead heading into the second quarter.

Then Farragut had several things unravel — not the least of which was its coach. Courtney was ejected with six seconds remaining in the third quarter after flinging the marker back at the official who had flagged the coach for unsportsmanlike conduct. Courtney’s gripe was that a roughing-the-passer call was not made on one of the Owls’ seven sacks of quarterback Reese Browning.

“Their front guys are pretty good,” Courtney said of Ooltewah defensive linemen Kevin Adams, Brandon Bruell, Que Jackson and Jacques Smith. “We’ve worked hard preparing for them and changed some things up this time. We looked at the tape and saw where we made some mistakes.”

Courtney also noted that his team must contain the Owls’ running game. Ooltewah tailback Matthew Polk is averaging 156 rushing yards per game and 7 yards per carry for the season.

Polk scored on an 8-yard run in the second quarter of the earlier game and added scoring runs of 12 and 6 yards in the last two quarters. He ended up running for 163 yards on 28 carries.

“The second half we started running better,” Polk said. “Our line blew them off the ball.”

Each coach has his opinion of what will be key elements this time around. Courtney believes third-down ratios and special-teams play will be determining factors. Monroe thinks seizing and sustaining momentum will be crucial.

Each team has tinkered with some things since playing each other five weeks ago, but it’s too late to change much.

All that’s left is to see which way the odd-shaped ball bounces.

“They know what we’re going to do. We know what they’re going to do,” Monroe said. “I’d say it’ll come down to the one who gets the breaks.”

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