Panther football has earned a signature win.
After besting East Henderson on Homecoming, Franklin geared up for a tougher test, hosting Tuscola Sept. 22 in their second Mountain Seven game. On a night most observers picked Tuscola to win, the Panthers looked like the much better team, improving to 2-0 in the conference with a 31-14 win.
Franklin’s defense looked sharp on the game’s first possession, forcing a Mountaineer three-and-out with a quarterback hurry from senior Jacob Gibson. The Panther offense cashed in on the resulting field position, riding tough runs from Addix Sutton and Gabe Nickerson into Mountie territory. Junior Daniel Riddle nailed a 40-yard field goal to give his team a 3-0 lead.
Senior Wyatt Cantrell led Franklin’s defense on the next drive, tackling shifty Tuscola quarterback Jed West in the open field and defending a deep pass attempt on back-to-back plays. Cantrell’s pass defensed forced Tuscola into second-and-10, and two more incompletions forced a punt moments later.
Franklin’s offensive line kept rolling from there, clearing lanes for Sutton back into Mountie territory. On fourth-and-4 from the 27, quarterback Brock Bradley found Nickerson wide open, who rumbled up the right sideline for a 13-yard gain. The senior scored on a 1-yard run four plays later to give Franklin a 10-0 lead.
Cantrell harassed the Mounties again on the next drive, intercepting a deep pass near midfield on third-and-11.
Franklin’s offense wasted little time cashing in, getting a 27-yard run from Sutton to the Mountie 17 on the drive’s first play. On third-and-8 from the 15, Bradley kept the chains moving once again, finding Nickerson for the pair’s second big conversion of the night. Sutton scored on a five-yard run moments later to put Franklin up 17-0.
With less than six minutes until halftime, West kickstarted the Mountie offense, doubling as its leading rusher on a deep drive into Panther territory. On third-and-goal from the 13, West found a receiver in the end zone to cut his team’s deficit to 17-6. West was tackled short of the goal line by a gang of Panthers on a two-point attempt.
Tuscola committed a costly error on the next drive, forcing Franklin to punt from their own 31 but bringing 12 men onto the field. On first-and-10 from the 36, Bradley feigned a play to the right, but found Sutton wide open to the left for a 64-yard touchdown jaunt. Riddle put Franklin up 24-6 with 37 seconds left in the half.
Franklin’s defense shut Tuscola out in the third quarter, getting a third-and-6 sack from junior Talon Smith and a fourth-and-5 stop from senior Ashton Shope.
Still down 24-6, Tuscola grew desperate in the fourth, running West on fourth-and-1 from his own 16. The gutsy call paid off for the Mounties, as West broke free for a 76-yard run to the Panther 8. The senior scored on a seven-yard third-and-goal run, and ran again for a 2-point conversion to make it a 24-14 game.
With less than seven minutes left, Tuscola attempted an onside kick, but Cantrell fielded the ball at the Mountie 46. Sutton soon made the Mounties pay for their mistake, gaining 25 yards on the drive’s first play and nine more on fourth-and-four from the 16. Nickerson found the end zone on second-and-goal from the 6 with 2:29 to play.
Down 31-14, Tuscola started their next drive with a Hail Mary, which junior Braylon Dezarn quickly intercepted near midfield. On third-and-8 moments later, Sutton followed his blockers to the line to gain, and Franklin ran out the clock to put the game on ice.
“I saw a fight tonight, and I think the more physical team won,” said head coach Josh Brooks after the game. “They’ve been a real big-play team and we only gave them one big run, and we did a good job moving the football on offense. Just a big team win, and a huge fight from our kids. I’m so proud of them.”
“We started off the season 0-3 but we’ve been working our butts off, and now we’re 2-0 in the conference. That’s a big deal for us,” said Nickerson. “It feels great. I love proving doubters wrong. … This gives us a whole lot of momentum.”
Against a highly-touted quarterback in West and a former NFL player-turned head coach in Jonathan Crompton, few observers felt the Panthers would match up well with Tuscola. Having won their last two games after a tough start to the season, Brooks credited his team for not throwing in the towel.
“Man, I’m just so happy for these kids and how they fought back,” he said. “Our practice was so good this week, our attitude was so good, and coach [Ryan] Haley said it when we came off the field from warm-ups. He said ‘I’ve got a different feeling tonight – it’s a different bunch,’ and there’s no question that that attitude was there. We played like it, so that makes it fun when you beat teams you’re not supposed to beat. We’ve got a long list of those here in the Pit, and tonight we added another one to that list.”