Andy Scheidler
sports@thefranklinpress.com
Noah Sitton started the year at quarterback. The Franklin senior moved to tight end when sophomore Chris McGuire came back from an injury, but Sitton got to make a memorable throw in his final game in the Panther Pit.
The Panthers shifted most of their offensive line and backfield to the left of the field during a play in the second quarter of Friday’s game against East Henderson. Sitton took a shotgun snap from center Camden Cochran, then found McGuire open near the left hash. The 35-yard touchdown pass was Franklin’s third of four on a rainy night.
FHS beat East Henderson 27-0 to earn its first win of the season.
“It’s been a process. This just didn’t happen tonight,” coach Josh Brooks said in the field house after the game, while jubilant cheers and roars echoed from the locker room.
“The kids’ good attitude and the fact that they’ve kept working – I felt like we’ve continued to get better, especially after the open date – is the reason we were able to do this tonight. (East’s) kids played extremely hard tonight too and did some good things. Just super happy for our kids and our coaches.”
The win ensures Franklin wouldn’t go winless for the third time in program history. The last time the Panthers started the season 0-8 was in 1991.
FHS endured 370 days without a win, dating back to a 43-14 victory at East Henderson on Oct. 19, 2018.
It was a happy way for the team’s 11 seniors, who were recognized before the game, to go out in the Pit.
“It feels great,” senior captain Gavin Riddle said. “As Coach Josh said, finally feels good to get the paycheck for all the work.”
Sitton, who handled the offensive position change admirably and puts the team first, said it hasn’t been that difficult to stay positive through all of the losses because the players relied on each other.
“We’re brothers,” Sitton said.
“Coach Josh said we won’t ever remember the score 10 years from now. We’ll just remember the people that’s on the team.”
The Panthers (1-8, 1-2 Mountain Six Conference) set the tone early. They opted to defer the opening kickoff and wanted to get a stop (they did thanks to an interception by Devyn Blackburn).
They converted the turnover into a score, with Evan Klatt punching it in from 13 yards out.
Another momentum boost came on the ensuing kickoff. Brooks knew he wanted to try an onside kick,
something Brevard got against the Panthers last week and something East Henderson’s junior varsity was successful at the previous night.
Charles Trentham didn’t kick it too far, and Ryan Craig pounced on it.
Brooks said Trentham has done a great job at getting better at everything he’s done in his first season kicking for football, while also complimenting punter Chandler Crawford, calling them unsung heroes.
“I knew I wanted to try the onside kick,” Brooks said. “We were able to get that and we set the tone for the whole game with some execution early in the game. No penalties, no turnovers, made a big play on a fumble recovery, big play on the onside kick. We made the plays tonight, whereas some of the games this year we failed to do that.”
The defense forced five turnovers. Blackburn made two interceptions, a week after making one against Brevard.
Bryce Rogers forced a fumble, while Riddle, Sean Dunn and Brayden Watts each recovered fumbles on a night where light rain fell for most of the game.
Craig and Sitton led the way with seven tackles. Other tackling leaders were Zane Horner (five), Wyatt Yates (four), Braden Cody (four), Gavin Awtrey (four), Riddle (four) and Daylon Henry (four).
Franklin primarily kept the ball on the ground, running it 47 times and throwing it only eight.
Klatt rushed for a career-high 151 yards and two touchdowns. It was the first time the junior eclipsed 100 yards as a varsity running back.
Freshman Braden Watts added 67 yards. The fullback scored a 10-yard TD, his second of the season.
All 11 seniors got to play in the victory. The class includes Caleb Cochran, Sean Dunn, Jarrett Evans, Zane Horner, Dan Parker, Cameron Peek, Joel Pleigo-Hernandez, Gavin Riddle, Noah Sitton, Chang Tian and Jesus Torres.
“They’ve been a part of a lot of success over their four-year career here,” Brooks said. “This one season won’t define them; one game won’t. I still want to see us making progress.”
East Henderson (1-8, 0-3 MSC) lost its seventh straight game. The Eagles’ only win came against North Henderson, which is 0-9.
It’s been a year of frustration and close calls, but the Panthers finally got over the hump and into the win column. They came into the contest as one of nine teams out of 114 in class 2-A without a win.
“We’ve learned a lot,” Brooks said. “I’ve learned a lot. We’ll look back on it and be better because of it.”
The Panthers will play their two biggest rivals to end the season. They’ll have some additional energy when heading to Canton on Friday.
“It feels good,” Riddle said. “Coming into Pisgah week with some momentum.”
After playing Pisgah (6-2, 2-1), the Panthers will play at Smoky Mountain (6-3, 2-1). Both schools sit in second place in the standings behind Brevard (8-1, 3-0).
“I’ve always said it didn’t matter how it was going, winning or losing, the last two games would always matter when it’s these two teams,” Brooks said. “We played both of them really good last year even though they were the top two finishers in the conference. We’d like to get over the hump with it. Two real big challenges. We won’t have any trouble with motivation.”