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Sometimes the Dragons beat the Knights

9/28/2020

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Franklin's homecoming celebration was charred by the fiery breath of the Warren Dragons who came to town to feast, winning 35-12. Some fans were allowed to attend the game Saturday to watch the homecoming queen crowned before the game and many stayed for the clash.
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More photographs by Sydney Herdle can be found here!
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See more photographs from the homecoming court and who was crowned queen here.

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There is also a link to even more of Sydney Herdle's photographs on that page.
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Franklin knocks out the Rockets 21-0

9/19/2020

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Franklin wins 21-0 over Titusville at Carter Field.
Aaron Burkhardt scored on a 1 yard run with 9:41 remaining in second quarter. It ended up being the only points the Knights needed as they visited Titusville. They added a field goal before the end of the half and two more touchdowns in the second half. They struggled getting an extra point having three blocked. Overall the Knights had a lot of penalties that hurt them, but Titusville appeared to be playing with a greased pigskin. The Rockets turned the ball over a half dozen times with three lost fumbles in the first half alone. The Knights moved to 1-1 on the season recording the first win for new coach Matt Turk. Titusville drops to 0-2 having lost the opener last week to Meadville.

See more photographs here tomorrow and check out explorevenango.com for another photo from the game.

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Oil City 38 Meadville 14

9/18/2020

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Oil City hosted Meadville Friday night for their season home opener. Both teams easily won their first games last week. It took the Oilers till the 1:40 mark in the first quarter to score the first points of the game Meadville responded about 4 minutes later in the second quarter on a punt return for a TD. Oil City scored twice more and then had a big goal line stand to stop Meadville from scoring right before the half. Oil City never looked back from there.

At the end of the fourth quarter, Cam Russell, who had a monster game, broke away for what would've been another score but elected to fall down at the five so the Oilers could just run out the clock.

Sportsmanship.

Final score was Oil City 38, Meadville 14.

Editor's note:
More photos from this game will be posted this weekend.

Check out more photos and results from the game from our friends at The Meadville Tribune and Explore Venango.

It was also good to see Ryan Kunselman from The Derrick who was there writing a game story. Ryan and I worked together for five years and it is always good see good friends.
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Franklin Vs. Rocky Grove Cross Country photos

9/17/2020

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Had a busy day with sports today covering three Franklin events. I started with Cross Country out at Two Mile where the Knights took on the home team Rocky Grove (some photograph are displayed here.) Then I went to the boys Soccer game against Titusville before finishing up in the gymnasium where the girls volleyball team hosted Maplewood. More photos from all events will be posted tomorrow or over the weekend.
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But they played

9/16/2020

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Updated to include link to even more photos at the bottom.
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Chairs set in a pattern that looked like a barrier into the gym. No one was sure if they could enter without permission. They weren't.
However, those were for the reserve players, positioned in the doorway so they could still watch their teammates play and be ready if called upon.

They were not allowed in the gym to keep the numbers under 25 and stay within the COVID-19 restrictions. 

There were three chairs set for rotating players on the Union side, four for Cranberry. The two teams, two scorers and two officials and the gym was at capacity.

They played.

At the end of set one. Union won 26-24 after nearly blowing a 24-18 lead. The Only claps came from the players and masked Cranberry principal Ritt Smith standing by the door. 

But they played. 
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As the second set started the teams didn’t swap sides as usual to avoid having to wipe down chairs and the like. Coaches wore masks the whole time. The whistle in mouth officials took their masks off during the match. No players on the court wore masks. The score keepers at the desk separated by a chair wore masks. 
The live streamers from three unmanned positions were controlled in a corner of the gym up in the balcony and far away from everyone else. 

And the end of second set Cranberry looked a bit more dominant winning 25-16. “Nice job” Ritt Smith’s voice was impossible to miss. It was the only one. 

But they played. 
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The athletic trainer sat in the hall. 
She said one of the officials joked with her that if someone got hurt he’d swap positions with her. 
Between points was eerily quiet. 
The third set started as the second ended. The berries seemed to find their stride and jumped into a healthy lead. 
Union seemed rattled, discombobulated and confused. “We’ve seen this before,” a frustrated Union coach yelled. 
This seemed to jumpstart a short lived rally to make it close for about a minute before Cranberry hunkered down to take care of the third set. 25-15. 
Again ”good job!” from Smith was yelled, though not as exuberant this time given the dominating third set that seemed never in question. It was still clearly heard in the empty gym. 

But they played. 
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When the players came back onto the court, the reserve players donned their masks to sit and watch. 
Union came out and stood toe to toe counter punching the berries and landing a few well placed shots while mounting a little lead. 
When Cranberry caught their first break they gripped the reins a little tighter and began the comeback. But Union also seemed to be finding their stride and the two teams were in a tight battle. 
A key Cranberry time-out slowed Union down, but a confused situation whether a ball was touch before landing out of bounds led to a replay of a point that should’ve been Cranberries. That seemed to derail the berries  and Union went way ahead in the must win fourth set eventually winning it 25-16. 

A bit of excitment could be heard but it was only from the nine Union players and coach in the gym.

But they played.
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In the shortened tie breaker set the berries looked like they did in the second set. Better passes and mixing power with finesse. They jumped to an 8-4 lead. Union got the serve and put together a run to tie and then go ahead. 
The teams then traded blows as they inched toward 15. 
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Cranberry inched to 14-12 and union called a timeout. To no avail. Cranberry won 15-12 and the match 3-2. 

Smith’s lone clap was heard as the Berries left the court. 
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But they played. 
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View more photos from Tuesday's action at ​sayerrich.zenfolio.com/p781860598
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The Spa took care of the Oilers four zip

9/15/2020

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Meadville Hockey coach Jamie Plunkett used to say "you can't score if you don't shoot the puckl." The same can be said of the soccer ball if the goal is to find the back of the net.
​The Oilers' didn't really give the Cambridge Springs goal keeper much more to do than enjoy the beautiful end of summer day in Oil City. The Oil City tender however was pretty busy and managed several stops, but four did get passed her out stretched arms.

​More photos from Monday's game can be found at ​sayerrich.zenfolio.com/p1028815968
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Franklin upends Maplewood in Overtime

9/15/2020

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Franklin's Rylee Mattocks found the back of the net in overtime to lift the Lady Knights to a 2-1 victory over Maplewood Monday night. See more photos at ​https://sayerrich.zenfolio.com/p795428082
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Oil City dominates Franklin to start the COVID changed season

9/11/2020

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This story was updated 9/12/2020
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To say it was surreal might be an understatement.
At the beginning of Friday night's Route 8 rivalry game between the Franklin Knights and the Oil City Oilers it almost seemed like they didn't quite know how to start.
Announcer Brian Spaid got on the loud speaker and said he thought they were live streaming and tried to get the ball rolling. Then a bit of silence seemed awkward until the band kicked into gear and took the field. For a brief few moments as the drums beat loud and the trumpets dominated the air it sounded like the beginning of a typical Friday night football game.
​But the stands were empty and the crowd noise non-existent.
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There were no cheers when the visiting Oilers came on to the field and made their way to the sidelines. No screaming super fans with body paint awaited them from the empty stands. There was no band playing them on or cheerleaders forming a runway for them to go through. They took to the empty sidelines and awaited the Knights.

The home team had a very similar experience. No crowd rahs and only the band played them onto the field through the traditional breaking of the banner the cheerleaders made and held for them. The only home field advantage they would have was their fellow students in the band and cheer corps.

​There was no meeting at the 50 yard line of the team captains for a coin toss. That was handled before hand with social distancing rules in place.

​It was weird.
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When the kickoff was sent into the air you could hear the crickets in the nearby woods. This wasn't your typical start to the high school football season. 

​But they played.
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It was evident early on that the Oilers were looking exactly like the back-to-back District 10 champions they are and Franklin, who lost the all-time leading passer to graduation and has a new coach with a new program were... well looking like they lost their star passer and the new coach hasn't had enough time  with the small squad to have them quite ready for this level of play.
Franklin has 31 players, which is half the number of the Oilers' squad.
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It didn't take long for the game to be decided. Franklin went three and out. A bad punt put the Oilers in striking distance, which happened immediately. In fact less than four minutes into the game, a bad punt, a fumble deep in their own territory and an interception returned for a touchdown left the Knights down 24-0. And it just got uglier from there.
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This isn't to say anything bad about the Knights' effort. They never quit. They are just working in a new system and happened to draw their first game against a very tough and an established system, a very established system, a proven, established system.
​When coach Dan York came into Oil City his first year was rough as well. It takes a little time to get a plan in place and a team that trusts the plan. Since then the team improved each year to to point not too many teams, certainly not ones around here, can beat them. Some of the Oilers have had three years learning the system. The Knights have had only a couple weeks really.

​This was a tough game out of the blocks for the young Knights' program.
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It took Franklin nearly nine minutes to get its first first down. They had a decent run to end the quarter but failed to convert a fourth and short to start the second quarter. It was evident that it wasn't Franklin's night when even broken plays netted plus yardage for the Oilers.
Then the long plays for touchdowns became routine. Cam Russell had a couple, so did Zac Kiefer and Sean Stack. Even the onside kicks were working for the Oilers. By halftime the Oilers eclipsed the half century mark and the game was all but over.
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The second half started out with more of the same as Oil City put up another couple of scores before sending in the reserve players and the mercy rule took affect allowing the clock to run continuously. Franklin, who in the last few seasons were known to air it out with plenty of completions didn't complete a pass against the tough Oiler defense until the fourth quarter. Then with about three minutes left Franklin finally scored a touchdown.... well almost. There was some yellow laundry on the field as the player crossed the goal line.
A holding call brought it back.
​But the Knights didn't give up and a few plays later, including another completed pass, quarterback Aaron Burkhardt crossed the goal line erasing that goose egg from the scoreboard with 40 seconds left.
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Coach Matt Turk was happy his team didn't quit playing, found a way to sustain a fourth quarter drive and persevered through penalty set backs to come out of the game with something to build on next week.
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Next week the Knights travel to Titusville who suffered a similar opening round fate finding the end zone only once while losing to Meadville 45-6. That game will be Saturday night at Carter Field in Titusville.

​Oil City will host Meadville next Friday. Both games kickoff at 7 p.m.
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At the end of the 68-6 game there was a moment each team gathered near the center of the field to face each other. They applauded each other and the fact they were able to play the game at all. This was in place of the traditional handshake at the end of the game in order to keep social distance. A few players broke ranks to shake hands or fist bump showing their opponents respect.

Despite the one-sided competition each team showed the other the respect that youth sports teaches.

​It was a beautiful end to the evening.
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To view more photos from tonights game visit https://sayerrich.zenfolio.com/p150570641

To read more about the game, our good friend Ed Brannon was there and will have a story in tomorrow's Derrick and News-Herald with photographs by our other good friend Eric Elliott photography.

​Due to difficulties with the Wi-Fi the live streaming didn't work well. It appears the game was taped and the Franklin School District hopes to be able to post it for people to see. During these tough times and new frontiers the district asks for patience and understanding as they work out the bugs.
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Meadville ruins Rockets home opener

9/11/2020

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Some fans were allowed in to watch the Titusville Rockets take on the Meadville Bulldogs Friday night. But the stands at Carter field by no means resembled the usual fare for typical match up between the old  Route 27 rivals. Meadville dominated the game winning it 45-6. To see more check out The Titusville Herald for Sydney Herdle's photographs and story by Zack Borland.

Click here to check out more photographs from the game by Sydney Herdle.
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