Franklin's Max Bloom stepped into the batter's box digging his feet into the sand in the top of the fifth inning. He looked out onto the field and saw three of his red shirt teammates at every base with only one out.

They were down three nothing and this was the first time they had anyone in scoring position all game.

Up to this point Franklin’s 11-12 year old Major League squad left three runners on base and plated none against the very good Butler team.
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Bloom stared at the ball leaving the Butler pitcher's hand and swung, perhaps a little late, but sent it in the air down the first base line. 
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It dropped. 

Coaches shouted instructions sending runners and it looked like two runs were going to score.

Both teams and their fans were chaotic, loud and the action was furious when all of a sudden the home plate umpire's voice broke through the noise as he started running toward the action with both arms up shouting “foul, foul, foul.”

​The excitement became silence. Everyone looked at each other wondering what just happened as the play was called dead.

Everyone returned to their bases and Bloom to the batter's box.

The change in tone was palpable. Excitement was replaced with let down.
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Mike Rodriguez, Franklin’s first base coach, held up his hand as he returned to the coaches box. His thumb and forefinger were about an inch apart. “It wasn’t even the width of a baseball foul,” he said, admitting that the ball was foul only by a couple centimeters.

The wind in Franklin’s sails had been taken out and they just could not get any of the runners across the plate.
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An inch maybe two and it’s an all new ball game, a momentum shift. Instead they were still three down and shoulders were slumped.

The tone was set early with Butler jumping out in the first inning as if they were going to have a huge inning.

​Franklin pitcher Gavin Matthews had gotten himself in some trouble with a couple runners in scoring position and no outs but buckled down and only let one cross home plate. 

​Same in the second inning, but this time got out without allowing a run.

In the third he gave up two runs but left the bases loaded keeping his team in the game. Despite struggling he pitched a gutsy game.

His replacement, Torin Schmidt came in the fourth inning and threw only nine pitches for an immaculate inning striking out the side.
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This seemed to give Franklin the momentum for a fifth inning rally, but it wasn’t meant to be. 

Butler scored three more in the bottom of the fifth and ended up winning 6-0 to advance to the District 25 majors final.​

For 50 seconds in the third quarter of the Oil City game against North East it was freshman Isiah Van Wormer's show and the rest of the those in Meadville's The House of Thrills just had to watch.

He came off the bench when Oiler center Mike Fink had to sit out with four fouls. 

Van Wormer started by tossing up a three. No sooner had the ball dropped through the net that it was inbounded and stolen. Van Wormer then drove and laid it in. In a flurry of activity the ball again never made it over half court and the hot handed Van Wormer was given the ball again and since he was 'feeling it', he drilled  another three-pointer less than twenty seconds after dropping the first one.
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After a time out and a North East score Van Wormer got the ball back and scored his tenth point in under a minute.

It was the spark the Oilers needed.
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The first half was sloppy and North East didn't have a lot of trouble finding a lane to score. The blue and white found themselves down by ten at the end of the first quarter and though they played pretty even with the pickers in the second they went into the half down nine.

The Region 5 champs needed to change something up in the second half. They slowly started creepy back after going down ten again early.. Defensively they were getting in North East's face and started blocking shots.

They got to with three and that's when Van Wormer exploded changing the momentum.

The Oilers scored nearly fifty second half points to go on to win 77-69 at Meadville High School.

They drilled home a dozen three pointers and went 11 for 14 from the line. Five players were in double figures.

The fourth quarter was especially crazy with the Oilers outscoring North East 28-21

The score was tied at 60 with three minutes to go. The Oiler defense stiffened and through a number of steals, traveling calls on North East and going 9 for 12 from the line down the stretch the Oilers cruised to the end winning by eight.
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Nevin Stinson led all scorers with 24. Five Oiler were in double figures. Freshman Easton Leiderbach had 14, Steven Heise and Van Wormer each had 13 and Fink had 10.
Brady Fulmer had an early three pointer to round out the scoring.

North East had three in double fibures with Dillon Rodgers leading with 18, Carter Crozier was right behind him with and Willie Shunk with 15. Colin Cunningham scored 8, Braydon Cornman added 7 and Jayden Whitman had 4.
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Oil City will move on to face the 21-1 Cathedral Prep Ramblers on Friday at a site and time to be determined.

​The two met earlier in the season with the Ramblers winning 115-55 at the Franklin holiday tournament.The high scoring ramblers have scored 90 points or more in 14 games this season.

​Franklin jumped out to an 8-0 lead to start Friday's game against rival Oil City and never let up.

​The Knights fended off a second half push by the Oilers to take the 65-59 region win in The Castle.

The Knights led 14-5 after one, using aggressive defenses that kept the Oilers from hitting a field goal for the first five minutes. 

Franklin outscored Oil City again in the second to increase their lead to 32-17.  

It was more of the same to start the third quarter with Jameson Wofford sending two blocks flying into the stands.

​But the Oilers fought back to decrease the gap to 10 at 45-35. 

Both teams saved their best efforts for last. Oilers won the stanza, pulling as close as four points with 15 seconds to play. 

Wofford had a game-high 21 points for the Knights, including 13 in the second half. 

Nevin Stinson had 20 points for the Oilers. 

Coaches jumped to their feet. The crowd bubbled with noise. The 145 match went to the wire... passed the wire according to some in the stands.

Parker Miller of Titusville was facing undefeated Rudy Gentile in the Tool City finals. Miller had surprised the gifted Greenville Trojan by putting him on his back and racking up some points.

In the final frame, with seconds to go, Gentile appeared to make his move.

The tenacious Rocky Grove boys basketball team used control on both ends of the court to defeat the Franklin Knights for the first time in nearly four decades.

The back-and-forth battle at the Castle on Saturday night featured 12 lead changes and eight ties ending with e 70-65 victory for the Orioles.
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Franklin held an 18-17 advantage after one quarter.

Rocky Grove led 34-29 at halftime, 47-46 after the third. Both team exploded for a combine 42 points in the final stanza.

Franklin’s largest lead was 18-12 in the first quarter, while Rocky Grove accumulated a 57-46 margin after opening the fourth quarter with a 10-point run.
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Down the stretch it was the disparity in team foul totals that gave the Orioles the upper hand.

With just under three minutes to play, Franklin recorded their fifth foul, while Rocky Grove only had one.

This situation contributed to the Orioles at the foul line six times in the remaining minutes versus Franklin only shooting free throws.
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The Knights closed the gap to three points twice in the last 30 seconds, but the Orioles answered each time, to keep control of the scoreboard.

It is the first time the smaller school defeated their larger neighbor since Dec. 19, 1986, according to local sports guru Tom Reisenweber of the Erie Times-News.
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The 1,000-point senior duo of Landen Carter and Noah Baughman lead the offensive attack for the Orioles.

Carter netted 32 and Baughman had 19

Jameson Wofford was top among the Knight scorers with 22.
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The Dick Russell Memorial Tournament was planned for a Friday night start, but with the threat of an approaching ice storm the organizers simply moved those games to Monday

The Franklin Knights hosted the Meadville Bulldogs for a back-and-forth battle in The Castle that came down to the difference in free throw percentages. 

The first three minutes of the game looked like it would be a runaway victory for the Knights. Three minutes later, the Bulldogs, led by Amarius Foster, were back in the fight, dominating the court with a 14-2 run to close out the first stanza with a 16-13 edge. 

In the second quarter, Nolan Parry hit four points in the opening minute of the second quarter to help Franklin reclaim the lead at 17-16. 

Before the first half ended, Meadville tied the game at 27 with less than 90 seconds to go. Two more buckets from the Knights, and Franklin walked to the locker room with a 31-27 lead. 

The Knights increased the margin to 10 points as all five starters (Parry, Josiah Rodriguez, Nate Fezell, Jameson Wofford, Ian Higley) contributed to the offensive attack.  

Once again, Meadville fought back to close the gap to only three with 2:30 left to play. The Bulldogs won the quarter with 23 points, including nine from Foster. But late game foul trouble was too much for the team to overcome and the free throw line provided the difference.

At the 35 second mark, Keithen Arnold hit two free throws to pull Meadville within three, as Franklin held a 60-57 advantage. The Knights went seven for eight down the stretch to hang on for the 67-60 win. 

Overall, the Knights shot 87.5% from the line (14 for 16) and the Bulldogs hit 66.6% (12 for 18).  

Foster had a game-high 19 points. Arnold recorded 17 on the night. 

Franklin was led by Wofford with 17 and Fezell with 11.