It was quite a senior night for the Franklin Knights who downed the Seneca Bobcats 42-20 Friday. Bryson Watson, Trystin Boocks and Cole Buckley combined for 429 yards of total offense to lead the Knights. Since the opening game of the 2019 campaign, no senior class has been able to give fans at win at home.
And none of the players on this squad had tasted this feeling. So it was certainly a reason to celebrate, and celebrate big.
And none of the players on this squad had tasted this feeling. So it was certainly a reason to celebrate, and celebrate big.
Four years ago the current senior class was scrawny ninth-graders. Many were made starters in coach Matt Turk's first year and put into battle against teams loaded with juniors and seniors. "Boys among men," Turk said at the time when he was beginning to building a program.
It's been a struggle, but now many of those kids are seniors and they're not scrawny anymore.
And they have been coming up big the last two weeks. Cole Buckley took his leadership skills and changed positions to quarterback. Leaning on his experience, Buckley has been tucking the ball and finding hollers for big ground gains. In two weeks he has accounted for 250 yards with his feet and 210 with his arm.
It's been a struggle, but now many of those kids are seniors and they're not scrawny anymore.
And they have been coming up big the last two weeks. Cole Buckley took his leadership skills and changed positions to quarterback. Leaning on his experience, Buckley has been tucking the ball and finding hollers for big ground gains. In two weeks he has accounted for 250 yards with his feet and 210 with his arm.
Fellow senior Watson has amassed nearly 350 yards on the ground, including over 200 on Friday. Boocks hauled in over 100 yards receiving, including a highlight reel worthy 79-yards for the Knights' first score against the Bobcats.
Franklin moved the ball right off the bat against Seneca after they got the ball on shanked one-yard punt gave them the ball at the 25. They got to the eight but gaffed their first attempt to score with a bad snap, which resulted in Seneca receiving it back at the 28.
Seneca returned the favor several plays later, coughing the ball up on Franklin's 11 instead of getting the game's first score.
After moving the ball 10 yards Buckley, dropped back to around the 14 and heaved one down the middle of the field hitting Boocks in stride around the Seneca 30 as he kept running with the ball in hand for the 79-yards touchdown.
With 1:18 in the first quarter, the Knights drew first blood.
Senior Nathan Pfennigwerth drilled his first of six extra points to put the Knights up 7-0
Seneca returned the favor several plays later, coughing the ball up on Franklin's 11 instead of getting the game's first score.
After moving the ball 10 yards Buckley, dropped back to around the 14 and heaved one down the middle of the field hitting Boocks in stride around the Seneca 30 as he kept running with the ball in hand for the 79-yards touchdown.
With 1:18 in the first quarter, the Knights drew first blood.
Senior Nathan Pfennigwerth drilled his first of six extra points to put the Knights up 7-0
Turk said the seniors were on fire and really wanted the win. That was the spark they needed after giving up an opening possession fumble.
But on the next possession, Seneca marched the ball right back down the field to score. A failed extra point left Franklin holding the edge.
Watson had a couple good runs to move the ball back into Seneca's side of the field when Buckley again hit Boocks for another long pass play - this time a 40-yard touchdown.
Watson had a couple good runs to move the ball back into Seneca's side of the field when Buckley again hit Boocks for another long pass play - this time a 40-yard touchdown.
Again, Seneca who had nearly 400 total yards on the night, marched right back the field. "They're a good football team," Turk said. "We bent, but we did not break.
They tied the game at 14 with a touchdown and two-point conversion, but that was it for awhile.
Franklin's defense made adjustments and stopped. "Our defense played extremely well, our coaches put together a great game plan this week. Hats off to them," Turk said.
Franklin went into the half 21-14 after they got the ball on their own 40 and Watson and Buckley put on a running clinic culminating in a 10-yard finish by Buckley.
They tied the game at 14 with a touchdown and two-point conversion, but that was it for awhile.
Franklin's defense made adjustments and stopped. "Our defense played extremely well, our coaches put together a great game plan this week. Hats off to them," Turk said.
Franklin went into the half 21-14 after they got the ball on their own 40 and Watson and Buckley put on a running clinic culminating in a 10-yard finish by Buckley.
A big run back by Boocks to start the second half set up a nifty spin play by Watson to avoid a loss and set up a Buckley quarterback draw for 35 yards and a touchdown. All this in just a little over a minute into the third quarter.
"Don't lose focus," a very excited Turk told his players as they came off the field up 28-14.
"Don't lose focus," a very excited Turk told his players as they came off the field up 28-14.
The Knights just kept rolling. After stopping Seneca's drive, Watson broke free for a 64-yard touchdown.
Watson and Buckley took advantage of a dominating offensive line with a series of big runs that ended with Buckley scampering for a 20-yard keeper to put them up 42-14 with 2:25 left in the third.
Seneca scored one more time, but the clock was not in their favor. The Knights came away with their first big home win in years and now have two wins in a row and on the season in Turk's tenure.
Seneca and Franklin had matching records going into the game and both desperately wanted the win. Franklin was just a little better coming off their 35-0 shutout against Warren while Seneca won its first game also last week in a close battle 18-6 over Iroquois.
Seneca and Franklin had matching records going into the game and both desperately wanted the win. Franklin was just a little better coming off their 35-0 shutout against Warren while Seneca won its first game also last week in a close battle 18-6 over Iroquois.
“We know when we put four quarters together we can be a good football team," Turk said. "We haven’t been here before, we feel very blessed."
"We’re going to celebrate this win and get back to work on Monday ready to play Meadville," he said.
"It gets real tough this week- Meadville is the toughest team in the region - there is no question about that.
We’re going to have Alex Wible back, we have Darius Graham back. We’re going to have all the crew back that we had against Oil City. We don’t back down from anybody. We know we have to play our best football. We have to play mistake free and we’re going to prepare and we’re going to go play to win."
"It gets real tough this week- Meadville is the toughest team in the region - there is no question about that.
We’re going to have Alex Wible back, we have Darius Graham back. We’re going to have all the crew back that we had against Oil City. We don’t back down from anybody. We know we have to play our best football. We have to play mistake free and we’re going to prepare and we’re going to go play to win."
Meadville, who is first in the region, suffered a loss against McDowell Friday night. Franklin battled tough but lost to Oil City a couple weeks back. The following week Meadville beat up on Oil City.
Turk said they will be continuing to work on keeping control of the ball. "I know we put the ball down early tonight, but we secured that afterwards and we settled down. We saw a significant improvement over last week," Turk said Friday. "We definitely cleaned up the self-inflicting wounds and that helped us tonight."
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