Prep Football: Big Second Half Leads Franklin Over Eastern Tech

In a first half where he completed just one of five passes and absorbed three punishing Eastern Tech sacks, Franklin quarterback Jackson Thornton said he couldn’t have imagined things getting much worse.

Then, the third quarter finally rolled around.

Following a Mavericks’ three-and-out to start the half, Thornton connected on a 59-yard bomb to wide out Reggie Ellis that put the Indians ahead, 7-2, and swung the momentum in favor of a Franklin squad, and crowd, that had seemingly been waiting all game to erupt.

On Eastern Tech’s ensuing drive, Mavericks' quarterback Kyle Bosserman seemed primed to answer, scampering for 26 yards on third down to put his offense near midfield.

However, after a sack on the following play, the Indians defense flushed the senior quarterback out of the pocket and forced an off-balance throw which Franklin linebacker Corbin McClary snatched out of the air and returned 30 yards down the sideline for to put his team ahead, 13-2.

The final score would remain the same, as the Indians (1-1) forced two more Eastern Tech turnovers to complete a dominating defensive effort and send the Mavericks home unhappy in their season opener.

“The defense keeping us in the game was definitely huge because when we weren’t scoring they were keeping them from scoring,” said Thornton, whose defense allowed a total of five first downs, forced seven punts and tallied two fourth down stops.

“I couldn’t be more proud of our defense and how hard they played.”

Despite their struggles offensively, the Mavericks had a solid chance to come within a score following Franklin’s pick-six.

After a missed Indians’ field goal, Eastern Tech (0-1) parlayed a roughing the punter penalty and a 33-yard run by wingback Francis Masselly (10 carries 80 yards) into a red zone opportunity with less than 10 minutes to play in the fourth quarter.

However, fullback Milan Barry-Pollock, after picking up a first down on third-and-one, was stripped by Reggie Ellis—the junior’s second game-changing play of the second half—and Ian Thomas pounced on the ball for the recovery inside his own 10-yard line.

 “We gave up a couple [fumbles] that were costly and I mean really, we gave up two big plays and that’s what cost us the game—in addition to not making good use of all of our opportunities,” Eastern Tech coach Mark Mesaros said after the game. “There’s really nothing I can say except hats off to Franklin. Good coaching staff, great kids.  We played great defensively, but not good enough to win.”  

With an offense that graduated several key players from last year’s state semifinal team, the Mavericks struggled to sustain drives and, aside from Masselly and Bosserman (seven carries, 64 yards), got little production out of their vaunted Wing-T attack.

Although as a team, the Mavericks rushed 40 times for 191 yards (over four yards per carry), their only points came off a botched Franklin long snap that sailed over the punter’s head and through the end zone.

Still, Mesaros liked what he saw out of his squad during certain spurts, and believes he has the pieces to get his option game on track.

“I think they’re there,” Mesaros said. “We just have to find a way to get it to work. Whether its move some things around or make some adjustments—that’s what we’re going to do.”

For Franklin, head coach Anthony Burgos said that the victory was essential to getting the bitter taste of last week’s loss to Wise out of their mouth’s and help establish an identify separate from last year’s state finalist squad.

“It’s tremendous for the whole team. Coming off of last year, we really needed to get things going and to get a good win against a quality team like Eastern Tech was big for us,” said Burgos, whose schedule doesn’t get any easier with powerhouse Hereford rolling in next week.

“I kept telling the team, we’ve got to identify ourselves. We wanted to come out and make an identity for Franklin this year.”