WOODVILLE — The battle between Franklin County and Wilkinson County Friday night presented a matchup between two teams with contrasting styles.

In the end, though, Wilkinson County’s “Air Show” was grounded by a Franklin County team that ran one dive play after another before springing it outside with option runs to De’Martre Collins. The ground attack implored allowed Franklin County to control the clock, limit Wilkinson County possessions and bust loose for long explosive runs in a 49-26 victory against the Wildcats.

In other words, the game plan worked perfectly for Franklin County head coach Anthony Hart.

“Last week, against Tylertown, we threw the ball 24 times,” Hart said. “That’s very uncharacteristic for me, so Sunday, we got together and said we were going to run the football.”

And so they did, as the Bulldogs ran the ball 51 times to accumulate 331 rushing yards.

Two breakout performers emerged, as well.

Courtney Smith, who has been battling nagging injuries throughout the season, came into this game fully healthy, and ran inside dive after inside dive to attain 207 yards rushing on 32 carries.

“This is his first game to be fully healthy, and boy, did he play well,” Hart said. “I told him all week that I wanted 200 yards, and he did it.”

While Smith pounded it up the middle on the option handoff, the table was set for Franklin County quarterback Jacob McDaniel to pull it and toss it out to De’Martre Collins on the outside, who made several Wilkinson County defenders miss throughout the night. Collins finished the night with 110 rushing yards, five rushing touchdowns and two interceptions on defense.

Collins gave credit to his teammates for his performance.

“Big shout out to my offensive line and big shout out to Courtney,” Collins said. “If he didn’t run those type of plays, I wouldn’t be able to do what I do.”

Collins and the Bulldogs struck first blood in the contest, as he rumbled in from 10 yards out late in the first quarter.

Desmond Hunter and the Wildcats answered. Hunter led a drive down the field with his timely passing before TreMorrion Mealey scored from three yards out.

On the ensuing possession, Franklin County’s game plan came into play. Wilkinson County defenders cheated up in the box, leaving the door open for an option pass. McDaniel faked the handoff to Smith and threw it over Wilkinson County defenders to a streaking Antonio Christmas for a 66-yard touchdown.

Hunter again answered, this time connecting with Jaquarious Stewart on a 39-yard pass before failing to get the two-point conversion. Franklin County led 14-12 at the half.

After the break, the Bulldogs stayed committed to their running game, and Collins scored on the first drive of the quarter on a 47-yard run that displayed his elusiveness in the open field.

Hunter brought the deficit to one on the ensuing drive, as he connected with Travion Jones on a 20-yard score and found him again on the two-point conversion, making the game 21-20 in favor of Franklin County.

That’s as close as Wilkinson County would get, though, as Franklin County scored three unanswered touchdowns.

After Courtney Smith scored from four yards out in the third and Collins found paydirt in the fourth quarter, Wilkinson County trailed 35-20 and faced a crucial fourth-and-inches on Franklin County’s 35-yard line. A fullback dive was met at the line of scrimmage, and the referees ruled him short of the first down, drawing a passionate outburst from Wilkinson County’s sideline.

“One guy says he’s short and the other official walks down the line,” Wilkinson County head coach Kenneth Brown said. “It should have been a first down, but they called it short.”

For Brown, it was simply that kind of night. Wilkinson County had several high snaps, key drops by wide receivers and missed blocking assignments, as Hunter was pressured on three-man rushes from Franklin County.

“When you get something going, bam, something happens,” Brown said. “We’ve got to stop hurting ourselves.”

In the loss, Hunter completed 26 of 46 for 386 yards. He threw two touchdowns and three interceptions. Juan Anthony recorded 10 receptions for 142 yards and Travion Jones made 10 catches for 150 yards.

Franklin County improves to 4-3, while the Wildcats fall to 3-4 on the season.