Franklin County High School took a stab at upsetting No. 5 Tylertown at home, but the Chief rushing attack wore down the Bulldogs and the favorite left with a 20-9 win.
“We certainly competed,” Franklin County coach Trey Woodard said. “The outcome wasn’t what we wanted, but we thought we could (win) all week.”
Tylertown scored first when running back Chardarrius Bridges broke through the Franklin County defensive front and ran 37 yards for a Chiefs touchdown.
Franklin County’s defense, however, held firm for the remainder of the half, allowing just 19 first-half yards to Tylertown after the score.
“That’s certainly the strength of our team,” Woodard said of his defense.
Franklin County got on the board just before the end of the half. The Bulldogs (2-4) took over at just over the two-minute mark in the second quarter and composed a seven-play drive to score with 31 seconds remaining.
Bulldog quarterback De’Martre Collins connected with X’avier Green, who out-stretched a Tylertown defender to haul in a tipped ball for the score.
Franklin County opened the second half with the same intensity of a team that scored to end the first half.
Collins carried the ball 86 yards on the first play from scrimmage inside the Tylertown 5-yard line. The Tylertown defense stood strong, and Franklin County settled for a field goal from Spencer Romero to take a 9-6 lead.
“We needed to execute better in the red zone,” Woodard said. “That bit us in the butt.”
The Tylertown rushing attack then began to wear down the Franklin County defense.
The Chiefs scored when Ojavious Magee ran in from 8-yards out, and Da’bryan Magee finished the 2-point conversion to stretch the lead to 14-9.
Franklin County was unable to convert a first down for the remainder of the game, and Woodard said his defense was gassed from spending the majority of the second half on the field.
“Offensively, we didn’t string enough drives together,” Woodard said. “They wore down.”
With 6:09 left to play, Franklin County took over on downs still trailing by the eight-point margin, but the drive would be short-lived as Tylertown’s Jashon Baker intercepted Collins.
The Chiefs took over at its own 44-yard line with less than five minutes to paly, and ran the ball nine times and finished the drive with a Da’Bryan Magee touchdown with 42 seconds left.
Tylertown rushed for 185 yards and passed just twice in the second half. The Chiefs tallied 305 total yards in the game.
Collins was 5-for-16 passing with 69 yards for Franklin County. He also led the team rushing with 105 yards. Keonte’ Bee added 56 yards to Franklin County’s rushing total.
Franklin County opens district play against Wilkinson County next week.
“(Wilkinson County) has talent every year, their coaching staff is good,” Woodard said. “We still feel like we can compete with anybody.”