Franklin makes winning look easy against Stockdale
By DOUGLAS PILS
(First published in the Franklin News Weekly)
CEDAR PARK – So far, the Franklin Lions’ playoff redemption tour hasn’t been too tough.
After demolishing Stockdale 70-6 the area round at Guyton Stadium on Friday, Nov. 19, the Lions have outscored their playoff opponents 133-13 when counting the 63-7 victory over Danbury on Sept. 11.
The numbers against Stockdale were staggering. The Lions outgained the Brahmas 622 to 148 with 10 backs combining for 544 rushing yards and three topping 100 yards. Senior Bobby Washington had nine carries for 184 yards, while freshman Jayden Jackson had 115 and senior Malcolm Murphy had 105 on four carries each.
First-half touchdown drives were quick and merciless, taking two, one, four, seven, one, two and two plays to build a 49-0 lead at the break. Malcolm Murphy had an 84-yard touchdown where no Brahma touched him, while Washington and Braden Smith delivered pancake blocks. And Jackson had two similar runs, scoring on 42- and 69-yard sprints.
“It’s impressive,” said senior quarterback Marcus Wade, who completed 3 of 4 passes for 78 yards and a 31-yard touchdown to Hayden Helton. “Being the quarterback and watching these running backs work hard in practice and translate to the game is awesome to watch.”
The toughest task for Washington, who scored two touchdowns to give him 20 on the year, was pushing Murphy and receiver Hayden Helton out of the way on his 62-yard score in the second quarter. Washington and the backs routinely broke free without being touched and both the back and coach Mark Fannin gave the offensive line a ton of credit.
“They blocked real good,” said Washington, who now has a team-high 1,273 yards rushing. “If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be doing as well as I’m doing now.”
The Lions put on a defensive show, as well. Franklin had five sacks, eight other tackles for a loss and broke up five pass attempts to go with an interception by sophomore Devyn Hidrogo. Stockdale completed just 2 of 14 passes and one of the completions was a halfback pass on the first play of the game.
“I just think we guessed when they were going to pass,” said senior linebacker Seth Shamblin, who had a team-high three tackles for a loss among his seven stops. “You can really tell when they were going to pass in their formations and we were able to get pressure on them and it was easy money.”
Sophomore linebacker Brayden Youree led the team with 12 tackles and junior Bryson Washington had nine tackles to go with his two rushing scores on offense.
“Our defense is playing real well right now,” Fannin said. “They’re flying around and getting to the football.”
Bryson Washington’s second touchdown, a 35-yard run, gave Franklin a 56-0 lead on the first drive of the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, senior Fragiel Owens had a 30-yard scoring run and Cole Brantner had a hard-nosed 5-yard touchdown to make it 70-6.
Looking ahead to the regional semifinals, Franklin will see District 13-3A foe Riesel on Friday at 7:30 p.m. in Belton. The Indians have scored playoff upsets over Van Vleck (21-12) and Natalia (10-8). The Lions easily handled Riesel 75-13 in their district meeting, but Fannin already had his coaching mantra set up after the win over Stockdale.
“We’ve just got to stay focused,” he said. “It’s one week at a time and these kids are a special group of kids and they’re hungry. It’s fun to watch as a coaching staff and it makes it fun for us to come to work every day.”
The big coaching point ahead of Stockdale was avoiding the emotional fireworks on display in the bi-district round against Danbury. Fannin said he was excited to see how the team didn’t “act silly on the field” when provoked this week. It’s a message the players are hearing loud and clear the closer this redemption tour gets to Arlington and a hopeful return to the state title game.
“As a team, we have to be more disciplined and not letting these other teams get in our head,” said Wade, who has thrown for 1,007 yards and touchdowns in 11 out of 12 victories. “Because they know we’re No. 1 and they’re going to try to get in our head and get us out of our rhythm.”
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