State final: Malakoff 14, Franklin 7
By Douglas Pils
ARLINGTON – The scoreboard showed Malakoff 14, Franklin 7 as the last seconds slipped away in the Class 3A, Division I state championship game on Dec. 14 at AT&T Stadium.
Franklin’s dream of three straight titles ended and the finality left several Lions in anguish on the stadium turf while the Tigers celebrated their school’s first title. Franklin’s amazing senior class finished 58-5, 30-2 the past two years, with two state titles and two state final losses by a combined eight points.
It was hard in those final moments to feel good about any of that, but coach Mark Fannin and seniors Braden Smith and Cort Lowry did their best to put four amazing seasons into proper perspective.
“You know, these last four years, for me at least, have been the most memorable years of my life,” said Lowry, the second Franklin quarterback to lead the Lions to two state finals after Marcus Wade Jr. piloted the first two. “Every day with these brothers of mine in this senior class, it’s been amazing. It’s been part of the best memories I’ll have in my life and I will talk about it forever.
“Now that it’s all ended, you’re gonna look back at yourself and how you interacted with your teammates. And that’s what matters the most, you know, the brotherhood and the bond we have in that locker room. It means more than any late end of a game to lose. And that’s what I’ll cherish forever.”
Smith thanked the coaching staff as he struggled to keep his emotions in check.
“I just want to say thank you to Coach Fannin and our coaching staff for the last four years of not only making me a better football player, but truly making me a better person and I’m forever in his debt,” Smith said.
That either of the Lions’ seniors were able to speak that clearly after such a tough, heartbreaking loss was amazing.
Hard-fought game
The Lions battled throughout, overcoming several setbacks. There was Devyn Hidrogo’s fumble into the end zone on the second drive as he tried to stretch the ball over the goal line (it was close), a couple of injuries on the offensive line, costly penalties and falling behind 14-0. But they still gave themselves a chance in the final quarter. A 10-play drive to the Malakoff 15 ended with 1:53 remaining after two incomplete passes, one by Lowry and one by sophomore running back R.J. Fulton when Franklin needed 7 yards for a first down.
The Lions (14-2) didn’t have their typical success running the ball, getting held to 193 yards on 41 carries and the Tigers made good plays on most of Lowry’s passes. The Lions were 2 of 8 passing for 31 yards.
Still, Fannin liked their final two play calls.
“I’ll never question myself,” said Fannin, who rose to head coach at the start of this four-year run to four state finals. “You know, I felt good about the play calls and it’s something that we saw and we thought was going to be there. They were big and physical up front and we were having trouble moving the ball tonight. No, I don’t regret them and I’d do them over again.”
Evenly matched teams
Malakoff (16-0) ran out the remaining time with two quick first downs and learned how good winning the school’s first title felt. The Tigers did everything just a little bit better, outgaining the Lions 281-224, getting more first downs (18 to 13) and drawing fewer penalty flags (3 for 35 yards compared to 6 for 45).
Quarterback Mike Jones completed 10 of 14 passes for 140 yards, with 73 coming on two touchdown passes. Chauncey Hogg caught them both, the first for 32 yards on the Tigers’ first drive and the second from 41 yards out on the first drive of the third quarter.
Other than those two drives, the Franklin defense made big plays. Senior Major Kimbrough forced a fumble in the second quarter on a big-time hit, while the defense forced Malakoff to turn the ball over on downs twice and into punts on two other drives before the final one to end the game.
Offensively, Jayden Jackson paced the Lions’ rushing attack with 117 tough yards on 27 carries and his 5-yard touchdown with 3:57 left in the third quarter cut Malakoff’s lead to 14-7. That ended an 11-play, 74-yard drive that included five runs by Jackson, two by senior Colby Smith and a big 20-yard completion from Lowry to Hidrogo on fourth-and-8 from the Tigers 25.
Franklin’s next attempt on offense reached the Malakoff 30, but a holding penalty stalled the drive and forced a punt. The Lions got their final possession after the Tigers took 4:02 off the clock.
Hidrogo set up the Lions with a 15-yard punt return, but two more penalties slowed their attack. Hidrogo, who had 105 all-purpose yards in his final game for Franklin before heading to TCU, had a 10-yard run before Jackson secured the team’s final first down.
That left Franklin watching Malakoff’s celebration after time expired.
An amazing period in time
For four straight years, the Lions have given Franklin and its fans 16 weeks of football, bringing the community together coming out of the pandemic. That’s 24 weeks of playoff road-tripping and many celebratory stops at Buc-ee’s on the way home. The players made a difference in countless ways on and off the field with their work coaching the next generations of players in flag football and inspiring those in middle school and on the freshman and junior varsity teams.
“We’re blessed in Franklin with a lot of good hard-working kids that truly, like I said earlier, they’re ate up with the process,” Fannin said. “They love everything about the process. They love the offseason, they love the game, they love everything about it. And that’s the contribution of these guys, these seniors and the guys that I had in the past that kind of laid that foundation.
“I wish we could play tomorrow. But I know it’s time to rest a little bit and get in the offseason and get better for next year.”
It will be up to those in that offseason to fill the large shoes left by this senior class.
“I have no doubt in my mind that these underclassmen that are on the team are going to come into the offseason fired up and ready to work,” said Braden Smith, who will play at Tarleton State in 2024. “I expect to see them back here next year.”
Looking to the future
It won’t take long before talk turns to using this hurt and disappointment like the Lions did after Canadian won the 2020 Class 3A, Division II title in the final seconds. That loss sparked the 2021 team’s road to redemption and the 2022 team’s quest to repeat.
That led to the 17th time in Texas high school football history that a school has made four straight trips to a state championship game. The ingredients are there for a fifth straight appearance.
Jackson has several D-I offers and he’s sure to garner more after rushing for 2,432 yards and scoring 34 touchdowns in 2023. The way he handled some adverse moments during the game says more about him than any of his statistics ever could.
Jackson now has 5,549 career rushing yards and his class has tough difference makers on both sides of the ball who are going to be highly motivated to get back to Arlington. Two are Landon LeBouf and Noah Tart, and the defensive backs led the Lions with eight and seven tackles, respectively, in the title game. (Senior Brayden Youree also had seven tackles.)
There are sophomores who gained experience this year and will be upperclassmen next year. There are other young players who led the junior varsity to a 10-0 season and the freshman class looked sharp going 9-1 this fall, often against larger schools.
“I think the mindset for these younger guys is really going to be what it was for us in 2021 coming off that state championship loss in our freshman year,” said Lowry, who has signed to play baseball at Tarleton State. “You know, those younger guys come to practice every day and they see how these seniors work hard and they just fall right in our footsteps.
“They work as hard as they can every day and I’m super proud of all those younger kids who really stepped up this year and made it into bigger roles in practice and games for us. I think they’re gonna do great things.”
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