Franklin 48, Hallettsville 6
Bi-district Playoffs
Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024
By Douglas Pils
WALLER – The start of Mark Fannin’s head coaching career ranks among the best in Texas high school history. It’s hard to top Franklin’s four trips to a Class 3A state final with two championships in four seasons.
Fannin defers credit for a lot of reasons, but the biggest might be his mentor, Mike Hedrick, the man he worked under and replaced in 2020. Hedrick, one of 15 to reach 300 coaching victories in Texas high school football history, died Wednesday, a day before the Lions opened the 2024 playoffs with a 48-6 bi-district victory over Hallettsville at Daikin Stadium.
“Coach Mike was my mentor. I owe everything (to him). Any success I’ve had, I owe it all to him,” said Fannin, who improved to 66-7 in his fifth season as Franklin’s coach. “He’s a one-of-a-kind guy, that’s a true legend in my eyes. He’ll always be remembered and I will always be grateful for what he’s done for me and this football team.”
It was the third straight bi-district win over Hallettsville, following a 33-7 victory in 2022 and 50-22 win in 2023.
Winning the Franklin way
Franklin started the game with Hedrick’s favorite call – right, 42-lead – and spent the rest of the night churning up yards on the ground. It was the first time all season that the Lions didn’t complete a pass, so 357 rushing yards and a dominant second-half defensive effort secured the victory.
Senior Jayden Jackson led the run game with 147 yards and two scores on 13 carries. Jackson is now 10 yards short of a second straight 2,000-yard season. Junior Walker Anderson gained 63 yards on four carries and he also had two scores.
In all, eight backs combined to average 9.9 yards per carry.
Defense clamps down
The Lions’ defense gave up 10 first downs in the first half, letting Hallettsville convert six third-down plays and one on fourth down. However, the Brahmas only had four first downs in the second half, when Franklin picked off two passes, including a 67-yard touchdown return by senior Wade Stallones.
“We’ve built a lot, built a lot, especially on the defensive side,” Jackson said. “We were struggling a bit coming off the two losses on defense in the preseason. But I feel like we got better in our defensive passing game. It’s there now.”
Franklin led 20-6 at halftime, but Hallettsville had chances to make it closer.
Jackson’s 39-yard run got Franklin on the board first, then the Brahmas tied the game at 6-6 following a 14-play drive that took 7:28 off the clock. Hallettsville wanted to keep the ball out of the Lions’ hands and it worked for a while.
However, Anderson gave the lead back to the Lions less than 3 minutes later with a 43-yard run. After junior R.J. Fulton’s successful two-point run for a 14-6 lead, the Brahmas were flagged for an unsportsmanlike penalty, which was applied on the kickoff.
Gamble pays off
Fannin opted for an onside kick and senior Landon Lebouf recovered at the Hallettsville 23. Three plays later, senior quarterback Noah Tart scored on a 7-yard keeper for a 20-6 lead.
The Brahmas threatened to head into halftime trailing by just one score, reaching the Franklin 6 on a 13-play drive. However, on a fourth-down play, sophomore Ryan Smitherman picked off a pass at the goal line to kill the drive.
“I thought we came out a little flat at first,” Fannin said. “We had some distractions obviously this week, but they settled in and started playing Franklin football.
“We couldn’t really get any momentum in that first half. In the second half, we got our momentum going and just kept it going.”
Pitching a second-half shutout
Franklin dominated the second half, scoring 28 points and keeping the Brahmas from ever threatening.
“We just made our halftime adjustments,” said Stallones, who made his fourth interception and second pick-6 of the season. “We had the film in there to make sure we’re doing what we were supposed to and then a little goes a long way. We shut them down.”
The Lions took the second-half kickoff and put together a clinical Franklin-esque drive. It lasted 11 plays and the longest one was the first one, a 15-yard run by Jackson. Five different runners contributed and Jackson capped it with a 4-yard run. Erick Lopez’ extra point made it 27-6.
Hallettsville got only three plays before freshman Aaden Johnson, who recently returned from a broken ankle, picked off a pass and returned it to the Brahmas 47. One pass interference call and three plays later, Anderson scored his second touchdown from 7 yards out.
With 2:48 left in the third quarter, Franklin led 34-6 and the victory was secure.
“It was fun, especially seeing the freshman come back from six weeks out with the ankle fracture,” Jackson said. “Seeing him go out there and get that interception. It kind of excited me, because I like seeing young guys shine. I like seeing them make their mark.”
Breaking down big play
On the eighth play of Hallettsville’s next drive, Stallones provided his 67-yard interception for a score. His assessment of what happened deserves a full explanation.
“So I got my post and all of the sudden I saw someone coming out of the backfield,” Stallones said. “I was like ‘oh man, he’s gonna throw it.’ Looking out of the corner of my eye I see the ball and my eyes turned into beach balls. The ball was just floating in the air. I had to run in front of Jayden – I hadn’t told him I’m sorry yet – but I stole that pick from him.
“I was running down the sideline, got my block, I don’t know who it was. I saw this big guy coming at him and I was like “oh Lord, this ain’t going to be good.” So I cut back inside, bounced off of him, scored the touchdown and partied with the team.”
Lots of experience to go around
Leading 41-6, many young Lions got some valuable playoff playing time, but it was senior Collin Smitherman who capped the scoring with one of his patented long runs. This one was from 53 yards out, giving him 559 yards on the season – second on the team behind Jackson – and his sixth rushing touchdown.
With the team gathered on the field, Fannin talked about how things won’t get any easier going forward. Each game will provide a tough test. But he liked what he’s seen from a team without a lot of experience from those previous four years.
“They just know that they’ve got to come locked in at practice and be ready to go,” Fannin said. “Texas high school football, any game is not easy, but moving forward in the playoffs is not going to get easier for these guys. I thought how they came out and played in the second half was a good way of going into next week.”
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