Region Final:
Franklin 49, Lorena 27
By Douglas Pils
GEORGETOWN – In 2021, Franklin spent a year seeking redemption en route to the school’s first state football championship.
In 2023, a shorter path has Franklin one win from a fourth straight trip to a Class 3A state title game at AT&T Stadium.
The Lions’ 49-27 victory over Lorena in the Region III-3A, Division I title game on Dec. 1 avenged a 52-49 loss to the Leopards at Hedrick Field on Oct. 20. That defeat ended Franklin’s 39-game win streak, a run that started when the 2021 team went 16-0 a year after falling by a point in the 2020 Class 3A-Division II title game.
Junior running back Jayden Jackson made sure Franklin found redemption with 311 yards and five touchdowns with a season-high 34 carries Friday at Georgetown ISD’s Birkelbach Field.
“When I came into this game, there was no fear. I kept telling the team, ‘no fear, no fear,’” said Jackson, who now has 2,261 yards rushing and 32 total touchdowns on the season. “We’ve got to be the most physical team all night long. And the best team. We’ve got to leave no doubt that we’re the better football team. We came out and that’s what we did.”
That sets up a rematch with the Edna Cowboys in the state semifinal at 7 p.m. Thursday at Cy Fair FCU Stadium in Cypress. The Lions beat Edna 41-16 in this round last year a week before winning that second straight state title. Jackson rushed for two scores and passed for another in the 2022 semifinal, but he was on a different level against Lorena.
“He’s been really focused all week long,” Franklin coach Mark Fannin said. “He’s a guy that you want the ball in his hands, especially in big games like this. He kind of showed out and had a great game and I couldn’t be more proud of him.”
Jackson, who has a second straight 2,000-yard season, was a vocal force motivating his teammates all week and on Friday night.
“He has turned the corner,” said fellow linebacker Brayden Youree, who 6.5 tackles in the win. “He has turned into a grown man and I’m certain to see him on television on Saturdays in the future.”
Lions trailed for 13 seconds
Jackson started his big night after Lorena took a 7-0 lead on a 77-yard pass play with 5:57 left in the first quarter. It took him 13 seconds to ease concerns, as he took a pitch to the left, cut back against the grain and raced 70 yards for his first touchdown.
Senior quarterback and kicker Cort Lowry hit the first of his seven extra points to tie the game with 5:44 left in the quarter.
Defense stood strong
After that, the defense put the clamps down on Bralon Henry and Lorena’s rushing attack. Henry had 221 yards in the game on Oct. 20 that ended with a last-second field goal. He finished with 61 of the team’s 99 yards rushing this time around.
“That was our game plan going in was stopping the run,” said Fannin, who’s now 57-4 in four seasons as Franklin’s head coach. “They had so much success running the ball on us the last time we played. We went in with the game plan of they’re going to have to beat us throwing the football. And the defense played lights out tonight.”
Jackson’s second score came on a 35-yard run late in the first quarter. Lorena punted for the third time after its fourth possession and senior Devyn Hidrogo sprinted 69 yards on the return to the Leopards’ 5 to set up Jackson’s third score from 2 yards out. That produced a 21-7 lead with 8:02 left in the second quarter.
“I was seeing my O-line in the trenches getting that work done, opening up holes for me and that’s what they did,” said Jackson, who had his first 300-yard game since he gained 338 in 2022 against Cameron. “I love them for that. I was just seeing a lot of holes and when I saw the hole I just hit it and fought for what I could get.”
The Leopards had their best drive to pull within 21-14 after 11 plays and 75 yards with Henry scoring from the 3.
Franklin left some points to be scored at the end of the quarter, failing on fourth-and-3 from the Lorena 5. Senior linebacker Colby Smith, who led the team with 8.5 tackles, caused and recovered a fumble on the next play in the final minute at the 5. Lowry’s pass intended for A.J. Phillips was intercepted in the end zone.
Different third quarter this time
On Oct. 20, Lorena trailed by 14 points, but they turned the game around in the third quarter after some Franklin mistakes. That wasn’t going to happen this time.
“I had the message to my team all week that the team with the fewest amount of mistakes was going to win this ballgame,” Fannin said. “They put the ball on the ground a little more than we did and we took advantage of it.”
Franklin opened the second half with a seven-play drive in just under three minutes. Hidrogo capped it off with a 2-yard run. On the kickoff, Hidrogo forced a fumble and Lowry recovered it at the Lorena 41.
Eight plays later, five of which were Jackson runs, the junior had his fourth touchdown with an 8-yard run. That gave Franklin a 35-14 lead with five minutes left in the quarter.
There would be no Lorena comeback in this third quarter.
“I reminded them at halftime we were up 14 last time,” Fannin said. “We had to go in with the same mindset as we had at the beginning of the game and come out and play Franklin Lion football.”
Long drives counter big plays
The Leopards stuck around by hitting a couple of more big plays with 75-yard and 37-yard touchdown passes by senior quarterback Kaden Roberts, who finished 7-of-10 passing for 238 yards.
Franklin responded to both of those with clock-churning drives. The first took seven plays and ended with Hidrogo’s 31-yard reception from Lowry late in the third quarter. That gave Hidrogo 152 total yards rushing, receiving and on that long punt return.
Lorena pulled to 42-27 with 11:52 left in the game, but Franklin wasn’t going to make the same mistakes again. Next up was a 15-play drive full of smart decisions, such as Hidrogo sliding down after one first-down run so the Lions could chew up more time.
Jackson had nine carries on the drive, the final one a 6-yard run for his fifth touchdown with 4 minutes left.
“When I got the fifth touchdown, that was amazing because I knew I put the game away,” Jackson said. “When our defense came out, we were going to get a stop and that’s what we did.”
Defense forced three turnovers
That’s what happened when junior Wade Stallones pulled down his team-leading fifth interception of the season two plays later.
“It felt really good,” Youree said. “Just like the hype of this game and just knowing what we had to go through this week and it felt good for it to pay off.”
For six weeks, the Lions refocused their efforts with the hopes they could see Lorena again in the playoffs. Losing the 39-game winning streak, the longest in Texas at the time, hurt. But in the end, it’s looking like the loss provided the push Franklin needed to get back to a fourth straight state championship game.
However, the final task before that will be beating an Edna team that dominated Blanco 55-13 for the Region IV-3A title.
“Really our maturity and our discipline has changed so much since the beginning of the year,” Youree said. “It’s been pretty fun to see how we’ve turned into the team we’ve turned into.”
Editor’s note: I had a couple of good interviews with senior lineman Braden Smith and senior quarterback Cort Lowry, but the file corrupted so they’re comments are not here. They talked about how hard the team worked to get to this moment and how focused they have become in the past six weeks. Thanks to the Eagle’s Alex Miller for sharing his interview recordings with me.
Leave a Reply