Franklin finishes off Gunter for Class 3A-II crown
BY DOUGLAS PILS
ARLINGTON – Locked in an epic battle and tied with about 14 minutes left in the state championship game, the Franklin Lions turned to their toughest and meanest to make the 164-mile trip to AT&T Stadium a glorious journey.
Senior Malcolm Murphy finished off the Gunter Tigers with fourth-quarter touchdown runs of 61 and 86 yards and two interceptions to seal the Lions’ 49-35 victory and Franklin’s first state football title. While his two-way heroics may qualify as toughest, he wasn’t the meanest.
That was the guys who cleared the way: senior center Charlie Scarpinato, senior guards Colton Meddars and Russell Stegall, junior tackles Quade Lopez and Andrew Elmore, senior quick end Hayden Helton and pancaking tight end Braden Smith, a sophomore. They opened the holes that allowed the Lions to set the Class 3A championship game record with 523 yards rushing.
“The offensive line did outstanding and they have all year long,” coach Mark Fannin said about the group that helped Franklin finish the year with 7,020 yards rushing or 439 yards per game. “I’ve told every one of these guys that they’re in the trenches every single play. And they don’t get their number called very often.
“It takes a special person to be an offensive lineman, to keep pounding and grinding constantly. I’ve got a group right now that is tough and mean. If you’ve got a group that’s tough and mean, they’re going to win some football games.”
The Lions finished their historic 2021 season winning all 16 games, and it was that group that took Gunter’s will to fight starting with 1:45 left in the third quarter.
The Tigers tied the game at 35-35 and Franklin went to work at its own 20 following a touchback and a motion penalty. Brothers Bobby and Bryson Washington picked up 19 yards on four carries to end the quarter.
On the first play of the fourth, Murphy needed nine seconds to cover 61 yards after a pitch from senior quarterback Marcus Wade Jr. and a hole so big cleared by Stegall and Elmore that no one was close enough to put a hand on him. Seth Shamblin’s sixth extra point made it 42-35 with 11:51 to go and up until this point the teams had traded touchdowns the entire game.
Gunter gained one first down, but then Major Kimbrough and Haze Tomascik stopped Brayden Hinton for 2 yards. Hudson Graham threw behind his receiver on second down and then Smith and twin brother Colby Smith kept Ivy Hellman from reaching the corner on a 2-yard gain.
Graham’s 40-yard punt pinned Franklin at its own 16 with 9:48 to go.
Murphy took another pitch, planted his right foot and charged past backfield blocks by Bobby Washington and Braden Smith, slipped past sealing blocks by Meddars and Parker Boyett and he shoved off two tackle attempts before hitting open field and an 84-yard touchdown run.
“It started with the front line,” said Murphy, who earned Offensive MVP honors with 280 yards rushing and four touchdowns on 15 carries. “Without them, I wouldn’t be able to do anything I do back in the backfield. I’m thankful to them. I love them. I just want to say thank you to them.”
That line had some talent to block for this season and that’s not lost on Braden Smith.
“It just shows how well disciplined our group is as an offensive line,” Smith said. “We’re pretty senior heavy on the offensive line. We’re going to fill some big spots next year. But we went out and did our job. I think we’ve got the best backs in the state of Texas and they showed that tonight.”
Bobby Washington finished the year with a team-leading 1,734 yards after 96 of his toughest yards on 19 carries. His brother Bryson Washington capped the year with 1,478 yards after he gained 165 on 17 carries and he had the other three touchdowns, including a 66-yard sprint one play after an interception by Colby Smith.
Murphy’s big night gave him 1,456 yards on the season, and his little brother Jayden Jackson, just a freshman, nearly gave the Lions four 1,000-yard rushers with 905 on the year.
So Braden Smith’s not wrong when he says Franklin had the best backs in the state.
Shamblin’s seventh extra point made it 49-35 with 9:35 left to play, and the Lions defense took away Gunter’s will to score again. Murphy played a part there, too. The Tigers got one first down, but on second-and-9, Murphy intercepted Graham with 8:04 to go.
The Lions chewed up 3:51 on the clock in eight plays before turning the ball over on downs with 4:13 left. The Tigers got one more first down, but then Murphy intercepted Graham again at the Franklin 26.
It was a fantastic quarter for Murphy, who had a simple explanation.
“Like I tell everybody else, big-time players make big-time plays and I’m a big-time player,” Murphy said.
The Lions ran out the final 3:08 with Bobby Washington gaining the final 20 yards of the season and the joyous celebration was on.
“It’s one of the best moments of my life bringing home the first-ever state championship here in Franklin,” said Fannin, now 28-3 in two seasons as the Lions’ coach. “This town has been waiting a very long time for this and I couldn’t be more proud to bring that trophy home.”
Murphy, Bryson Washington and the offensive line were the big stories on Thursday, but they had plenty of help on this night.
Helton may not have added to his reception totals of 15 catches for 468 yards and 10 touchdowns in his final game, but his punting, in addition to his blocking, altered the game. He had three punts for a 46-yard average, including two 57-yard boots.
Colby Smith earned Defensive MVP honors with 11 tackles and the third-quarter interception that kept Gunter from capitalizing on Murphy’s one mistake, a fumble to open the third quarter. The sophomore ended up with a team-leading 136 tackles on the season.
Shamblin made seven tackles, two for a loss, and he hit all seven extra points to make him 44 out of 45 in six playoff games. The senior caught the brunt of criticism for his miss at the end of the 2020 championship loss to Canadian, but Fannin made a point of saying just how much Shamblin’s efforts meant to the team and served as inspiration for how to deal with adversity.
“That kid is a very special kid. How he handled himself after last year and how he grew from that moment to become a better football player,” Fannin said. “It would have been very easy for him to quit and give up. He heard a lot of bad stuff on social media. Being a 17-year-old kid, you know that’s hard to overcome some time. He took it like a man and it motivated him more than anything. He was out all summer long kicking, all throughout the year kicking and he was ready for this moment tonight.”
All of Franklin proved to be ready to win the school’s first championship. For 19 seniors, it was the culmination of their high school careers and for most the end of their playing days. They graduate this May with the highest accomplishment they could achieve on the football field.
“It was very emotional knowing it’s the last time playing with my senior brothers,” said Washington, whose three touchdowns gave him a team-leading 30 on the year, as Murphy finished with 26 and Bobby Washington with 25. “You never know when it’s someone’s last day so I was very emotional about that. I’m very grateful for this team.”
All of Franklin can relate to that feeling.
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