FRANKLIN — Franklin-Simpson came into Friday’s matchup with Allen County-Scottsville on bit of a hot streak, winning five of its first six games and scoring at least 44 points in four of them.
The Wildcats added to that against the Patriots.
Franklin-Simpson eclipsed the 50-point mark for the third time in 2018, knocking off AC-S 54-14 for its fourth win in a row dating back to September 7.
AC-S coach Brad Hood summed up the Franklin-Simpson football program after game. He and his Patriot team got a glimpse of the defending 4A State champs, and it looks like the Wildcats are bound for another title.
Franklin-Simpson amassed 546 total yards of offense — 422 of which came from the ground game.
“They are so big. They are so strong and they are so athletic,” Hood said after the loss to Franklin-Simpson. “You can’t key on anyone. They just have weapon after weapon. I think they are better than they were last year.”
“You just can’t make mistakes when you play a team like that,” Hood added.
The array of weapons the Wildcats have at their disposal was nearly impossible to stop. Franklin-Simpson have shown its ability to hit quick on the ground instead of pounding the defense with multiple runs. Tre Bass eclipsed 125 yards on just four carries, while Carlos McKinney added 97 yards on just seven. Tedric Partinger contributed to the action with 79 yards of his own on a mere two carries.
Bass added to his season total with two touchdown runs of 53 and 56 yards,
But it wasn’t just the rushing attack that had success for Franklin-Simpson, the young freshman quarterback Luke Richardson showed his development as well.
Although Richardson threw the ball just seven times, he completed five of those attempts for 120 yards and a touchdown.
Richardson found Jevon Covington for a 25-yard touchdown pass to make to push the lead to 41 points at 48-7. Before that, the freshman signal-caller hit Leandre Stutzman from 59 yards out in the second quarter.
“Luke (Richardson) is throwing the ball, finding the open man,” Preston said. “It is really exciting. You can see the improvement and how Luke is getting more comfortable. They are all starting to get used to each other and that’s a great thing to be doing at this point in the season.”
When the game got out of hand, Franklin-Simpson’s starters went to the sideline for the rest of the game, but that didn’t keep from the offense from finding points. Freshman running back Omar Harrison would add to it after a 5-yard touchdown run to put the lead at 54-14 — his first of the season.
“We have a good relationship with everybody and we are feeling it,” Richardson said. “(We are) making good plays.”
The Patriots had some bright spots, despite trailing the entire game. Trace McIntrye showed off his arm talent by connecting with senior wide receiver Jacob Lightfoot for a 90-yard touchdown, cutting the lead to just 21-7. McIntrye would go on to throw for 109 yards
AC-S began the second half with a 12-play drive that resulted with a 1-yard touchdown run by Dillon Rookstool.
Kelly Weger came into the game averaging 126 yards on the ground. Before the Franklin-Simpson matchup, the talented running back was carrying the ball for an average of 7.1 yards.
The Wildcats limited Weger, holding him to just 63 yards and no touchdowns.
“We moved the ball,” Hood said. “Our offense isn’t one-dimensional. I thought Kelly ran hard. I thought my quarterbacks played hard. I thought Jacob Lightfoot showed that he is still really, really good.
