FRANKLIN – Franklin-Simpson left Madisonville-North Hopkins with absolutely no answers as the Wildcats rolled over the Maroons 62-6 in the second round of the 4A football playoffs on Friday evening in Franklin.
Totaling 326 yards of offense to Madisonville’s two, Franklin-Simpson made a statement early from the first snap of the game.
“We’re playing good football and our kids are pretty tough,” Wildcats’ head coach Doug Preston said. “We didn’t talk about making statements, we don’t do that stuff. We just want to come out and play the best we can play tonight and we did that tonight.”
The Wildcats led 7-0 after one quarter but turned on the burners with a 35-6 run in the second quarter, mostly thanks to three consecutive touchdowns by senior running back James Baker, two on the ground and one on a punt blocked by himself.
“[James] is very energizing,” fellow senior running back Saul Brady said. “He’s one heck of a guy; good on the field and good off the field. He’s one heck of an athlete.”
The Wildcats finished with 303 rushing yards against a battered Maroons defense as Brady carried the ball 8 times for 77 yards and Baker ran for 47 yards on five carries. Both players ran for two touchdowns.
The two teams traded possessions before the Wildcats got on the board first with Brady’s 32-yard scamper to put Franklin up 7-0.
In the second quarter, Baker scored on runs of 10 and 26 to quickly make the Wildcat lead 21-0 before he blocked a punt in Madisonville’s end zone and recovered for a 27-0 lead.
The Maroons finally got on the board with 6:28 remaining in the first half on Hayden Reynolds’ one-yard quarterback keeper, but failed on the two-point conversion attempt.
The Wildcats put the running clock into effect on Rylan Thomas’s 23-yard touchdown pass to Jevon Covington with 29 seconds to go in the first half, making the score 42-6.
Franklin added touchdown runs from Tedric Partinger, Malik Carter and Gavin Finch in the second half to expand their lead.
The Maroons totaled -5 rushing yards on the evening and seven passing yards. Franklin’s Rylan Thomas completed one pass for 23 yards and a touchdown
“Rylan is such a fun kid to coach,” Preston said. “He’s a funny kid, but he’s a really good leader for us. He does everything that we need him to do and he’s really leading us the right way right now.”
With the win, Franklin-Simpson will host Hopkinsville next Friday evening. The Tigers are 6-6 on the season and ended Logan County’s perfect season with a 43-8 win over the Cougars on Friday, picking up their fifth straight win.
“It’s always a big deal to be able to go to the third round,” Brady said. “Hopkinsville has shown that they’re an amazing team. We just have to come out and be on our A-game against them.
