Franklin shocks Patterson, 28-20

Franklin held off Patterson, 28-20, Friday to break a lengthy losing streak to the Lumberjacks in high school football action at the Sugar Dome.
But, Patterson (3-7, 3-3) still secured a coveted Class 3A playoff berth Sunday as a No. 28 seed and will travel to face No. 5 seed Marksville Friday.
“We’re excited to be in the post season,” Patterson first-year coach Marvin Dantzler said. “It was our goal this season. We’re going to prepare for Marksville all week, go out there and give it our best. Like I told our kids Saturday, everybody’s unbeaten now.”
Franklin (2-8, 1-5) circled the Patterson game on its schedule after seeing district-foe, Berwick, break its 20-year losing streak to the Lumberjacks earlier this season.
“We only had 25 guys tonight, but several kids had never beaten Patterson and it was their last time playing football together,” Franklin coach Todd Viator said. “Not to mention that they wanted to win their second game this season after only winning one game the last two years.”
Whatever the motivation, Franklin came out on fire. The Hornets took the opening kickoff and went on a 13-play drive that was capped by Avontre Pero’s 4-yard touchdown run with 4:24 remaining in the first quarter.
Patterson only got four offensive snaps in the first period.
Franklin went up by 14 with 9:24 remaining in the second quarter on a John Boyd run.
Patterson finally got the offense going when Hector Tolento found Dajon Richard for a 30-yard touchdown pass with 5:45 remaining in the first half.
The ’Jacks’ onside kick magic continued when kicker Christian Soria got another perfect bounce for the ‘Jacks’ to recover.
Patterson went on a six-play, 45-yard drive that Richard capped on a 14-yard run with 2:22 remaining in the second quarter. Soria’s kick tied the game at 14.
Franklin, however, pounded the ball down the ’Jacks’ throat, and Devynn Armstead crashed in from 1-yard out to give Franklin the lead again. After a two-point run, Franklin led 22-14 at halftime.
“We played hard, but our energy wasn’t there at times and we didn’t tackle well,” Dantzler said. “But, you have to give Franklin some credit because they found a weakness and exploited it. We could never find an offensive rhythm because they always had the ball.”
Franklin outgained Patterson 316 yards (286 rushing and 30 passing) to 286 yards (173 rushing and 113 yards passing) in total offense.
Patterson opened the second half with a long, time consuming drive, but the drive stalled after six minutes and the ’Jacks’ turned the ball over on downs.
Franklin took over at the Patterson 20-yard line, and Pero later scored on a 7-yard run to push the Hornets’ lead to 28-14 with 2:35 minutes left in the third quarter.
After Patterson recovered a high snap on the Franklin 15, Dontre Nicholas darted in from 15 yards out to cut Franklin’s lead to 28-20.
The ’Jacks’ offense got a shot at tying the game with a 1:09 left to play, but Franklin’s defense held deep in its own territory. The Hornet’s took over to end the game.
Pero led the Franklin rushing attack with 154 yards on 25 carries with two touchdowns. Armstead added 118 yards on 12 carries and a score.
Franklin quarterback Davondre Holland was 4 for 4 passing for 30 yards.
Nicholas led the ’Jacks with 15 carries for 95 yards and a touchdown, while Richard had 11 carries for 83 yards and one score.
Tolento completed 9 of 25 passes for 113 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions.
Jordan Butler led the Patterson receivers with three catches for 45 yards, while Richard had two catches for 42 yards and a touchdown.