<p>MARTINSVILLE</p>
<p>The last time Franklin started the season 5-0 was during its magical season of 1969, when it went unbeaten for the year.</p>
<p>Needless to say, not a single member of the Grizzly Cubs was alive then — and head coach Chris Coll was only a 2-year-old toddler at the time.</p>
<p>It remains to be seen if the Class 5A No. 8 Cubs can emulate their forefathers, but they are still on the right track after beating host Martinsville in a shootout, 62-39.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
<p>Not only are the Cubs 5-0, but also 3-0 in the Mid-State Conference and at the top of the heap entering next week’s showdown with league rival and Class 4A No. 1 Mooresville, which lost to Decatur Central on Friday.</p>
<p>“That’s an outstanding offensive group, but we did what we had to do and that was score points,” Coll said. “Once we got ahead of them, we couldn’t let them get even with us.”</p>
<p>Offensively, the Grizzly Cubs totaled 495 yards, with 226 of that coming in the air courtesy of senior quarterback Drew Byerly.</p>
<p>Byerly completed 12 of 24 passes and threw for four touchdowns, two each to receivers Christian McClure and Isaiah Klein. He also rushed for 128 yards and four touchdowns and he wasn’t sacked once.</p>
<p>Junior Jalen Ward also had a big night, rushing for 141 yards and a touchdown — the last one of the night.</p>
<p>“They did a great job,” Coll said. “We’re doing a pretty good job up front to give them the opportunities.”</p>
<p>Martinsville was game, but penalties and a bad decision helped lead to its demise.</p>
<p>In keeping with recent tradition, the Artesians threw the ball and did it well.</p>
<p>Quarterback Xavier Tunitis aired it out for 439 yards and four touchdowns, including a nice 72-yard slant pass to Matt Thomas early in the second quarter. That cut the Franklin lead to 20-13, but less than a minute later Byerly hit a wide-open Klein for a 42-yard score.</p>
<p>Martinsville certainly had guts at times, rolling the dice twice in the first half.</p>
<p>At their own 34 facing fourth and 7 with 4:20 left in the first half, the Artesians went for it and were beneficiaries of a pass interference play, giving them an automatic first down. Two plays later, Tyler Cox ran in from 38 yards to pull the Artesians to within 14 at 33-19.</p>
<p>However, with another fourth down at its own 42, Martinsville gambled again, but a bad snap caused Tunitis to get sacked for a loss of 10 yards. On the next play, Byerly hit McClure from the 32 for a 40-19 lead with 55 seconds left in the half.</p>
<p>It wasn’t as much of a point jamboree as the first half, but both teams connected often enough to keep the game going late. Franklin’s win wasn’t clear until it stopped the Artesians on another fourth-down try with a little over eight minutes to go.</p>
<p>Ward’s score effectively put the game away and now all the Cubs need is just one more win to assure a winning season overall, their first since 1996.</p>
<p>That will be a tough task next week, but Coll is not concerned with that.</p>
<p>“We’re 1-0 this week.”</p>
