The weather might have been miserable and wet, but the Franklin College football team sure wasn’t.
Franklin was the total package Saturday afternoon at Faught Stadium, using an opportunistic offense and stellar defense to blank winless Defiance 28-0 in Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference action.
It was the Grizzlies’ first shutout since blanking Manchester 42-0, a little more than four years ago.
“I’m just happy for a victory in conditions like this,” Franklin coach Mike Leonard said. “It was tough to do much offensively in a day like today.”
Perhaps, as the Grizzlies (4-4, 3-2) only amassed 288 yards in total offense, their second lowest output of the season. However, as noted by Leonard, the weather had a lot to do with that, as the team played conservatively after pulling ahead.
“Once we got the lead, I didn’t want to get too much,” Leonard said. “It was a thing of where we don’t want to beat ourselves.”
Defiance (0-7, 0-4) certainly wasn’t going to beat them, as the Yellow Jackets’ offense continued to struggle, having scored just six points over its last three games.
One positive for Defiance was that it came in surrendering a staggering 57.5 points a game, but Franklin scored the lowest amount of points of any Yellow Jacket opponent.
Of course, Leonard and the Grizzlies couldn’t care less; they were there for the win.
Austin Grunden started the onslaught with a 15-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. Three minutes later, he scored again, this time from the 3.
Franklin didn’t score again until just before halftime, when Braden Smith hit Jarrett Gibson for 26 yards.
It was Robbie Strader’s turn next, and the former Roncalli player hit Joey Siderewicz from 6 yards out in the fourth quarter for the final score.
Franklin didn’t throw much, but when it did, it completed 8 of 11 for 62 yards.
“(If) we don’t have to throw, let’s not throw,” Leonard said. “Our defense is doing a good job of stopping them, so it was a very conservative play-called game.”
Which worked, as Grunden capped off his final home game with 145 yards rushing.
Defensively, the Grizzlies held the Yellow Jackets to only 5 yards rushing and 147 overall. The Cubs also forced five turnovers, with three fumbles and two interceptions.
“This is the kind of game we need,” Leonard said. “We got to play a lot of people. Good for morale and it was Senior Day, and all those seniors got to play and do some good things.”
