Franklin College’s freshman-heavy offense was explosive during the first two weeks of this delayed football season, reaching the 50-point mark in both of its victories.
On Saturday, though, it was another first-year player who turned Faught Stadium into his own personal playground.
Mount St. Joseph freshman Josh Taylor ran for five touchdowns and threw for two others as the visiting Lions scored 49 consecutive points on the way to a surprising 56-19 victory.
Taylor rushed for 225 yards and passed for 167.
“Their quarterback did a great job of making people miss,” Franklin coach Alan Hensell said. “We’ve just got to do a better job of wrapping him up, tackling him, getting him to the ground.”
The Grizzlies (2-1) got on the board early when Derek Thompson broke free for a 52-yard touchdown run just 2:09 into the game. The Lions, though, dominated the balance of the day thanks in large part to Taylor. The dual-threat rookie rushed for 122 yards and two touchdowns in the first half and was also 10 of 15 passing for 109 yards and two more scores, including a 1-yard toss on fourth and goal with 59 seconds left in the half that put Franklin in a 35-7 hole.
Franklin College converted just five of its 15 third-down situations and was forced to punt six times, four of those in the first half alone.
“I never felt we got in our true rhythm that we had the first two weeks,” Hensell said.
Life got no better for the home team after the break. Taylor scored on an 8-yard keeper to open the third quarter, and after the Grizzlies punted for the fifth time, he capped another Mount St. Joseph scoring drive by evading multiple sack attempts and wriggling free for a 12-yard touchdown to make it 49-7.
Franklin College ended its long drought at the 3:58 mark of the third quarter when Cam Johnson found the end zone on a 3-yard run, and Dane Andrews connected with Ryan Poole for a 5-yard TD early in the fourth. Taylor, though, slammed the door shut on any faint comeback hopes, swerving his way through traffic for a 33-yard scoring run with 7:32 remaining.
Thompson finished with 102 yards rushing for the Grizzlies, who were outgained by a 577-298 margin. Andrews threw for 163 yards.
Evan Stambaugh paced the Franklin defense with seven tackles, while Kody Wilkerson added a fourth-quarter interception.
With a number of inexperienced players in key positions, Saturday represented the first real adversity many of them have faced in their collegiate careers. Hensell is confident that the Grizzlies can get back on track.
“We’ve just got to continue to stay together as a team and keep plugging along, continue to focus on ourselves and continue to keep working hard and keep getting better week to week,” he said. “That’s all we can do.”
Franklin College will play consecutive road games at Bluffton and Rose-Hulman before returning home for an April 10 date with Hanover.
