By Dan Angell
For the Daily Journal
PLAINFIELD
After three minutes of action on Friday night at Plainfield, it would have been easy for Franklin to panic. Instead, the Grizzly Cubs turned to Max Clark — and the junior receiver came through in a big way.
With his team having spotted Plainfield a 13-0 lead, Clark broke through the Plainfield secondary’s tackles and turned a short toss from Clay Pinnick into a 49-yard touchdown, showing the rest of the Grizzly Cubs that the night was far from over. The Quakers never found an answer for Clark, who came up with three huge catches on the night, scoring two touchdowns himself and setting up one of Titus Phillips’ two rushing scores, as Franklin swung the game around for a 33-20 win on Friday.
“We just kept playing and plugging away,” Franklin coach Chris Coll said. “That’s pretty much what we’ve been trying to do all season, and we executed a little better and kept at it.
“We made some things happen and got back in the game. Our guys up front gave Clay just enough time and we were able to run a little, which gave Max a chance to run behind (the secondary).”
Clark’s three big catches were good for 109 yards and instrumental in the Grizzly Cubs (2-5, 2-3 Mid-State) turning the tables on the Quakers (3-4, 2-3), who seemed to be on their way to a comfortable win after scoring on their opening drive and then recovering a Franklin fumble on the ensuing kickoff to set up Carsen Melvin’s second touchdown pass in three minutes.
But for the rest of the night, the Franklin defense came up big, and the Grizzly Cubs gradually took over the game in the trenches. Once Clark got Franklin back in the game, the Grizzly Cubs quickly figured out that Plainfield’s front seven couldn’t handle the tandem of Phillips and John Shepard, and they made sure to give both their backs plenty of work.
The strategy paid off, as Franklin both kept the ball moving and kept Plainfield’s powerful passing offense off the field. After scoring on three of their first five possessions, the Quakers never threatened again, seemingly panicked after watching Franklin chew up yards and clock.
“We ran the ball pretty effectively,” Coll said. “As the second half wore on, we didn’t really have to go too deep into the playbook. We were able to just physically move the ball, and that’s always a good thing.”
In the end, the game proved to be a microcosm of Franklin’s season as a whole. The Grizzly Cubs’ start might have been one to forget, but Coll stressed to his team that it still has time to reach its goals.
“I’m happy for them and I’m proud of them,” Coll said. “We’re hanging in there and trying to stay on the path, and I think this is a reward for them and a reinforcement. We’re trying to do everything we can to put this team in position to be successful, and this was a good example of that.”
