By Sam Findley
For the Daily Journal
No team wants to lose its homecoming game.
Franklin College’s stellar offensive performance, led by Garrett Cora’s 99 yards rushing and two touchdowns, and a strong night from a Grizzlies defense that allowed just eight first downs and 153 total yards destroyed any hope of Bluffton being able to spoil what became a 45-6 rout at Faught Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Grizzlies (3-3, 1-2 HCAC) went with a strong passing attack on the first drive of the game, picking up three of their four first downs off of passes. The nine-play, 48-yard drive ended with a 37-yard Derek Baldin field goal with 10:59 left in the first quarter.
Franklin’s offense got some steam behind it, and quarterback Spencer Wright was able to cap off a stellar 86-yard drive when he found Dylan McKinney for a 26-yard touchdown to give Franklin a 10-0 lead with 13:38 left in the first half.
Wyatt Carmack and Dante Darden shut down Bluffton’s next possession, with Cramack making a tackle in Beavers’ backfield and Darden coming up with a sack on third down. After the punt, Cora capped off a six-play Grizzly drive when he danced to the end zone for a 14-yard touchdown.
Jireh Ojata came up with another big defensive play, sacking and stripping Bluffton quarterback Zachary Nobis. Defensive lineman Tanner Swindle ended up with the ball and returned it 53 yards for a score, putting the Grizzlies up 24-0 with 3:41 left in the half.
“It was just a miracle,” Swindle said. “I just retrace like every coach preaches about. Retracing, that’s what my job is to do, they hold me accountable for that and I retraced and I got the ball in my hands.”
Bluffton’s day only got worse after halftime, with the Grizzlies’ Michael Heading forcing a fumble on a punt and Marcel Campbell recovering the ball. Dane Andrews passed to Cora for a 38-yard touchdown to make it 31-0 with just over a minute gone in the third period. Cameron Johnson added a 2-yard touchdown run, and Cora finished the barrage of Grizzly touchdowns when he exploded in from 13 yards away at the 6:42 mark.
Bluffton (2-4, 1-2) avoided being shut out when Montez Archer Jr. weaved his way to a 75 yard touchdown on the ensuing kickoff.
“We lost contain down the sideline and (Archer) is the best returner in the conference,” Franklin College coach Alan Hensell said. “Any time you give those guys an opening they are going to make you pay, and that’s what happened. Our plan today was to try and make them fair catch it, and we just had that one snafu.”
Hensell was happy to have his team regain some positive momentum after three consecutive defeats.
“Our guys bounced back and they battled,” he said. “We take each week one game at a time, and we’re excited to get back in the win column and get ready for next week.”
