For the first half of Friday’s contest at Greenwood, Franklin admittedly wasn’t in the right frame of mind — and as a result, the Grizzly Cubs had a fight on their hands against a Woodmen team that came in on a six-game losing streak.
“We came out soft,” Franklin senior John Shepard said. “The locker room wasn’t like it usually is, kind of more talking, more messing around; we just weren’t mentally locked in.”
The second 24 minutes were a different story.
Shepard ran for 152 yards and four touchdowns, getting three of those in the second half to help the Class 5A No. 8 Grizzly Cubs break open a tight game and pull away for a 41-6 victory.
“I think we probably played a little harder, a little more focused,” Franklin coach Chris Coll said of his team’s effort after halftime. The execution was better. Defensively, the coaching staff made a couple of minor adjustments that helped us be a little more sound against what they were doing, especially in the run game. We just played a little harder.”
The Grizzly Cubs (6-2, 4-2 Mid-State) set the tone right away with a quick seven-play, 71-yard drive to open the game. Franklin kept it on the ground every play, getting double-digit yardage on each of the last four rushes. Shepard finished off the march with a 28-yard run down the right sideline at 9:09 of the first quarter.
Greenwood’s initial possession showed promise when Jackson Haessig broke free up the middle for a 47-yard run on the first snap, putting the ball on the Franklin 25. But the Woodmen stalled from there, turning the ball over on downs at the 21. The visitors quickly struck back, with quarterback Clay Pinnick hitting Shepard in stride for a 68-yard gain to set up first and goal at the 7. Three plays later, Beau Baker darted to the right out of the wildcat formation and beat the Greenwood defense to the corner of the end zone for a 13-0 lead at the 4:41 mark.
Franklin had a chance to create some more separation after another turnover on downs, but an interception by senior Colin Robbins gave the Woodmen some renewed hope as the first quarter gave way to the second. But after moving into Grizzly Cub territory for the third time in as many possessions, Greenwood again stalled and had to punt.
A second Franklin turnover — this time a fumbled snap recovered by Tanner Crouch — gave the Woodmen a short field to work with, but they gave it up on downs for a third time, getting stopped at the Grizzly Cubs’ 16-yard line on fourth and 2. Greenwood’s defense came up with another stop and quarterback Brock Riddle promptly linked up with Ethan Pringle for a 47-yard pass play — but once again, the offense couldn’t maintain its forward momentum, a fourth-down pass falling incomplete at the Franklin 17 with 18.9 seconds left in the half.
The Woodmen (1-7, 0-6) finished the half with a slim 185-182 advantage in total offense, but no points.
“We’re not very athletic and we’re not very fast,” Greenwood coach Mike Campbell said. “We play hard; we just have breakdown after breakdown at times, and not being able to execute when we need to execute.”
The floodgates began to open after the intermission. Nate Owens stepped in front of a Riddle pass and took it 25 yards to the house, stretching the margin to 20-0 early in the third quarter. Then, after another promising Greenwood drive ended with a fourth-down incompletion at the Grizzly Cub 26, Shepard took it the distance on the next play to put the visitors up 27.
Shepard scored his third touchdown with 3:06 left in the third quarter, a 1-yard run to cap off a 43-yard drive after a short Greenwood punt. His fourth, a 5-yarder on the second play of the fourth, made it 41-6 and triggered a running clock for the final 11:50.
Prior to Shepard’s final TD, Greenwood fullback Alan Burnett had broken up the shutout with a 47-yard touchdown run.
Both teams wrap up the regular season next week. The Woodmen travel to 5A No. 3 Whiteland, while the Grizzly Cubs host Decatur Central.
Franklin is harboring dreams of a deep postseason run, but it’s not looking past Week 9 yet.
“We’ve still got another conference game, and we haven’t beaten Decatur in a while,” Shepard said. “This would be a huge win if we were to, so that’s what our main priority is right now.”
