Franklin’s Landen Basey runs the ball back after an interception during Friday’s season opener against visiting New Albany.
Chris Williams | For the Daily Journal
Franklin coach Chris Coll still isn’t entirely sure how good his team will be this season, but Friday night’s season opener certainly offered some promising hints.
A 100-yard rushing game from Alex Leugers and a strong defensive performance were more than enough to get the host Grizzly Cubs a 42-3 victory over New Albany.
“I like the fact that we played hard and we played physical,” Coll said. “I think we were a little bit sloppy in some areas, but that’s kind of to be expected in Week 1.”
Franklin wasted little time in taking control of the contest. On the fourth play from scrimmage, junior Landen Basey intercepted a Kenneth Watson pass and returned it 28 yards to the Bulldogs’ 27. Leugers did the work from there, carrying the ball four straight times and punching it in from the 1-yard line with 9:22 left in the opening quarter.
Following a New Albany three-and-out, the Grizzly Cubs struck again on a quick five-play, 51-yard drive. Runs of 11 and 13 yards by Kaleb Owens pushed the ball into Bulldog territory, and sophomore quarterback Greyson Betts finished things off with a 9-yard keeper into the left side of the end zone.
Moving the ball on the ground worked for Franklin most of the night.
“I thought we ran the ball pretty well for the most part,” Coll said. “Our offensive line played pretty well — and we expected to; most of them are experienced. And Alex and Kaleb (Owens), they’re good running backs. Alex is explosive, and Kaleb is big and physical, and it’s a nice combination.”
The visitors got on the board late in the first quarter, marching from their own 15 to set up a 25-yard Henry Dixon field goal. The key plays were a 35-yard throw from Watson to Chase Loesch and a fourth-down conversion run by Klay Kaiser that set up first and goal.
Unimpressed by New Albany’s long drive, Franklin put together one of its own, going 80 yards in 12 plays and eating up just over six minutes in the process. Senior Clay Pinnick was 5 of 5 passing for 41 yards on the drive, including one to Luke Bechert for a key third-down conversion. Leugers, knocked out of bounds inside the 1 on a 20-yard rush, carried it across on the next snap to help the Grizzly Cubs up their lead to 21-3 with 6:22 remaining in the half.
The Bulldogs gave themselves a chance to get back in the game by blocking a Franklin punt to get the ball at the Grizzly Cub 32 midway through the third quarter, but the hosts held and got a turnover on downs at the 28. Two possessions later, Pinnick finished off an 80-yard drive with a 1-yard QB keeper to stretch the lead to 28-3 with 9:38 to go in the fourth.
Owens tacked on some insurance with a 1-yard scoring run of his own at the 3:18 mark, and classmate Jake Dinkens recovered a Bulldog fumble just 16 seconds later, leading to some more window dressing in the form of a 15-yard TD rush from sophomore Isaiah Stultz.
Coll says he saw mistakes in all three phases of the game that can be cleaned up before next week’s trip to Mt. Vernon, but he’ll gladly take this win as a starting point.
“It’s really about taking what we did tonight and learning from it and improving on it,” Coll said. “But I do like the way we played. We’re playing hard.”
