Franklin College football wins road finale

<p><strong>Daily Journal Staff Reports</strong></p><p>The Franklin College football team has made light work of most of its road opponents in conference play this season, and the final one on the schedule was no different.</p><p>Braden Smith, Brad Bonomini and Jacob Earl paced another dominating offensive effort as the Grizzlies rolled to a 45-24 win at Manchester on Saturday afternoon.</p><p>Smith passed for 309 yards and three touchdowns, including a 77-yarder to Bonomini on the third play of the game. He found Bonomini again from 29 yards out to put the Grizzlies up 14-7 with 6:01 left in the opening quarter.</p><p>Earl stretched the lead to two touchdowns with a 15-yard run, and after Manchester answered with nine straight points, Smith connected with Bonomini one more time to give Franklin a 28-16 lead with two seconds left in the half.</p><p>The Grizzlies (7-1, 6-0 HCAC) put the game away after halftime, with short scoring runs by Smith and Austin Grunden as well as a Carter Brown field goal stretching the margin to 45-16.</p><p>Bonomini finished with seven catches for 164 yards. Earl added 90 yards on the ground and 50 more on three receptions.</p><p>Defensively, the Grizzlies were led by Logan Hale’s seven tackles and a Chaz Hill interception.</p><p>Franklin College will be at home for its final two regular-season games, including this weekend’s clash with Bluffton.</p>