A week after taking the first loss of the Alan Hensell era, the Franklin College football team made sure to avoid a second straight.
The Grizzlies led throughout on the way to a 26-21 victory at Bluffton on Saturday afternoon.
Carter Brown opened the scoring for Franklin (3-1) with a 31-yard field goal, and the visitors stretched the lead to 10 later in the first quarter when Cameron Johnson scored on a 9-yard run.
The Beavers got on the board with a touchdown at the 4:40 mark of the second quarter, but a 2-yard run from Derek Thompson helped the Grizzlies go into the break with a 17-7 cushion. Brown then capped the first drive of the third with a 24-yard field goal.
From there, Bluffton was left playing catch-up. The hosts cut it to 20-14 by the end of the third quarter, but Franklin got an insurance score in the fourth when Dane Andrews hooked up with Orrin Schmidt for a 15-yard TD pass.
The Beavers tacked on another touchdown with two seconds left to make the final score a bit closer.
Andrews finished his day 17 of 25 passing for 231 yards to lead the Grizzlies, who ended the game with a 409-345 edge in total offense. Thompson totaled 75 yards rushing on 26 carries.
Defensively, Kody Wilkerson recorded a dozen tackles and forced a fumble to lead the Franklin effort. Cam Levers made seven tackles and broke up three passes, and Aaron Black came up with his second interception of the season.
The Grizzlies are back on the road this Saturday at Rose-Hulman.
