Turns out all it took to get Franklin College rolling this fall was a little bit of in-conference competition.
After an 0-3 start in nonleague play, the Grizzlies have found their stride against their HCAC brethren, running their win streak to three on Saturday with a 48-19 rout of Defiance.
“We’re really excited to be where we are at this point in the season,” Franklin College coach Alan Hensell said. “We want to go 1-0 every week and I’m proud of how we were able to get off to a strong start and how we ran the ball the way they did today. Defensively, we did a great job holding Defiance on third down, and for our defense get a score and multiple turnovers is something we preach to them every week. It was great to see it show up on the field.”
Franklin only outgained the Yellow Jackets by a 445-401 margin, but did a far better job turning its yardage into points. Of course, the Grizzlies’ defense helped by forcing three turnovers, the first of them coming on the second play of the game. Michael Loper forced a fumble that Gervasio Mitchell recovered at the Defiance 29, setting up a 14-yard touchdown pass from Kai Ross to Garrett Cora.
Cora pulled in another TD catch, this one an 8-yarder, early in the second quarter, and the Grizzlies stretched the lead to 20-0 when Ross hit Dylan McKinney from 30 yards out with 3:58 to go in the half. The Yellow Jackets scored a quick touchdown to get back within 14 before Cora answered back with a 14-yard scoring run, sending Franklin into the break with a 27-6 cushion.
Cameron Johnson’s 3-yard TD run late in the third quarter made it a 34-12 game. Ross found Dejon Winburn for a 4-yard touchdown early in the fourth, and Kody Wilkerson capped off the Franklin College scoring shortly thereafter, taking an interception back 60 yards to the end zone with 9:22 remaining.
Wilkerson also recovered a fumble for the Grizzly defense, which was paced by an active day from Jireh Ojata (nine tackles, 1.5 sacks and a forced fumble).
Cora finished a monster afternoon with 198 yards rushing to accompany his three touchdowns. Ross was an efficient 17 of 26 passing for 158 yards and the four scores; he connected with nine different receivers on the day.
“When you’re able to run the ball the way we did, it helps out the pass game a lot,” Hensell said. “Our pass game really fed off our run game today and in the first few weeks of conference play.”
The Grizzlies will be on the road the next two weeks, beginning with a trip to Rose-Hulman this coming Saturday afternoon.
