In a game that took two days to finish, host Franklin survived a lightning delay on Friday night and a lightning-quick touchdown strike Saturday to eke out a 21-20 win over Mt. Vernon.
After the Marauders scored on a 47-yard touchdown pass from Mason Meyer to Ryker Baer with 1:45 left in the game, Mt. Vernon coach Vince Lidy boldly decided to go for the win, but Franklin’s defense was not about to get outsmarted on consecutive plays and stopped the attempt short of the goal line to preserve the lead.
There was no question Mt. Vernon coach Vince Lidy was going for the win.
“Absolutely,” Lidy said. “We wanted it. Franklin outlasted us.”
The Marauders won the yardage game on paper, with 284 to Franklin’s 270. But it was the scoreboard that counted.
Franklin had 21-14 lead with 7:49 left in the game when officials decided to pull both teams off the field and the Cubs administration advised fans to leave the stands for their safety due to the inclement weather, which included several lightning strikes and huge gusts of wind.
The game had been delayed for more than an hour when it was decided to complete it Saturday afternoon.
“That seems like it happens every five years or so,” Franklin coach Chris Coll said. “It doesn’t happen very often, but we always try to stay prepared.”
That wasn’t a question with either team’s defense. Franklin held the Marauders to 16 yards or less on eight of 12 possessions, while Mt. Vernon was no slouch on defense either, limiting the Cubs to nine yards or less on seven of its possessions.
“Their defense caused us some problems,” Coll admitted. “It came down to the defense, and it was a battle.”
Mt. Vernon (0-2) took the early lead when Joliba Brogen ran in from the 8 and Meyer scored on the conversion in the first quarter. Franklin (2-0) countered with Greyson Betts hitting Alex Leugers for a 40-yard touchdown pass.
Franklin’s fortunes got even better prior to the delay when the Cubs scored two touchdowns exactly a minute apart late in the third quarter.
Leugers broke a tackle, then burst through for a 27-yard touchdown run to give the Cubs a 14-11 lead with 3:32 to go in the quarter. Meyer was then intercepted by Cub safety Ryan Calloway, who returned it to the Marauder 10. A penalty put the ball back to the 15, but that didn’t deter quarterback Greyson Betts, who faked a handoff to Leugers and dashed the opposite way untouched for the score at 2:32.
That was all the touchdowns until Meyer’s strike to Baer on Saturday.
Mt. Vernon added two field goals from Rylan Vinard for 32 and 21 yards. Vinard also missed a 41-yard attempt that was just left of the goal post late in the fourth.
Betts, who threw for only 30 yards in the season opener against New Albany, opened it up a bit and tossed for 123 yards, while Leugers rushed for 100.
Coll enjoyed the game, citing the evenness of both teams and stating both were well coached.
“It was a little bit of a chess match from a coaching standpoint,” Coll said. “It wasn’t always pretty, but it was an outstanding game.”
Next up, Franklin opens Mid-State Conference play when it hosts Perry Meridian.
