Game Leaders
Team Stats
Passing Yards
Rushing Yards
Turnovers
Time of Poss.
NORTH MANCHESTER, Ind. – The Franklin College football team turned in a dominant performance in their first road game of the 2021 spring season, running away with a 50-3 win over the Manchester Spartans on Saturday (Mar. 13) afternoon.
The Grizzlies (2-0, 2-0 HCAC) racked up more than 400 yards rushing and forced four Manchester (0-4, 0-2 HCAC) turnovers on their way to victory. After allowing a field goal on the Spartans' second possession of the game, the Grizzlies clamped down and turned in a defensive clinic the rest of the day.
How it Happened
Aaron Black recorded the first turnover of the day, picking off a pass on the game's opening drive. Franklin turned that into points just four plays later when Derek Thompson raced 67 yards for his first touchdown of the day.
One play into the second quarter, Spencer Wright found Jarrett Gibson from 10 yards out for his first career touchdown pass that made it 14-3. Cam Johnson capped the first half with a nine-yard touchdown run that gave the Grizzlies a 21-3 halftime lead.
Six plays into the second half the Grizzlies stretched their lead to 28-3 on a touchdown pass from Dane Andrews to Orrin Schmidt. Coming off a Manchester three-and-out, Gibson fielded a punt and raced 40 yards to the end zone for his second score of the day and first kick return for a touchdown. Thompson showed he had one big play left in him late in the third, racing 76 yards for his final touchdown of the day that put an exclamation point on the win.
Inside the Box Score
-Thompson was electric each time he touched the ball, running for 234 yards on 16 carries. He led a Franklin rushing attack that finished with 402 yards on the ground, the most in a game since Sept. 22 2012 when Franklin had 380 against Earlham.
-Ian Seim and Cam Johnson set career highs for rushing yards with 94 and 52, respectively.
-Junior Carter Brown buried all six extra points and connected on a pair of fourth quarter field goals, his third career multi-field goal game.
-Franklin's defense held Manchester to just 233 yards of offense and a scant 29 rushing yards.
-Black and McCarty both recorded their first picks of the year, as did junior Nick Winders. Black led all Franklin defenders with seven tackles on the day.
-The Grizzly defense recorded seven sacks with Isaac Lawrence notching his first career multi-sack effort.
-Franklin has won 23 of the last 24 matchups with the Spartans.
Up Next
Franklin is back at home next Saturday (Mar. 20) with the Mount St. Joseph Lions set to make the trip to Faught Stadium. Kick-off is set for 1:30 p.m.