West Marion outlasts Franklin County, 19-0, in preseason jamboree contest

FOXWORTH – Despite a strong start, Franklin County wound up on the short end of a 19-0 decision on Friday, Aug. 19 in the 2022 football season jamboree played against the West Marion High School Trojans.

The format for the contest was two 12-minute quarters and the participants traded possessions throughout much of the early going.

Franklin opened with possession of the football and saw tailback Tyrese O’Neal move it from the Bulldogs’ 25 to as deep as the 39. The series stalled, however, when O’Neal and Reshon Baker were both dropped for back-to-back ground losses of two yards each and FC was forced to punt on fourth down.

West Marion’s initial offensive drive was both hampered and helped when the Trojans were flagged for holding and, two plays later, Franklin County was called for a personal foul. The series moved from the Trojans’ 37 to as deep as the Bulldogs’ 35 before FC’s defense tightened and forced West Marion to punt.

Despite an offside call against West Marion, Franklin’s second offensive series was short-lived with quarterbacker Quez Rancifer having a pass go incomplete, and tailback Jailon Brown stopped twice for six yards in losses on the ground that led to another punt.

With 4:09 remaining in the first quarter and after a six-yard Bulldogs’ punt, West Marion got the ball at the FC 18. Two plays into the series, the Trojans had driven as deep as the 5-yard line and a personal foul penalty against Franklin moved the ball ahead to the 3.

Franklin’s defense came up with a key 2-yard loss to keep the Trojans out of the end zone and then West Marion was flagged on a hold, an illegal block and a false start – all in a row -- to move the ball backwards to almost the 30-yard line.

The Trojans ultimately connected on a 29-yard quarterback Jude Stringer to Jakaden Mark touchdown strike with 1:14 left to play in the opening stanza and took a 6-0 lead over the visiting team. The point-after kick try came up short for West Marion.

Franklin County’s third offensive series came to an abrupt halt when Rancifer picked up a fumble on third and 10 from the Trojans’ 48 and lobbed a pass down field that was picked off to give West Marion possession at its own 30.

On the first play of the Trojans’ next series, West Marion’s Mark, a senior back, raced through the Franklin defense and scored a 70 yard rushing touchdown less than 90 seconds into the second frame. The point-after try was successful and the home team had opened a 13-0 bulge over the Bulldogs.

With 10:02 left to play, Rancifer had some key plays by connecting twice with Donovan Moore through the air for 33 yards and Keyundre Felton had two totes for 16 yards.

The series ended on a fourth and six scenario at the West Marion 25 as a Rancifer pass to Baker went incomplete and the ball went over on downs.

FC had two other drives before time expired, but stagnated near midfield.

The Trojans strung together one final scoring effort on a four-play drive with 1:50 left in regulation thanks to a 35-yard touchdown run. The post-touchdown kick try was no good, but West Marion had moved out to a 19-0 lead that would hold through the final horn.

On the night, Franklin had 29 yards on the ground on 20 carries with Felton and Jailon Brown both gaining 16 yards apiece on two and four carries, respectively. O’Neal had three carries for 9 yards, Moore had one for 3 yards and Rancifer had six totes for -3 yards. Xavier Rankin and Baker both recorded two rushes for -6 yards apiece.

Rancifer was 4-10-1 in the passing department for 54 yards with a single connection to Baker for 16 yards and hitting Moore three times for 38 yards.

FC had six first downs in the jamboree, went 2-for-7 on third down conversions and was 0-for-2 on fourth down attempts.

The Dawgs were flagged four times for 28 yards and had a total of three fumbles with one of those resulting in a turnover.

West Marion had 15 carries for 140 yards on the ground and was 1-3-0 through the airways for 20 yards. The Trojans wound up with six first downs, were 1-for-3 on third down conversions and did not attempt a fourth down conversion.

The home team was flagged five times for 40 yards.

Franklin’s defense was paced by Felton, O’Neal, Baker, Peyton Touchstone, Ramsey Brown, Jaquez Anderson and Josh Smith who had three tackles each.

Moore, Jailon Brown and Jaiden Hunt record two tackles each while Larry Pernell, Remontaie Cameron and Rankin had one each.

Felton, Pernell and Zorion O’Quinn each recorded a sack on the night for FC.

Franklin County will open its regular season on Friday, Aug. 26 with a road game at West Lincoln with kickoff slated for 7:30 p.m.

VARSITY STATS BY TREY HILL, LANE B. REED AND SEAN DUNLAP

SCORING BY QUARTER

FC 0 0 -- 0

WMHS 6 13 – 19

SCORING SUMMARY

FIRST QUARTER

1:14 – WMHS, 29-yard pass. Kick failed.

SECOND QUARTER

10:10 – WMHS, 70-yard touchdown run. Kick good.

1:50 – WMHS, 35-yard touchdown run. Kick failed.

TEAM STATISTICS

FIRST DOWNS – Franklin County 6; West Marion 6

RUSHING – Franklin County 20-29; West Marion 15-140

PASSING – Franklin County 4-10-1; West Marion 1-3-0

RECEIVING YARDS – Franklin County 57; West Marion 20

PENALTIES – Franklin County 4-28; West Marion 5-40

PUNTS-AVERAGE – Franklin County 2-18; West Marion 2-27

FUMBLES-LOST – Franklin County 3-1; West Marion 1-0.

THIRD DOWNS-CONVERSIONS -- Franklin County 7-2; West Marion 3-1

FOURTH DOWNS-CONVERSIONS -- Franklin County 0-2; West Marion 0-0

FC INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – Keyundre Felton, 2-16; Jailon Brown, 4-16; Tyrese O’Neal, 3-9; Donovan Moore, 1-3; Quez Rancifer, 6-(-3); Xavier Rankin, 2-(-6); and Reshon Baker, 2-(-6).

PASSING – Quez Rancifer, 4-10-1, 54 yards.

RECEIVING – Donovan Moore, 3-38; Reshon Baker, 1-16.

TACKLES – Keyundre Felton, 3; Tyrese O’Neal, 3; Peyton Touchstone, 3; Ramsey Brown, 3; Jaquez Anderson, 3; Reshon Baker, 3; Josh Smith, 3; Jailon Brown, 2; Jaiden Hunt, 2; Donovan Moore, 2; Larry Pernell, 1; Remontaie Cameron, 1; and Xavier Rankin, 1.

SACKS – Keyundre Felton, 1; Larry Pernell, 1; Zorian O’Quinn, 1.

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JUNIOR VARSITY

West Marion 12, Franklin County 6

Franklin County and West Marion junior varsity football teams took a pair of 12-play drives after the varsity contest on Friday, Aug. 19 with the teams combining for three touchdowns – one for the Bulldogs and two for the Trojans.

West Marion went first offensively and scored a 30-yard rushing touchdown and a 30-yard passing touchdown on the second and third plays of their drive. The Trojans had a fumble, three incomplete passes and gained six yards on the ground.

FC defenders including Tyson Windom had two tackles while Ja Norman, Dalton Middleton and Jamal Flowers all had stops for the Bulldogs against West Marion.

Despite a fumble on its first snap, Franklin’s offense worked mostly on its running game to start with as quarterback Detrick Starks and back Broderick Shannon took turns running the football and combined for one yards.

The Bulldogs went to their passing game with Starks hitting Jaquez Anderson on a 24-yard strike to put the ball inside the Trojans’ 5-yard line.

From there, Tyson Windom and Starks went back to the ground game and were held in check by the West Marion defense.

On the 11th play of the series, Starks connected through the air with Middleton for Franklin County’s lone score.

The Bulldogs fumbled twice, had seven carries for no total yards, but was 2-2-0 in terms of passing for 27 yards.