Franklin holds off West St. Mary in thrilling win

BALDWIN _ In the annual friendly rivalry known as Fire on the Bayou, the Franklin Hornets rallied for two second half touchdowns, pinning a 20-12 loss on the West St. Mary Wolfpack Thursday in District 7-2A at Wolfpack Stadium.
Franklin (3-3, 3-0) stretched an 8-0 halftime lead into a 20-12 victory behind second half scores on a 65-yard touchdown by run by Zylan Perry in the third quarter along with a 20-yard TD scamper by Malik King in the fourth stanza.
With the win, the Franklin Hornets retained possession of the helmet trophy which is awarded to the winner of the friendly rivalry each season.
“We played a sloppy game tonight,” Franklin Coach Tremayne Johnson said. “I’m glad for the win but we didn’t play well tonight.”
Franklin hurt its chance for big win with numerous untimely penalties which allowed West St. Mary to stay within striking range with hope of staging a comeback win.
West St. Mary Coach Clifton Armelin felt his squad was two plays away from pulling off the win over Franklin.
“We took two big plays off and it cost us,” Armelin stated. “Franklin is a big-play team and we took two big plays off and that really hurt us.”
Franklin turned a short touchdown run by Zylan Perry and a safety by Gharin Stansbury into an 8-0 lead at halftime.
The Hornets then benefited from a big run by Perry to post a 14-0 advantage.
On the score, Perry sprinted untouched up the middle for a 65-yard touchdown late in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, West St. Mary quarterback Taylun Druilhet scored on a short 6-yard run TD run as the Wolfpack closed the game at 14-6.
Franklin defense denied West St. Mary’s next opportunity to knot the game when Jorday McCoy pilfered a pass out of the air, giving the Hornets the football at the WSM 30 before a pair of untimely penalties moved the football back 30 yards.
In the fourth quarter, Taylun Druilhet and Kobe Phillips combined to help the Wolfpack draw closer to Franklin at 14-12 with 4:07 showing on the clock.
In a long drive aided by a huge face-masked infraction against the Hornets, the Wolfpack moved methodically down the field which culminated in Druilhet firing an aerial TD to Phillips.
While holding a slim 14-12 advantage, Franklin rode the arm of Perry and the legs of King to pad their lead at 20-12.
Perry went to the air to connect with Travis Zeno on a 13-yard gain before dropping a perfectly timed pass in to the waiting arms of J’Micheal Gray, giving Franklin a first-down in Wolfpack territory.
A short time later, Perry fired a dart to Kentrelle Louis on a third-and-14 play to sustain the Hornets’ drive.
Following three straight completions from Perry, King raced 20 yards for touchdown, giving the Hornets a 20-12 lead at the 1:24 mark of the final quarter.
West St. Mary’s Druilhet went on a hert-clutching 80-yard TD scamper only to have a holding penalty negate the score and march the Wolfpack closer to its on endzone.
With the 20-12 win safely tucked away, Franklin notched its second win over West St. Mary in a row.
Franklin moved to 3-3 overall and 3-0 in District 7-2A action with the win.
The Hornets will travel to face long-time nemesis the Jeanerette Tigers next Friday in District 7-2A action.
West St. Mary (2-4, 2-1) will take to the road to battle the Catholic High of New Iberia Panther next Friday in league play.