Indians Hold on Late, Top Hereford, 24-19

Paced by Ian Thomas’ 253 all-purpose yards, Franklin defeated county powerhouse Hereford for the second consecutive time in front of a raucous home crowd Friday night, 24-19.

After running back Reggie Ellis broke a 50-yard run to the goalline and punched it in two plays later to give Franklin a 24-12 lead with less than 10 minutes to play in the fourth quarter, the Indians watched as Hereford’s Morgan Pritchett broke tackles and ran away from the coverage team for a 94-yard kick return touchdown to bring the game back to a single-score contest.

Franklin ran down the clock to four minutes, and 46 seconds before giving the ball back to Hereford for a final drive starting on their own 16-yard line. The Bulls ran the ball hard up the middle, picking up large chunks of yardage until they reached the redzone. After running for short yardage on first down, the Bulls stepped back and threw for the endzone. Franklin was called for pass interference on a pass to Pritchett, giving Hereford four shots for a touchdown.

“I told our guys to toughen up and keep them out. Whatever you do, just keep them out of the endzone,” Thomas said.

Hereford fumbled the first snap but recovered, only to be stuffed twice more at the line of scrimmage. On fourth down, the Bulls Ryan Jones scrambled to his right and tossed a soft prayer of a pass to the endzone, but Thomas went up above the crowd and pulled down the interception to seal the victory.

“Anytime we can beat Hereford, it’s a big win,” Franklin head coach Anthony Burgos said. “They have been very good for a very long time and to be able to get a victory here at home is huge for us.”

On their first possession of the game, Hereford appeared in control. All around threat Will Bittner took his second carry of the game 50 yards for a touchdown. Thomas responded, though, on the ensuing Indians possession, breaking off a 66-yard touchdown run of his own.

For Hereford, Jones later hit Luke Quidley for a 21-yard touchdown pass, but as on the first touchdown score, but the Bulls failed to convert the extra point attempt. On the last drive of the first half, Franklin looked to Thomas for a spark. Split out wide, Thomas pulled in a 45-yard reception that led to a Sean Myers 19-yard field goal at the horn to climb within two at 12-10.

In the second half, Hereford struggled to connect on hand-offs when running the option. Four times the team fumbled on pitches—twice recovering, twice turning over possession. The Indians, meanwhile, twice took their own blunders and turned it into points on special teams plays.

First, on a field goal attempt that would have given Franklin a 13-12 lead, holder Devin Gibbs-Wagner, who usually plays wide receiver, recognized a high snap and tucked the ball, breaking for the corner of the endzone. He reached the pilon just ahead of a swarm of Hereford defenders for the go-ahead touchdown.

“We practice [that two-point conversion] as a fake, but we didn’t call that one in. He just made a good read and delivered. He made some big plays making something out of nothing,” Burgos said.

Following Reggie Ellis' fourth quarter touchdown to go ahead 22-12, Gibbs-Wagner again pulled in the snap, this time looking up and finding Marquis Ellis open in the endzone on a broken play for a two-point conversion.

Defensively, the Indians were stout in the middle against the run-heavy Hereford offense. Malik Jackson led the unit, recording 11 tackles and recovering a fumble. Linebacker Tucker Lutz made eight tackles, forced a fumble and recorded a sack.

Next week, Franklin, now 2-1 on the season, travels to unbeaten Catonsville (3-0) to play the Comets in another division match up.