Special teams lift Franklin County to victory over GW

George Washington gave up four touchdowns to Franklin County on special teams, which in the end proved to be too much to overcome. Franklin County knocked off GW 41-32 to earn its fourth outright Western Valley District title Friday night.

Despite digging a hole in the first half, GW (5-4, 2-1 WVD), managed to rally with a pair of touchdowns in the third quarter. After an 82-yard run by D.J. Benion, Terrance Jackson found the end zone from 2-yards out to close the gap to 34-32. GW, however, couldn’t score the two-point conversion to tie it up.

With the momentum in GW’s favor, that disappeared in a matter of seconds on the ensuing kickoff. GW, which had avoided kicking to Tae Gilbert most of the night, kicked right to the Franklin County senior, who returned it 83 yards for a touchdown. The extra point made it a two-possession game, although it didn’t matter. Franklin County (8-1, 4-0 WVD) kept GW’s offense out of the red zone the rest of the way.

The district title is Franklin County’s fifth overall and first outright championship since 2005.

The GW Eagles took a 6-0 lead when Jackson scored from 4-yards out in the second quarter. Franklin County answered on its next possession with a 9-yard pass to Gilbert from T.J. Shaw.

Things went south in a hurry for GW from there. On GW’s next possession, the Eagles’ punt was blocked by Dylan McAllister and returned 12 yards for a touchdown by Will Chitwood.

Franklin County held GW to three-and-out on its ensuing possession and Shane Preston returned the punt 37 yards for another Franklin County touchdown.

GW trimmed the deficit a little on Kevin Shuler’s 7-yard touchdown run with 35 seconds left in the half, but once again Franklin County found a big play to combat any sort of momentum GW had gained. After a big kick return put Franklin County into GW territory, Shaw hit Thad Basham for a 48-yard touchdown pass on the first play from scrimmage, which gave Franklin County a 27-13 lead at halftime.

Special teams play haunted GW again in the third quarter.

Franklin County’s Brandon Mattox blocked another GW punt and Basham ran it in 22 yards for the score.

Franklin County 41, George Washington 32
Franklin County 0 27 7 7 - 41
George Washington 0 13 13 6 - 32
Scoring Summary
GW - Jackson 4 run (Campbell kick failed)
FC - Gilbert 9 pass from Shaw (Boone kick)
FC - Chitwood 12 blocked punt return (Boone kick failed)
FC - Preston 37 punt return (Boone kick)
GW - Shuler 7 run (Campbell kick)
FC - Basham 48 pass from Shaw (Boone kick)
FC - Basham 22 blocked punt return (Boone kick)
GW - Benion 3 run (Campbell kick)
GW - Benion 38 pass from Shuler (Campbell kick failed)
GW - Jackson 2 run (Shuler pass failed)
FC - Gilbert 83 kick return (Boone kick)