varsity.roanoke.com

ROCKY MOUNT -- In their first meeting, roughly a month ago, William Fleming beat Franklin County by three touchdowns.

This game was nothing like that early-season contest.

The Colonels relied on the legs of LaCalvin Hickman and held on for a 7-6 win to spoil the Eagles' homecoming.

Hickman rushed for 160 yards on 37 carries and also scored a touchdown on a 10-yard run on William Fleming's first drive for what ended up being the winning score.

"[Hickman] had a great game and I thought our line played really well," said Fleming coach Rob Senseney, whose Colonels beat Franklin County 37-15 on Sept. 6.

"I thought we ran the ball extremely well."

And in this game, that was of utmost importance because neither team's passing game ever really got going.

Derek Brown only completed five passes for 45 yards for the Colonels (5-1, 1-0 Western Valley District) and his counterpart for the Eagles, Aaron Corn only netted 58 passing yards on four completions.

Brown threw two interceptions; Corn threw three.

But aside from the interceptions, Franklin County (2-4, 0-1) may be most haunted by two plays, a blocked field goal and a failed two-point conversion.

In the first half, Franklin County drove the ball inside the William Fleming 10-yard line on the opening drive but stalled.

Then, the Colonels blocked a field goal, averting the Eagles' only scoring threat of the half.

William Fleming then rode Hickman for 49 yards on the ensuing drive, including a 10-yard touchdown run for the first half's only score.

Brown threw his two interceptions in the first half and some penalties helped kill drives, most notably a blocking penalty that negated an 85-yard touchdown pass from Brown to A.J. Johnson.

The second half was much like the first, with neither team establishing any real offensive threats.

But Franklin County took advantage of a Colonels fumble in the fourth quarter, going 61 yards and capping the drive with a four-yard touchdown run by Justin Seay with 5:52 remaining in the game.

Seay finished with 102 rushing yards.

Eagles coach Ben Boyd then decided to go for the win with a two-point conversion attempt, but Seay was stuffed on the run.

Franklin County managed to get the ball back, but Corn was intercepted by Brian Taylor with about 49 seconds remaining to effectively seal the win.

"I knew coming into the game the kids were going to give 100 percent because we had a great game last week [and] a great week of practice," Boyd said. "We played our tail off, [but] we just couldn't quite get a play on offense at times when we needed it.

"It's a game of inches and we just came up about an inch short."

William Fleming 7 0 0 0 -- 7

Franklin County 0 0 0 6 -- 6

WF -- Hickman 10 run (Saliou kick)

FC -- Seay 4 run (run failed)

WF FC

First downs 15 7

Yards rushing 48-232 28-102

Passes C-A-I 5-13-2 4-15-3

Yards passing 45 58

Penalties-yards 4-33 4-20

Fumbles-lost 2-1 0-0

Punts-average 3-29.7 3-39.0

Individual statistics

RUSHING -- William Fleming, Hickman 37-160, Brown 5-35, Hardy 5-27, Richardson 1-10, Team 2-(-2). Franklin County, Seay 22-102, Corn 4-2, Benson 1-4, Edwards 1-(-6).

PASSING -- William Fleming, Brown 5-13-2-45. Franklin County, Corn 4-15-3-58.

RECEIVING -- William Fleming, Redd 4-30, Johnson 1-14, Hickman 1-1. Franklin County, J.T. Edwards 3-52, Novia 1-6.