Saturday, September 26, 2009
Franklin County's Eagles knock off Bassett
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ROCKY MOUNT -- The Franklin County Eagles got TDs from their offense, defense and special teams in route to a 35-3 victory over Bassett on Friday night.
Franklin County (3-1) fell behind 3-0 early in the first quarter but did the rest of the scoring. Tae Gilbert had 23 carries for 168 yards and a touchdown.
Quarterbacks T.J. Shaw and Nick Adams combined for 106 yards passing and two touchdowns, while the defense held the Bengals (1-4) to 94 total yards.
"A win is a win," said Eagles coach Chris Jones. "We're happy to get the win. Tonight, they made us work and a good defense can make you do that."
Bassett, coming off a 49-0 loss to Christiansburg the week before, played solid defense early. Linebacker Desmond Woods stripped the ball from Gilbert on the game's first series, returning the fumble to the Eagles' 10.
Tyler Martin made sure the Bengals got points as a result, kicking a 26-yard field goal. Later in the quarter, Bassett forced another Franklin County fumble resulting in a touchback, before the Eagles came up with their first big play of the night.
A blocked punt for the Eagles found the arms of D.A. Reynolds, who raced 18 yards for the game's first touchdown and a 7-3 Franklin County lead after one quarter.
Defense helped produce the next two scores for the Eagles.
A bad snap on a Bassett punt attempt put Franklin County on the Bassett 37. Three plays later, Shaw found Shane Preston in the end zone for the score and a 14-3 lead.
Going into halftime, the margin could have been much worse, but Bassett held on three consecutive fourth downs with the Eagles deep to stay close going into halftime.
"The defense couldn't have played any better than it did tonight," Bassett coach James Gilbert said. "Hats off to them they played well. We're a young team trying to get what positives we can, and we found some positives tonight."
The third play of the second half proved to be the backbreaker for the Bengals. Franklin County's Chase Hughes stepped in front of a Mason Maples pass and returned the interception 37 yards for a score.
Gilbert added a 2-yard run late in the third quarter, before the Eagles capped the game with a 13-play, 95-yard drive that ate up 6:51 off the clock and resulted in Adams hitting Justin Didlake on a 20-yard pitch-and-catch to end the scoring.
"It was a good team effort tonight," Jones said. "We didn't score on offense as many times as we wanted because we had too many penalties and turnovers. I don't feel to bad after seeing Nebraska line up wrong at Tech last week, so it happens on all levels, that is something we will work on and correct."
Bassett 3 0 0 0--3
Franklin County 7 7 14 7--35
B -- FG Martin 26
FC -- Reynolds 18 return of blocked punt (Boone kick)
FC -- Preston 11 pass from Shaw (Boone kick)
FC -- Hughes 37 interception return (kick failed)
FC -- Gilbert 2 run (Basham pass from Adams)
FC -- Didlake 20 pass from Adams (Boone kick)
B FC
First downs 6 14
Yards rushing 32 237
Passes C-A-I 6-13-2 6-10-1
Yards passing 62 106
Penalties-yards 7-45 6-44
Fumbles-lost 6-2 4-2
Punts-average 3-11 1-35
Individual statistics
RUSHING -- Bassett, Maples 17-23, Finney 9-21, Valentine 7-9, Hardy 1-11, Atwood 1-minus-13, team 2-minus-15; Franklin County, Gilbert 23-168, Spencer 5-17, Shaw 2-2, Preston 1-1, Jones 8-53, Adams 2-minus-2, team 1-minus-2.
PASSING -- Bassett, Maples 6-13-2 62; Franklin County 4-8-1 80, Adams 2-2-0 26.
RECEIVING -- Bassett, Finney 4-22, Preston 1-28, Woods 1-12; Franklin County, Didlake 2-57, Basham 1-12, Preston 1-11, Spencer 1-6.
