Franklin Community is 1-8 against Decatur Central since October of 2014 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Friday. The Franklin Community Grizzly Cubs will welcome the Decatur Central Hawks at 7:00 p.m. Expect the scorekeeper to be kept busy: if their previous games are any indication, both will really light up the scoreboard.
Having struggled with five losses in a row, Franklin Community finally turned things around against Greenwood on Friday. They breezed by the Woodmen on the road to the tune of 41-14. The score was all tied up 14-14 at the break, but the Grizzly Cubs were the (much) better team in the second half.
Alex Leugers was his usual excellent self, rushing for 338 yards and four touchdowns while picking up 12.5 yards per carry. The dominant performance gave him a new career-high in rushing yards. Another player making a difference was Cory Tonte, who rushed for 90 yards on only nine carries.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Franklin Community was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 448 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've managed all season.
Franklin Community didn't go easy on the quarterback and picked off three passes before the game was over. In fact, those interceptions all came courtesy of defensive juggernaut Landen Basey.
Meanwhile, Decatur Central had already won three in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 33 points) and they went ahead and made it four on Friday. They sure made it a nail-biter, but they managed to escape with a 38-35 victory over the Falcons. For those keeping track at home, that's the closest win the Hawks have posted since September 22, 2023.
Franklin Community's victory bumped their record up to 3-5. As for Decatur Central, they are on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six games, which provided a nice bump to their 5-2-1 record this season.
Franklin Community was dealt a bruising 36-0 defeat at the hands of Decatur Central in their previous meeting back in October of 2023. Thankfully for Franklin Community, KC Berry (who rushed for 118 yards and two touchdowns on only 11 carries) won't be suiting up this time. Will that be enough to change the final result? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
