Two teams were on the hunt for playoff glory, but unfortunately for the Franklin Panthers, they weren't the ones who walked away with it. They suffered a tough 42-20 defeat at the hands of Natick on Friday. Franklin was given a dose of their own medicine in this game as Natick apparently hadn't forgotten their defeat the last time these teams played back in November of 2018.
Multiple players turned in solid performances to lead Natick to victory, but perhaps none more so than Jesse Gagliardi, who threw for 270 yards and four touchdowns on only 16 passes. Natick also got help from Arnold Kawere who showed off his sure hands for 150 receiving yards.
Franklin bumped their record down to 5-5 with that defeat, which was their third straight on the road. The slump could be explained by some tough opposition over that stretch, namely Natick, Andover, and Milford. As for Natick, they have been performing well recently as they've won six of their last eight contests, which provided a nice bump to their 7-4 record this season.
Franklin will have plenty of time to ponder what went wrong as they've got a bye scheduled next week. After, they'll take on King Philip Regional at 7:30 p.m. on November 21st. After each having a week off, Natick and Framingham will dust off their jerseys to square off against one another at 10:00 a.m. on November 23rd.
