BY FRANK A. DAVIS/CONTRIBUTING WRITER
frankdavis928@verizon.net

Franklin—“I am proud of my players and coaches,” remarked Franklin High School head football coach Darren Parker after the Broncos made easy work of the Windsor Dukes on Friday night at Armory Football Stadium, cruising to a 63–0 victory.

The Broncos, playing their last game of the regular season, clinched the district and gained home field advantage for the state playoffs, which will begin next Friday.

“We don’t know yet who we will play, but on Monday it’s back to the drawing board to get ready,” Parker. said.

The Broncos dominated the game from the start. Travis Brown opened the scoring on a 22-yard touchdown run on the Broncos first possession early in the first quarter. The kick by Angel Padilla was blocked as the Broncos led 6 – 0.

During the first quarter the Broncos added two more touchdowns with an 11-yard run by Terry Warren and a 27-yard touchdown pass from QB Laquadric Pittman to Corey Porter. Two point conversions were added by Pittman and Latrell Lane to put the Broncos ahead 22-0 by the end of the first quarter.

Early in the second quarter, the Dukes had their best offensive drive of the game as they drove deep into Bronco territory. But on a Dukes pass by Lance Sexton, Bronco Corey Porter picked it off and raced 95 yards for the touchdown. Padilla booted the extra point as the Broncos led 29-0.

With 7:25 remaining in the half, JaVonte Blacknall picked off another pass by the Dukes quarterback and returned it 43 yards for another Bronco touchdown. Padilla added the extra point and the Broncos extended their lead to 36–0.

Pittman added the last points of the half for Franklin as he ran a QB sneak up the middle for an 8-yard touchdown. Padilla split the uprights on the extra point for a 43-0 half time lead.

Looking at a running clock for the second half due to the big lead held by the Broncos, they still added 20 more points to their score while shutting out Windsor’s offense.

Allison Cromwell broke free on a 2 yard run and Padilla added the extra point to advance the score to 50 – 0 during the third quarter of play.

In the final quarter the Broncos added 13 more points following a 14-yard scoring run by Lane and a 1-yard touchdown run by Tyree Jones.

The Broncos rushed for a total of 288 yards. Lattrell Lane led the Broncos in rushing with 121 yards and Travis Brown added 65 yards.

Shane Walker and Winfred Thaxton both had six tackles apiece for the Broncos defense.

The Dukes ended the night with 112 yards on the ground with Sharod Patterson leading with 53 yards.

“God is great,” added Coach Parker. He remarked that the coaches would start to prepare the team for all phases of the game as they enter into the playoffs.