by Frank Davis

FRANKLIN
The weather finally cooperated to provide conditions that allowed the Franklin Youth Football and Cheer program to hold the championship night for the 2017 football season. The Championship night was initially supposed to happen on Wednesday, Nov. 8, but heavy rain for most of that week forced the league officials to reschedule it for Wednesday, Nov. 15.

For the flag league championship game, which started at 6 p.m. at Armory Drive Recreational Park Football Stadium, the Boykins Bulldogs defeated the Franklin Mustangs 26-6.

For the junior league championship game, the Surry Cougars lost to the  Boykins Bulldogs by a score of 22-0.

At the conclusion of the junior league championship game and the awarding of the trophy, the cheerleaders took to the field to perform series of routines for the enjoyment of many fans of the league. The cheerleading groups that performed were the Windsor Knights, the Holland Razorbacks and the Franklin Mustangs.

All groups were given hardy rounds of applause and cheers as each squad completed their routines.

Going back to live action on the field, the finale of the night featured the Boykins Bulldogs versus the Franklin Mustangs for the senior league championship. The game for the first half presented much defense as the two games ended the half tied at zero all. The third quarter also presented the same battle with no scoring.

Early in the final quarter the Mustangs offense produced a touchdown and a two point conversion to put them up 8-0. However, late in the final quarter the Bulldogs picked off a Mustang pass and took it all the way for a touchdown. The two point conversion failed and the score was 8-6 for the Mustangs.

With about one minute remaining in the game, the Mustangs, back on offense, coughed the ball back over to the Bulldogs. Having one more shot to go ahead, the Bulldogs could not take advantage of it and turned the ball back over to the Mustangs, who ran the clock down to take the league championship win with the score of 8-6.

FRANK DAVIS is the City of Franklin’s director of parks and recreation. He can be reached at 562-8788.