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By Frank A. Davis and Titus Mohler

The varsity basketball teams for Franklin High School and Southampton High School had busy schedules during the week before Christmas, and win or lose, they showed their coaches some encouraging signs.

One of their games was against each other — the Backyard Brawl, and it took place Dec. 17 at the SHS gym.

At the end of the first and second quarters of play, it was the visiting Broncos who led in scoring. But at the 6:26 mark in the third quarter, the Indians took the lead with a score of 30-29. They developed and held a comfortable lead, but with 3:09 left in the fourth quarter, the Broncos drew close, making the score 49-48. But from that point forward, the home team held on to win with a score of 61-53. 

In scoring for the Indians, senior Tyrell Beverly led with 18 points, followed by senior Israel Key with 17 points and junior Aiden Brown with 11 points. For the Broncos, senior Kamarre Hicks and junior DeMoreon Smith had 14 points apiece, and senior Christian Grant had 12 points. 

“I knew it was going to be a tough game tonight or any time we’re playing Franklin,” Southampton Head Coach Sharone Bailey said after the game. “The Backyard Brawl is always a good game regardless of the records. (Franklin Head) Coach (Robby) Cutchins always has had his team ready to roll. Tonight, we just had to execute at the start of the game. I’m proud of my guys.”

In comments after the game, Cutchins called it “one heck of a basketball game. I’m so proud of our kids, the way they fought, the effort that they gave on both ends of the floor.”

He then highlighted the difference between what he has seen from his team in other games and what he saw from it that night.

“Against all top-level teams that we’ve had so far this year, we played a great first half; (then) we came out in the second half, and we fell down,” he said. “We had a hard time battling back tonight; we came out in the second half, (and) they went up by 12 points. (But) the boys fought back, got it to two points — they never quit.”

He credited Southampton for being an extremely talented basketball team.

The Indians hold an overall record of 7-0 heading into the new year. On Dec. 16, they defeated visiting Ridgecroft School 80-55, and after playing Franklin on Dec. 17, the Indians defeated visiting Arcadia High School 80-73 on Dec. 18.

Cutchins ended his postgame comments on Dec. 17 with a note of significant praise for the character of his team.

“With the heart and the resilience these Broncos have, I would go to battle with that every day of the week,” he said.

Franklin was back in action Dec. 19 as it hosted the annual Bluewater Rentals/Mid Atlantic Dairy Queen Holiday Classic, which was a two-day event held in the Peggy H. Wilkins Gymnasium at FHS.

The Broncos earned a 79-59 victory over Nandua High School on Dec. 19.

For the championship game on Dec. 20, Franklin faced Grassfield High School. 

The Broncos held the lead at the end of three quarters of play. It started to get bumpy for them at the 5:48 mark of the final quarter when the Grizzles took a 44-43 lead. At the 2:02 mark, the score was tied at 49-49. The Grizzles went on from there to hold the Broncos scoreless and obtain a 52-49 win.

Franklin had two scorers in double figures. They were senior Altavis Turner with 19 points and Hicks with 13 points.

Cutchins said he tipped his hat to Grassfield for a phenomenal job. Then he turned his focus to his players.

“I’m really proud of these kids,” he said. “We went down to Grassfield maybe about two weeks ago, and we got punched in the mouth pretty good. They were up by 20 points for the second half of that game, and we battled to try to get back in it.”

The Grizzlies ultimately prevailed in that Dec. 10 game, 55-38.

“But we’re a totally different basketball team now than we were two weeks ago,” Cutchins said. “And to run a (Class 6) school to the ropes like that, I think it says a lot for this program. These kids have come so far this season. We’ve had a tough schedule before the break, and I told the boys, ‘If we keep fighting, when we get back in the district play, we will be a pretty good basketball team.’”

The Broncos (2-7) fell in a challenging game against Veritas Collegiate Academy on Dec. 21, and they were set to close out the 2024 portion of their 2024-25 schedule on Saturday, Dec. 28, against visiting Indian River High School, a Virginia High School League Class 5 school.