HARROGATE – The West Greene faithful that ventured to Cumberland Gap on Friday night might have witnessed the best individual performance by anyone donning the blue and gold.
The dynamic receiver caught five passes for 314 yards and scored four touchdowns while also running for 144 yards on six carries and crossing the goal line two more times. The huge performance put in the state record book twice. He is now tied for 9th all-time in single game receiving yards, and is tied for eighth all-time in single-game touchdown receptions.
“Austin Franklin is as dynamic of a playmaker as we could have. They didn’t have an answer for him. Anywhere we put him he did what he does. I’m incredibly proud of Austin tonight,” West Greene coach Evan Monroe said.
Monroe had plenty of reason to be proud of Franklin, as well as the rest of the Buffaloes, with a blowout win over the homestanding Cumberland Gap Panthers, 40-0.
“The offensive line did a good job blocking and our defense pitched a shutout. So, we won in pretty much every facet of the game. I’m really proud of my guys for this one.” said Monroe after Friday night’s rout.
The Buffaloes put the game away early with touchdowns on each of their first two drives. Franklin made identical runs of 40 and 42 yards for touchdowns. The Panthers struggled on offense, being held without a first down until late in the first quarter when they sustained a drive with the aid of some West Greene penalties. And penalties were aplenty on Friday night in a game that was “chippy” by all standards.
In the second quarter, the Buffaloes made the move to put Franklin at wideout and bring freshman quarterback, Austin Brown, into the game.
Brown made his presence known early as he found Franklin open downfield and dropped a beautiful pass over the outstretched arm of the Panthers’ defensive back for a 30-yard pickup. After finding Alex Johnson over the middle down to the 12 yard line, Brown found Franklin for the second time on the drive, and this time it was for six.
That was the only scoring play of the second quarter, as the West Greene defense allowed another sustained drive, but bent without breaking, stopping the Panthers on 4th-and-four inside the redzone.
After getting the Panthers to punt the ball away to open the second half, Franklin picked up where he left off, finding a seam in the defense and exploiting it. This time for 82 yards to pay dirt. With the score, West Greene led Cumberland Gap by a score of 26-0 midway through the third quarter.
Neither team could find much footing offensively to end the third quarter, but it didn’t take long for Franklin to find a bit more magic.
After taking a handoff at the West Greene 15 yard line on 3rd-and-33, Franklin stretched the defense trying to find room to run. Finding nowhere to go, the senior turned around and ran the opposite direction, into his own end zone. Reversing field, Franklin caught the defense stuck on the opposite side of the field and he turned on the jets to race 101 yards to the end zone — the right one this time — for what is officially scored as an 85-yard touchdown.
The West Greene defense, led by stout defensive line play, clamped down on the Panthers offense. Late in the fourth quarter, Cumberland Gap transitioned to a more pass-heavy approach, and the secondary for the Buffaloes were up to the task of keeping the shutout in check.
But Austin Franklin was not finished with his career-best and history-making night.
With less than a minute to go, Brown threw another dime deep, allowing Franklin to run under it and outrun the defender to the end zone. This time the pass covered 75 yards and it closed the book on scoring and the game.
Brown had an impressive stat sheet, with the freshman throwing for more than 350 yards and four touchdowns.
West Greene stays in Region 1-2A next week with a must-win game against the Hampton Bulldogs.
“It’s a definite must-win game next week. If we want to make the playoffs and we want to go do something in the region, it’s a game we have to go get,” said Monroe of next week’s matchup with the Bulldogs.
