By Ken Severson
For The Daily Reporter
FRANKLIN — In a game that took two days to finish, host Franklin survived a lightning delay on Friday night and a lightning-quick touchdown strike Saturday to eke out a 21-20 win over Mt. Vernon.
After the Marauders scored on a 47-yard touchdown pass from Mason Meyer to Ryker Baer with 1:45 left in the game, Mt. Vernon coach Vince Lidy boldly decided to go for the win, but Franklin’s defense was not about to get outsmarted on consecutive plays and stopped the attempt short of the goal line to preserve the lead which ultimately turned into a win when the Grizzly Cubs ran out the clock.
There was no question Mt. Vernon coach Vince Lidy was going for the win.
“Absolutely,” Lidy said. “We wanted it. Franklin outlasted us.”
The win gives the Cubs their first 2-0 start to the season since 2022, while the Marauders fell to 0-2 for the second time in three seasons.
Both teams practically mirrored each other as far as offensive and defensive play.
Especially in yardage as the Marauders won that game on paper, 284 total yards to Franklin’s 270.
But it was the scoreboard that counted and this one hurt for the Marauders as this is a game they could have won.
Instead, it was a prolonged agony of defeat.
“In the scheme of things, going 0-2 is awful,” Lidy said. “There’s no excuses. We had to come (to Franklin) twice and play seven minutes of football (today).”
Franklin had a 21-14 lead with 7:49 left in the game when officials decided to pull both teams off the field and the Cubs administration advised fans to leave the stands for their safety due to the inclement weather, which included several lightning strikes and huge, gusts of wind.
The game had been delayed for more than an hour when it was decided to complete it Saturday afternoon.
“That seems like it happens every five years or so,” Franklin coach Chris Coll said. “It doesn’t happen very often, but we always try to stay prepared.”
That wasn’t a question with either team’s defense.
Franklin held the Marauders to 16 yards or less on eight of its 12 possessions, while Mt. Vernon was no slouch on defense either, limiting the Cubs to nine yards or less on seven of its possessions.
“Their defense caused us some problems,” Coll admitted. “It came down to the defense and it was a battle from (Friday) to (today).
Mt. Vernon took the early lead when Joliba Brogan ran in from the 8 and Meyer scored on the conversion in the first quarter.
Franklin countered with Greyson Betts hitting Alex Leugers for a 40-yard touchdown pass.
Franklin’s fortunes got even better prior to the delay, when the Cubs scored two touchdowns exactly a minute apart late in the third quarter.
Leugers broke a tackle, then burst through for a 27-yard touchdown run to give the Cubs the lead, 14-11 with 3:32 to go in the quarter.
Meyer was then intercepted by Cub safety Ryan Calloway, who returned it to the Marauder 10.
A penalty put the ball back to the 15, but that didn’t deter quarterback Betts, who faked a handoff to Leugers and dashed the opposite way untouched for the score at 2:32.
That was all the touchdowns until Meyer’s strike to Baer.
Mt. Vernon added two field goals from Rylan Vinard for 32 and 21 yards. Vinard also missed a 41-yard attempt that was just left of the goal post late in the fourth.
Betts, who threw for only 30 yards in the season opener against New Albany, opened it up a bit, tossing for 123 yards, while Leugers rushed for 100 yards. For the Marauders, Brogan had 147 yards to go with his touchdown, while Meyer threw for 118.
“Our running game is there but we must have another aspect,” Lidy said. “We’re too one dimensional. We got a little bit better, but I don’t think it was enough improvement from game one to game two, so we’re going to have to make some corrections.”
Coll enjoyed the game, citing the evenness of both teams and stating both were well coached.
And a nice game to prepare for conference play, which begins next week.
“It was a little bit of a chess match from a coaching standpoint,” Coll said. “It wasn’t always pretty, but it was an outstanding game.”
Next up, Franklin opens up Mid-State Conference play, hosting Perry Meridian next Friday, while Mt. Vernon gets its first home game of the season against Hoosier Heritage foe, unbeaten Greenfield-Central.
