Franklin Defeats Americas In A Memorable Overtime Contest

The Franklin Cougars continued to show why they are clearly the best team in the city with a dramatic 41-38 win over Americas in overtime.

Both teams entered the game undefeated in District 1-6A play, Franklin had won four straight games, and Americas was on a three game winning streak.  The game which featured non stop scoring began with a bang when Franklin quarterback Baylor Romney scored a 20 yard QB keeper to put the Cougars up 7-0 at the 9:24 mark of the first quarter.

Romney scored his second of three rushing touchdowns at the 5:20 mark of the first quarter on a 68 yard keeper to put Franklin up 14-0.  An Americas' 25 yard field goal with :26 seconds left in the first quarter cut the Cougars' lead to 14-3.  Americas' signal caller Q. Drennon enabled his team to get with four points of Franklin when he scored on a 1 yard QB keeper with 9:13 left in the second quarter.  With Franklin up 14-10 Baylor Romney came right back to score his third rushing touchdown of the half to put the Cougars up 21-10 with 7:45 remaining in the second quarter.

Americas' running back Joshua Fields scored two late second quarter touchdowns while Franklin's Nickolas Bingham added another score for the Cougars to send them into the locker room with a 28-24 lead.    The Trailblazers came out in the second half with a sense of urgency as Q. Drennon found his wide receiver Ysaias Zamundo for a 34 yard touchdown to give Americas their first lead of the game at 31-28.

A Franklin 24 yard field goal at the end of the third quarter tied up the contest at 31-31.   Franklin players and fans held their collective breath as Baylor Romney left the game in the fourth quarter with an ankle injury.  Brandon Mueller came in to relive Romney and instantly showed his inexperience by throwing an interception at the Franklin 40 with 6:47 remaining in the game.  Q. Drennon took advantage of the Cougars' turnover by scoring on an 18 yard rushing TD to give Americas a 38-31 lead.

Trying to hold on for the victory wouldn't be easy though as Cougars' backup QB Mueller threw a 68 yard catch and run touchdown to Aaron Smith to tie the game up at 38-38 with only 2:52 left in regulation.  It was fitting that this epic battle couldn't be settled in four quarters as time expired and these two played into overtime.

In the overtime session Americas won the toss and after going three and out attempted a field goal but missed.  Franklin scored the game winning 32 yard field goal as kicker Andrew Zubia nailed it to give the Cougars the thrilling victory.  Franklin QB Baylor Romney's stellar performance included completing 13 of 22 passes for 234 yards with 4 touchdowns, 1 passing and 3 rushing.  He also rushed for 154 yards on 12 carries.  Q. Drennon had 20 carries for 224 yards with 3 touchdowns, 2 rushing and 1 passing.

Franklin moves to 6-1, 3-0 in District 1-6A and will play Coronado at the Sun Bowl next Saturday.  Americas evens their record at 4-4 with the loss, 3-1 in 1-6A play and is idle next week.