Franklin Knocks off Coronado in Annual Westside Bowl

In a rivalry game that was closer than anyone could have imagined, Franklin defeated Coronado 28-14 in the annual Westside Bowl on Thursday night.  The Cougars began the contest in a rather inauspicious manner as Coronado's Davis Burns picked off quarterback Danny Walther on their first possession.

Walther would then throw another interception on the Cougars' next possession, this time John Filly pulled off a "Filly Special" with the INT, but, despite having prime field position on both occasions, the T-Birds weren't able to capitalize on Walther's rare blunders.  Walther would go on to throw a total of four interceptions in the game, in what was clearly an off-night for him.

The Cougars would settle down the reminder of the half and establish their ground attack, as they took a 14-6 lead into halftime thanks to a pair of short touchdown runs by David Powers.  The T-Birds came storming out to start the third quarter by putting together an impressive 75-yard 11-play drive to tie the game up at 14-14 as RB Dallas Slaughter scored a 2-yard touchdown.   Coronado tied the game up on a 2-point conversion as QB Ben Carney found Jake Cox with 5:04 left in the third quarter.

The Cougars' ground attack proved to be overpowering though down the stretch as running backs Erwin Sutton and Pablo Payan led the way for Franklin.  In total, Franklin accumulated a whopping 319 yards on the ground.  Sutton put the exclamation mark on the game with a spectacular 73-yard touchdown run with 9:06 left in the contest.  He would finish with 171 yards on just 11 carries, while Payan accumulated 75-yards on 14 carries.

With the win, Franklin moves to 6-1, 1-1 in District 1-6A, and will play a crucial game at Montwood next Thursday, a contest you can listen to with Adrian Broaddus on our free ESPN2 app.  Coronado falls to 1-5, 0-2 in 1-6A, and will host Socorro next Friday night.