The Franklinton Demons football team took one on the chin last Friday against the 5A Covington Lions. The Lions pulled away from the Demons in the second half to win 32-21.
The Demons and the Lions battled to a scoreless tie throughout the first period before the Lions got on the scoreboard with a four yard run by the quarterback to put them up 7-0.
The Demons responded with a nice drive that was capped off with an 18 yard pass from Jacob Crain to Dalton Freeman for a touchdown to tie the game at 7-7.
The Lions scored on a 23 yard run with 4:27 left in the second period to go up 13-7 before the Demons also scored with just :13 left on Jacob Crain’s pass to Jaiden Garrett from three yards out. 13-13 would be the halftime score.
The Demons opened with possession and drove to the Lions 7 before turning the ball over on downs there. The Lions were forced to punt but the punt hit a Demon player and the Lions recovered to keep their drive alive. The Lions eventually scored on a 23 yard pass to go up 19-13. The Lions scored on their next drive as well to go up 25-13 with 10:06 left in the game. They scored again with 4:55 left to go up 32-13.
The Demons put together a nice drive that was capped off by Sy Austin as he went in from three yards out with 2:29 left. The Demons two point conversion was good to cut the lead to 32-21, where it would stand.
FHS Coach Saltaformaggio was disappointed after the game and sees what his team needs. "We've got to figure a way to make the next step. A lot of it has to do with the people we're playing, Covington is a really good football team. We struggled to get right when things don't go right. We get the ball to open the second half, we get stopped then we get a stop and the punt hits our kid and it was over. It was like the lights in the stadium went out and we never recovered from it.”
He addded, “I think right now you're running into programs and we have another one next week in Pine. We have to figure out a way to make that step, we've got to beat a team that has us down and we're able to figure out a way to come back late. I believe in this team and think this is a good football team. We've got a long way to go as far as the season. There is a lot of football left to play. It's not where you are after week two, it's where you are after week ten. We have to hope we win enough to get in, and get in and make some noise."
Jacob Crain was the statistical leader for the Demons with 220 yards and two touchdowns on 15 completions of 22 attempts with 5 yards rushing on two carries. Damikies McClain caught four passes for 78 yards, Dalton Freeman caught three for 51 yards and a touchdown, Conner Magee caught two for 26 yards, Sy Austin caught two for 52 and Jaiden Garrett caught one for a three yard touchdown. Austin rushed for 63 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries. Magee rushed for 22 yards on six carries.
The Demons will travel to Pine Friday to play the Raiders in a non-district contest. The Demons and Raiders have not played since 2008.
