A monsoon like rain delayed the start of last night's Franklin vs. Carlisle game by about 45 minutes. From there on out the night was not friendly to our Wildcats. The Indians beat our Franklin Wildcats 20-7 off of impressive running attack and a stingy defensive unit!!

The first quarter Franklin started off strong and was moving the ball quite well but with no scoring production. Carlisle, as well, was playing strong but no defense would budge in the first quarter until the last .36 seconds in the first when one of Carlisle's DB's was able to get a deflected pass interception off of QB #7 Sizemore.

Carlisle didn't waste time captilizing on the mistake and marched down the field and Nick McGill pounded the ball in for the first score of the game. That making the game 0-7 Indians favor in the second quarter.

The second quarter was not kind to the Wildcats, as well. The Indians after their touchdown was able to keep the return team inside their own 20 after a penalty brought back a long return by #29 Taylor Briggs. The Wildcats were not able to do anything with this series and had to kick deep in their own end zone. This resulted in a good run back by the Indians which led to a FG by Kris Garrett for the Indians with 3:16 left in the half.

The Wildcats was able to march down to the Indians 27 but ran out of time in the half before they could capitalize on scoring. Halftime score Wildcats 0, Indians 10.

The Wildcats came out strong in the second half stopping the Indians offense and forcing them to kick a FG early in the 3rd quarter that hit off the upright for "NO GOOD". This really was a turning point in the game for Franklin. Our defense making the stop and the missed field goal really changed the momentum.

The Wildcats QB Sizemore threw a nice 30 yard pass play down the sideline. Sizemore then runs for his own first down getting the ball into Indian territory. Tailback #2 Salyers picks up their 3rd first down of the series to the Indians 11 and that ends the third quarter. Franklin 0, Indians 10

To start the fourth quarter #4 Cody Priest takes advantage of the field position and pounds the ball in from the 9 yard line to get Franklin on the board! Extra Point made by Aaron Herald.

The ensuing kick off was not a good one for us, Carlisle's Jordan Jacobs takes the ball to the Wildcats 47. From there it took only one play from #28 Nick McGill to scamper in for a 47 yard run play up the middle! Kris Garrett kicks the extra point in giving the Indians a 17-0 lead.

The fourth quarter started to get interesting the Wildcats was not able to produce on a solid drive after the Indians score. But, then Franklin got the break they needed the Indians QB #14 Gibson coughed up the ball and Franklin takes over on their 32 yard line. But as quickly as we recovered the fumble Franklin QB Sizemore who was under pressure all night long coughed up the ball and Carlisle recovers.

Carlisle marched down to about the 4 yard line and was able to get a Kris Garrett FG with about 6:08 left in the game. Franklin 7, Indians 20

Our Cats made a nice final drive all the way down the field to Carlisle's 15 yard line but after an illegal procedure penalty and a few incomplete passes by Sizemore the Wildcats could not capitalize on a 4th and 5. After that Carlisle was able to burn the rest of the time.

This was a frustrating start to the season. With coming off last year's playoff appearance the Wildcats were expecting to start off with a big win. The weather conditions and a stingy defense really caused Franklin problems. With the one interception and two fumbles that were lost the Indian defense caused many pass play deflections and caused Sizemore to scramble quite a bit.

The return game for the Wildcats was pretty stellar on the night really putting the Wildcats in some decent positions to do something offensively. Despite the one penalty that brought the return back. #29 Taylor Briggs for Franklin really did a nice job giving Franklin a chance.

Tough loss for the Wildcats. It is just one game and they will move forward this week and prepare for next week's contest!!

GO CATS!!

Enjoy pictures from the match by The Franklin Voice photographer and owner of jdcPhotography, Jeff Conley. Visit his site for purchase or inquiries by clicking here.