Grizzlies pound Defiance

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By Dexter Howard, October 6, 2009

 After a 35-yard kickoff return from freshmen Ethan Cook and a short opening 4-and-out from the Grizzly offense, Defiance made the discovery that gaining ground on the offensive side of the ball would be no easy task. 

 

The aggressive Franklin defense, anchored by a linebacking core that racked up 29 tackles and an interception, forced the Yellow Jackets out of their comfort zone and didn’t allow a first down until five minutes into the second quarter. Alongside the overall consistency of the Grizzly defense was its ability to make big (possible touchdown saving) plays, which included a Matt Gore interception in the endzone and a big Michael Spillman tackle on a Defiance fourth-and-goal.

 

With the help of a 29-yard interception return for a touchdown from senior linebacker Joe Rush, Franklin put 28 points on the scoreboard before the end of the first half. With Nick Purichia getting the start, the Grizzlies put together a 9 play, 71 yard scoring drive on their second possession of the game. Collecting 58 of his 215 yards on the day, Purichia hit four different receivers on the scoring march, including a 15 yard touchdown toss to Mitch Deffner.

 

At the start of the second quarter, Franklin would waste no time going back to work on the offensive side of the ball, this time with some help from quarterback Kyle Ray. Purichia would contribute to the first half of the eight-play drive, which included some key first down pickups from Mitch Downs and Nick Mongan, and Ray would air it out on the final two plays. The score would come from a 10-yard strike from Ray to Sean Walton, giving the Grizzlies a demanding 21-0 advantage with 13:39 still left to go in the very first half of regulation.

 

However one-sided it seemed for the opposition, the Yellow Jackets would not go away despite the three touchdown deficit they faced going into the third quarter. In their very first drive of the second half, Defiance would put together a 69-yard touchdown drive of their own with the help of running back Drew Kuesel. 

 

After two big completions courtesy of quarterback Austin Karcher which resulted in 31 valuable yards for the visitors, Kuesel would drive it in from the 1-yard line to narrow the score 28-14. It would be the last time Defiance would be allowed to score for the rest of the game and FC would build on its already robust lead with the help of two more touchdown drives in the third quarter. 

 

On back-to-back scoring efforts, Purichia would throw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Matt Zmich and Ray would add a 28-yard heave of his own to Deffner. Franklin would sit on their 41-14 lead throughout the fourth quarter, maintaining possession and running the clock down to ensure the victory. Franklin will play away next week at Bluffton University in Ohio.