Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009

North gets revenge, Franklin gets rushing record

James Franklin got his record, but, more importantly, Olathe North got its win and avenged a quarterfinal loss against Free State last year.

Franklin, a senior tailback, and the Eagles managed to grind out 414 yards on 63 carries, but every yard was tough and no lead felt comfortable Friday in a 41-28 win at the Olathe District Activity Center.

“Playing these guys, it's always tough yards,” said Franklin, who finished with 247 yards and two touchdowns on 33 carries.

He now has 5,434 career yards, breaking the old North record set by Darren Sproles (5,230), but that wasn't the central plot point in the Eagles-Firebirds matchup.

“It feels amazing, but that's not on my priority list,”said Franklin, who was announced earlier in the day as one of four finalists for the Simone Award as the metro's top football player. “My priority list is getting this team to be No. 1. That record means nothing if we don't win a state championship honestly, but it feels good to get that record in this game.”

The Eagles, 11-0, took a big step by beating the Firebirds, 8-3, who knocked them out in the same round and on the same field last year with a stunning 10-6 upset.

“Ever since we lost, we had 364 days to prepare to get back to where we are right now,” said senior Tre Walker, who had an interception and two rushing touchdowns on two carries. “That's what we did. We listened to coach and he saw us through it.”

North dictated the game's tempo but only led 14-7 at halftime and 21-14 after three quarters.

Walker plowed in for a 4-yard TD on the first play of the fourth quarter, giving the Eagles a 28-14 lead 5 seconds into the period.

Free State answered with a 10-yard TD pass from Camren Torneden to wide receiver Aundre Allen.

Franklin, who had a 31-yard touchdown jaunt in the third quarter, counterpunched with a 60-yard TD scamper, but the Firebirds answered again with a 12-yard touchdown hookup from Torneden to Allen, making the score 35-28.

“We were able to separate there and go up two scores, which was just huge,” Eagles coach Pete Flood said. “They made some plays. They've got some good kids and coach (Bob) Lisher does a heck of a job over there, but our kids hung in there and kept battling against a good football team. We ended up where we wanted to be.”

North played without its starting quarterback, senior David Blazevic, who has been battling swollen lymph nodes, and didn't attempt a pass.

His backup, Victor Simmons, who has seen significant minutes in certain packages throughout the season. While not the passing threat Blazevic is, Simmons still commands attention and rushed for 170 yards on 27 carries and scored twice in the first half.

“Victor's a threat in his own right,” Flood said. “And if he's in the ballgame, there's other things the defense has got to worry about.”

North marched right down the field with the opening kickoff for the game's first touchdown. Simmons capped the nine-play, 80-yard drive with a 2-yard TD dive at the pylon. He had a 49-yard run on the drive to get the Eagles in position for the score.

Defense dominated the rest of the first quarter and well into the second before a botched punt snap set up Free State at North's 27.

Four plays later, Torneden connected with senior Keene Niemack for a game-tying 11-yard touchdown pass.

The Eagles then began to assert their will, grinding out a 12-play drive that covered 73 yards and wiped nearly six minutes from the clock.

“They were blitzing a lot and stacking the box, but we just had to keep chopping wood,” senior lineman Lucas Vincent said. “We knew they'd throw a lot of guys at us, but we welcome the challenge.”

Simmons again did the honors, capping the drive with a 7-yard TD run that put North in front 14-7 at halftime.

Early in that drive, Franklin ripped a 10-yard run up the gut that moved him ahead of Darren Sproles for first place on the Eagles' all-time rushing list. He entered the game needing 43 yards and had 67 yards on 16 carries at the break.

“That's pretty neat,” Flood said. “That's awesome for him, and certainly he's deserving.”

Kansas 6A state quarterfinals

OLATHE NORTH 41, FREE STATE 28

FS (8-3) 0 7 7 14 — 28

ON (11-0) 7 7 7 20 — 41

Scoring summary

First quarter

ON: Victor Simmons 2 run (Jared Morss kick), 7:23

Second quarter

FS: Keene Niemack 11 pass from Camren Torneden (Gabe Ballard-Hanson kick), 7:30

ON: Simmons 7 run (Morss kick), 1:37

Third quarter

FS: Matt Cole 1 run (Ballard-Hanson kick), 9:57

ON: James Franklin 31 run (Morss kick), 6:33

Fourth quarter

ON: Tre Walker 4 run (Morss kick), 11:55

FS: Aundre Allen 10 pass from Torneden (Ballard-Hanson kick), 7:53

ON: Franklin 60 run (Morss kick), 6:10

FS: Allen 12 pass from Torneden (Ballard-Hanson kick), 4:09

ON: Walker 1 run (Morss kick), 1:02

Team statistics

FS ON

Time of possession 17:54 30:06

First downs 18 21

Rushing-yards 27-141 63-414

Passing yards 182 0

C-A-I 14-30-2 0-0-0

Total yards 323 414

Fum/Lost 0-0 3-1

Pen/Yards 1-5 6-60

Individual statistics

Rushing

Free State: Camren Torneden 17-94, Keene Niemack 3-17, Preston Schenck 1-(-4), Matt Cole 5-31, Cody Oller 1-3. Olathe North: James Franklin 33-247, Victor Simmons 27-170, Tre Walker 2-5, Kyle Swartz 1-(-8).

Passing

Free State: Torneden 14-30-2 182. Olathe North: no pass attempts.

Receiving

Free State: Schenck 1-6, Aundre Allen 6-70, Keene Niemack 3-53, Connor Stremel 2-34, Chandler Schmidt 2-19. Olathe North: no pass attempts.

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