Franklin football races to 48-6 win over Southeast Portland rival Cleveland

SOUTH TABOR – After some early jitters were shrugged off, Franklin High School football was off to the races.

Going against Southeast Portland rival Cleveland, there’s always some extra emotion going into the night.

But a quick score from senior Rashawn Hunter-Barber helped loosen the Lightning (2-4, 0-3 PIL) and they never looked back in a 48-6 victory over their Powell Boulevard rival Warriors (0-6).

After the two sides traded punts to start the game, Cleveland got great field position on a punt return plus a Franklin penalty.

However, the Warriors were turned back on fourth down on the Lightning 13-yard line, giving the ball back. And on the first play of the second drive, Hunter-Barber ran through a hole on his left, hit the near sideline and was gone for an 87-yard touchdown run.

“Nothing but green,” Hunter-Barber said of what he saw on the play. “I love my O-line, as soon as I saw the hole, I just ran.”

“It’s rivalry week so we were pretty tight beforehand and had a couple penalties on defense,” Franklin senior QB Silas Combs said. “That run just really opened it up. We realized we got this game in the bag, we can go win this thing. I think that started all the momentum for sure.”

The Warriors responded well to the big play however, putting together a drive that started at the Franklin 44-yard line and eventually ended with a Steven Rogosin 3-yard TD run. The PAT was missed, making it 7-6 Franklin early in the second quarter.

Franklin turned it up on offense though, scoring on its next three possessions in the first half.

First, it was Hunter-Barber again on a 7-yard TD run. Then, Combs tossed a ball into the far corner of the end zone where senior Evan Roseborough jumped up to catch the 23-yard TD pass between two Cleveland defenders.

Junior Abraham Heintzman came up with an interception to give Franklin another crack at the end zone, and the Lightning pulled it off when Combs hit sophomore Remy Sharp-Hawk breaking across the middle of the field for a 27-yard score. That made it 28-6 going into halftime.

In between all the scoring, the night got a little strange when Franklin head coach Adam Grimes was ejected in the second quarter for three equipment violations called against the Lightning.

Despite his absence on the sideline, the coaching staff got the players ready to keep firing in the second half.

“(Grimes) is an amazing coach and everyone in the program loves him,” Combs said. “Seeing him get ejected hurts. At halftime we talked about finishing that game for coach Grimes, this is a big deal. It’s our fault he got ejected and we were going to win this game for him.”

A fumble in the red zone ended Franklin’s first drive, but Jaiden Lopez got an interception to put the Lightning right back in business.

From there, it was three more touchdowns for Franklin.

First it was Combs to Roseborough again, this time from eight yards out on a dig route to the near sideline, making it 35-6.

Senior Cooper Haug spun his way into an 8-yard TD run to make it 42-6, and the final score was Hunter-Barber from four yards out. The PAT by Roseborough, who hit the other seven, missed to provide the 48-6 final score.

“The last three weeks, been real pleased (with the offense),” Grimes said. “(Combs) is getting a little more command and getting more comfortable. Getting (Cooper Haug) back, trying to get (Hunter-Barber) the ball more, and then we have a pretty good receiving corp with (Roseborough, Sharp-Hawk, Quinn Young) and some other guys that mix in there. That’s kind of football sometimes, offense takes a little bit longer.”

The Franklin defense deserves plenty of credit on the night as well with the two interceptions, plus a total of five sacks. Junior Theo Watt had two of them.

Hunter-Barber finished the night with 13 carries for 135 yards and three TDs while Combs was 17-for-22 passing for 226 yards and three TDs. Roseborough made seven catches for 111 yards and two TDs.

Franklin fought through 101 penalty yards to post 474 yards of offense while holding Cleveland to 159. Warriors freshman QB Jude Buck threw for 115 yards with one interception.

Cleveland will try to bounce back and get win No. 1 back at home next week, welcoming in Jefferson at 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 17.

For Franklin, it looks to turn the victory into a win streak against PIL leader Roosevelt. That game is set for 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 17 at Roosevelt.

“Pride is one of the things that we try to establish, especially home field,” Grimes said. “I’m super proud of the kids because you’re 1-4, you don’t know how it’s going to go. The rivalry game certainly gets their attention and Roosevelt is going to be a tough one next week so gotta look forward to that.”