Jefferson football airs it out in 46-6 victory over Franklin to open PIL play

HUMBOLDT – Everyone knew Jefferson High School football had the weapons to be a scary offense in 2025.

The question was: Who was going to give it to them?

After a 46-6 victory over Franklin in Week 3, that’s no longer a question as sophomore quarterback AJ Kightlinger threw for 227 yards and four TDs, along with rushing for 16 yards and one more score.

The performance was a welcomed sight for Democrats head coach Anthony Stoudamire after they lost the first two games of the season to Glencoe and Liberty.

“This week we just worked on getting comfortable with quarterback and receivers and running backs,” Stoudamire said. “Spending a lot of time with one-on-one stuff. It’s coming together.”

Kightlinger, a transfer all the way from Summit in Bend, looked to be in sync from the opening drive when he found junior Jayden Robinson for a 32-yard TD pass.

After Franklin went down the field but stalled out inside the red zone with a turnover on downs, Jefferson came right back down the field and scored on a 25-yard TD pass from Kightlinger to senior EJ Cozart, making it 14-0 after the first quarter.

“That’s like one of my best friends, we clicked like that, automatically,” Robinson said of Kightlinger. “It’s there, the connection is there, it wasn’t really hard. We’re still working to get to where we need to be.”

Jefferson forced another punt and appeared to score a few plays later, but Kightlinger was called for an illegal forward pass.

Next play, Kightlinger looked to the near sideline and hit Cozart again for a walk-in touchdown from 51 yards out, pushing the score to 20-0.

Cozart kept the good times rolling by coming up with an interception inside the red zone on Franklin’s next drive. The Demos slowly moved down the field and punched in another TD on Kightlinger’s seven-yard run. A missed PAT made it 26-0 Demos in the second frame.

“First two weeks felt a little rough, things weren’t clicking, things weren’t going our way,” Kightlinger said. “But tonight, it just felt complete. Our boys were getting off the line faster, we were playing a lot harder, we were playing with a lot more behind us, a little chip on our shoulder. Definitely came back a lot harder.”

Senior Q Gresham came up with a second interception for Jefferson on Franklin’s side of the field in the closing minutes of the first half.

The Demos moved quick on offense, but looked to be in trouble facing a fourth down from the Lightning 15-yard line.

Instead, Kightlinger rolled out to his right and found junior Carlos Brown Chavarria in the corner for another six. A failed 2-point conversion sent the game to halftime at 32-0 Jefferson.

Jefferson had five possessions in the first half, all ending with touchdowns.

“(Kightlinger) is not real comfortable yet,” Stoudamire said. “He’s learning the speed of our receivers, he came from Summit and Summit didn’t have the speed we have. He’s learning the speed of our receivers, and we’ve got some burners.

“He’s finally learning to understand, put it out there and let them run.”

Franklin turned it over on downs to start the second half, but Calvin Nelson recovered a fumble at midfield to try and breathe some life into the Lightning.

The two sides traded possessions once again before heading into the fourth quarter with the score still 32-0 Demos.

On Franklin’s next possession, Jefferson came up with another interception, this one coming from Antayus Wilkins. And that turnover led to a 45-yard TD pass down the middle from Kightlinger to Robinson. The made PAT put the score at 39-0 with a running clock the rest of the way.

The Lightning responded by getting on the board with an 18-yard TD pass from Silas Combs to Evan Roseborough.

Jefferson only needed one play to score again though, this one being a 58-yard TD run from junior Elijah Matthews to provide the 46-6 final score.

Jefferson finished with 454 yards of offense while holding Franklin to 208 total yards. Isaiah Clark Anderson had 1.5 sacks for the Demos defense that ended the night with four total.

“It was fun to see our boys tackle,” Kightlinger said. “It was the same thing with our offense, getting back a lot harder.”

Robinson had three catches for 110 yards and two TDs while also rushing the ball four times for 54 yards. Cozart had two catches for 76 yards and two TDs.

For Franklin, Abraham Heintzman led the way on the ground with 30 yards and Combs finished with 138 yards passing a TD and three INTs.

The win moves Jefferson to 1-2 overall and gives it a 1-0 start to PIL play. Franklin falls to 1-2 overall and 0-1 in PIL.

Up next, Jefferson will welcome in McDaniel at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 26. Franklin will host Lincoln at 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 26.

“I was feeling great tonight, there was purpose behind it,” Robinson said. “I feel like we were moving well and doing good as a team. A lot of teamwork, connecting right so I felt like we did pretty good tonight.”