Nov. 18—KEMP — When the lights shined bright Friday, the Frankston Indians made sure their season would not come to an end at the hands of the Italy Gladiators.
Frankston advanced with a 27-14 victory over the Italy Gladiators Friday in the Class 2A, Division I, Region II bi-district round at Kemp ISD Yellowjacket Stadium.
“It is extremely sweet because it shows how many kids we have that have bought in and wanted to play,” Frankston Athletic Director and Head Football Coach Paul Gould said. “We have had injuries all year long and it was next man up. The kids got after it and we haven’t missed a beat. We got Tyler back and that was a shot in the arm. Brayden Dotson didn’t play last week because he was sick. It is sweet and says a lot for the kids and I am excited about it.”
The Indians had two touchdown receptions from A.J. Donnell, a 3-yard touchdown run from senior Tyler Rogers and an 11-yard touchdown run from junior Braylon Donnell.
A.J. Donnell had another big game on all sides of the ball for the Indians Friday. The junior had two interceptions, had 12 carries for 73 yards rushing, six receptions for 84 yards and two touchdowns and went 2-of-3 passing for 13 yards.
Rogers said they definitely needed the strong play from their junior athlete.
“We needed the two interceptions from A.J. on defense and that really gave us the game,” Rogers said. “We had some trouble getting the offense going and the stops lit a fire under us tonight. We wanted to hold the ball and drive down the field and get the yards anyway that we could tonight.”
Frankston (8-3) faces the No. 10-ranked Hamilton Bulldogs (11-0) in the Class 2A, Division I, Region II area round at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 22 at Waxahachie ISD Lumpkins Stadium. The Bulldogs beat Whitewright (7-4) 49-13 to advance to the area round.
“We are coming to play and we don’t care about records or rankings,” Rogers said. “We are going to show them it doesn’t matter and we are going to take care of business.”
This was the first game in which Rogers was a full participant following his injury back during the game against the Grapeland Sandies. He wrapped up the night with 12 carries for 69 yards and one touchdown rushing and played a big role defensively.
“We came out here and got business done and did what we had to do,” Rogers said. “I had a rush of emotions with feeling nervous and sad at the same time. I was happy and ready to get back on the field and play.”
Italy quarterback Gared Wood had a hard time figuring out the looks of the Indians defense, but did lead the time with a rushing touchdown and a long pass to senior Treylan Fennell.
“Gared is tremendous and every time they snap the football they are putting it in their best players hands. He knows what to do and is a tremendous talent,” Gould said. “I was glad that we could bottle him up and I thought our kids did a great job with him. In film, they tried to work the sideline with No. 11 and the touchdown was a busted coverage play. We read it wrong and the kid caught it and took it to the house. We were focused on No. 13 (Lucky Johnson) in regards to tackling him in space.”
The Italy Gladiators ended the year with a record of 7-4 overall. The Gladiators finished third in District 7-2A play and lost their last three games of the year.
