Oct. 16—Tuscola football found themselves in a unique situation early this week, playing a game under the Tuesday night lights instead of their normal Friday night lights.
The Mountaineers welcomed Mountain 7 foes Franklin to C.E. Weatherby Stadium for the midweek match-up with the Panthers grabbing a 35-21 win.
“Obviously not the outcome we wanted, but our kids played hard. Friday to Tuesday is a quick turnaround, especially when you’re playing a team as good as Franklin — a hard-nosed, physical running football team,” Tuscola coach Jonathan Crompton said. “We made two less plays than we needed to make.”
The Panthers came into the game with a perfect 5-0 record, while Tuscola were holding a record of 4-1. Both teams were unbeaten in conference play, making the match-up even more crucial for both sides.
Franklin came out of the gates hot — scoring on its first three drives. Tuscola, on the other hand, was forced to punt on its first two drives.
After an opening three-and-out, the Mounties finally got some momentum on the second drive. A holding penalty followed by a delay of game eventually forced Tuscola to punt on a fourth and 28.
“We’ve got to stop having self-inflicted wounds,” Crompton said. “That’s part of the growth of having a young team. Sometimes, you’ve got to learn on the run. We’re doing a good job of that.”
With Franklin leading 21-0, it seemed like the Panthers were going to run away with the game.
But Tuscola had other ideas.
On a drive split between the end of the first quarter and the beginning of the second, Tuscola began to piece things together.
The Mounties thought they had broken through on a 26-yard touchdown pass but a flag was down in the backfield for holding. A few plays later, however, junior quarterback Jett Bartley connected with sophomore Isaiah Hyatt near the goal line.
The sophomore pushed through a defender to score the 15-yard touchdown.
Hyatt finished the game with a big night, catching five passes for 119 yards and the touchdown.
Tuscola’s defense came up with a big stop, including a massive pass breakup from sophomore Elijah Pruitt downfield on third down — giving the Mounties the ball back.
It took just two plays for Tuscola to find paydirt. First, Bartley connected with Hyatt for a 57-yard gain. The following play, the junior found sophomore Bo West for a 12-yard touchdown pass — trimming what seemed like a near-insurmountable deficit to just one score.
“I’m proud of our guys for fighting back,” Crompton said.
The defense once again came up with a big three-and-out stop. This time, senior Bridger Jones came up with two of the three tackles. Each time, he popped up with a lot of energy and helped to fire up the Tuscola sideline.
“It’s big every game night,” Crompton said of Jones’s energy. “He does a good job. He’s an emotional player and one of our emotional leaders. It’s huge when he gets amped up because then everybody feeds off of it.”
With a chance to get a game-tying drive put together, Bartley through an interception on the first play of the drive — one of two on the night.
Bartley finished the night completing 17 of 31 attempts for 222 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.
The teams each traded a three-and-out to end the half, although Tuscola nearly had an interception that went off of a defender’s fingertips.
Neither team could muster a score in the third quarter thanks to some strong defense on both sides of the field.
For Tuscola, the big fellas up front were getting good penetration and stifling any run attempts.
The Mounties had 15 tackles for loss and one sack, earned by senior lineman Jesse Bledsoe.
“We’ve got a lot of guys that play both ways up front and they play their hearts out,” Crompton said. “Our offensive line and defensive line played well.”
After the defenses had stepped up in the third quarter, the offenses took their turn in the fourth — combining for 21 points in the frame.
Franklin struck first on a nine-yard quarterback-designed run.
On the following possession, Hyatt made another huge play — snagging a pass just before a defensive back could intercept it and setting Tuscola up three yards from the end zone.
Two plays later, senior Cooper Williamson punched it in to cut the deficit back to just one score — 28-21.
Time became the 12th player for Franklin, however. With just four-and-a-half minutes left, Franklin began their drive. Tuscola held the Panthers to a third and eight, but the Panthers converted.
Then, with 2:30 left in the game, Franklin junior Addix Sutton broke off a 60-yard touchdown run to put the game on ice.
Now, the Mounties look to bounce back. However, they’ll have to deal with another short week before facing a great team. On Friday, Tuscola will hit the road to take on the West Henderson Falcons.
“We’ve got to wash it and move on. We’ve got another game in three days,” Crompton said. “You just have to adapt and move on. It’s just part of it. We go back to work tomorrow and do everything we can to be as healthy as possible. This is a physical sport and that was a physical team.”
