Franklin-Simpson makes its second trip of the year to the Smurf Turf, looking to erase the opening night loss with a win Friday evening. The Raiders are coming off a loss in the road last week. Franklin Simpson have owned the head to head matchup, but the Raiders won the last meeting.

Warren East is sitting at 1-4, and they aren’t necessarily equipped for a win in this one. Defense is coming off their worst performance of the year, let up 489 yards on 54 carries that turned into seven touchdowns. It’s no secret what Franklin will come in here looking to do and I don’t see a way these Raiders will be able to stop it. The offense has put up 81 points these last two weeks and haven’t got a win, it’s true they can score but they also rarely put together drives of substance which puts the defense in bad positions. It’s strange to see an offense that can move the ball decently and still run a fast pace tempo knowing the defense can’t stop a runny nose. 

Halfway through the year Franklin-Simpson stands 3-2, and I was impressed with how well the Wildcats competed against Tilghman. I know @FSfan mentioned the other day about how much has changed since the opener. Not really anything drastic in the sense of personnel or schematics, they just seem to be playing with a different type of energy. In my opinion the SR Blake McPherson has started to rub off on his teammates, that kid plays with hard and I’ll be curious to see if the Raiders have anybody to step up and get some pads popping.

Long time district foes; always a physical game, I don’t see this one being particularly close though. Hopefully I’m wrong, I was down on these Raiders against Greenwood and they competed. Was very high on them against the Lakers this past week and was horrendously wrong. While I have my concerns about the defense stopping the Wildcats rushing attack, I’m not so sure the OL will be able to keep Isable clean. I’m expecting a running clock on the home team, which would essentially push the Raiders to the brink of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2015

Wildcats 48 Raiders 12

Dane Parsley masked alot of deficiencies for WE last year it looks like. I’m surprised Lightfoot hasn’t been more of a factor. He was really really good last year as well. 
 

FS-49

WE-13.

The only common opponent so far for these teams has been Warren Central. FS beat WC by 35 and WC beat East by 13. The Dragons played FS very closely in the first half before FS pulled away in the third quarter. East playing Greenwood as close as they did makes me think they could give FS a better challenge than some may expect. The Raiders will no doubt be up for this game as it has turned into a pretty good rivalry the last few years. Calloway may have caught East a little off guard as Calloway has not been good for a while. FS is starting 3 sophomores on the offensive line, and they have improved a lot during the season. It helps that the 2 sophomore tackles each go about 6’3” or 6’4” and about 300 pounds. FS hasn’t had size like that for a while. FS runs a lot of zone defense so they tend to give up several yards but have been good at getting takeaways, particularly in the red zone. I will be surprised if FS doesn’t win but I think it will be close for a while. 

I think this game might be a bit closer than expected, but I do think FS will probably pull away late. Really liked how FS competed against PT last week, especially on defense, even if PT pulled away late. If FS keeps up the good play they’ve had the last few weeks, I think FS will win win 49-21. I do think East might get a big TD or 2 to keep it respectable.

Bump.

Franklin Simpson by 14.

 

FS to receive. 

Xavier Hampton 15 yard TD run. FS 7-0 at 8:26 in first. 

East answers with a 5 yard TD pass. 7-7 at 6:52 in first. 

Blake McPherson was on his way to a 70 yard TD run but the defender caught him inside the 5 and he fumbled the ball out of the end zone. Touchback and East takes over at their own 20. 

End first quarter tied 7-7. WE ball 3rd and 10 at the FS 24.  

East comes up short at the FS 20. Wildcats take over there. 

Glad the Raiders have came to play; hope they can continue with this energy all 4 quarters. 

Ayden Jones 1 yard TD run. FS 14-7 at 7:48 in second.