C’est la vie; Asheville defeats Franklin…again, 14-7 

Same result, different year.  Sophomore RB Greg Ray scored two touchdowns (one and 15 yards) as the Asheville Cougars (6-3, 4-1 MAC) upset the #1 ranked 3A Franklin Panthers (9-1, 4-1 MAC) 14-7 on Monday night for their tenth win in eleven meetings between the two schools.  Asheville can claim the Mountain Athletic Conference championship and earn the conference’s #1 seed in the playoffs with a win this Friday night at North Buncombe (3-7, 1-4 MAC). 

Franklin opened the scoring in the second quarter on a one-yard plunge from junior RB Josh Young (12 carries, 41 yards) at the 9:41 mark.  Asheville responded when Ray (14 carries, 42 yards) leaped over the pile from a yard out with 3:23 left before halftime.  The Panthers responded with an impressive drive down inside the Cougar 30-yard line right before half, but with 8.5 seconds left on the clock and not timeouts a quick hitch pass from Christian Vose to Kyle Ward failed to get the Franklin out of bounds and a chance at a field goal attempt.

Asheville took the lead for good with a 12-play 79-yard drive that chewed up over eight minutes of the third quarter.  Ray, making his first varsity start, darted thru the Panther defense from 15 yards with 3:13 left in the third quarter with what proved to be the game-winning score.

Franklin moved inside Asheville’s 25-yard line with under three minutes left in the game, but the Cougar defense stiffened and picked off a Vose (7-of-18 passing, two interceptions, 70 yards) pass attempt in the end zone on fourth down to end any hopes of a perfect regular season for the Panthers.

Asheville’s defense held Franklin’s offense under double-digit scoring for the first time in 24 games, the last being a 7-47 at Roberson on November 5^th, 2004, and allowed a total of 188 yards, 118 below the Panther’s season average.  Rahkeem Morgan was Asheville’s leading ground gainer with 51 yards, while Chris Lequire paced Franklin with 62 yards on 22 carries.

Franklin must now turn their attention to the red-hot Enka Jets who will bring the third best passing attack in western North Carolina to the Pit this Friday night.  Enka is fresh off a 26-23 victory over Tuscola, their second in the last three games, and is led by senior QB Jeremy Buchanan who is averaging 166.0 yards passing a game with 14 touchdowns and 13 interceptions on the season. 

Franklin hasn’t experienced back-to-back losses since dropping 13-31 and 6-28 decisions against Asheville and Erwin, respectively, during the 2000 season.

SCORING BY QUARTERS

FHS 0-7-0-0=7

AHS 0-7-7-0=14

SCORING SUMMARY

2^nd Quarter

F – Josh Young one-yard run (Chase Henry kick)

A – Greg Ray one-yard run (Reed Turchi kick)

3^rd Quarter

A – Ray 15-yard run (Turchi kick)

RECORDS

FHS 9-1 (4-1 in MAC)

AHS 6-3 (4-1 in MAC)

NEXT WEEK (November 3^rd)   

Franklin vs Enka

Asheville at North Buncombe