Wk 10 RNK 2024 William Fleming – franklin Co

Big Second Half Fuels Colonels 41-7 Win over Franklin County

Cy Dillon Field, Rocky Mount, VA – Friday night’s Blue Ridge District battle was a tale of two halves. After a defensive, low-scoring first half, Fleming RB 3 Malachi Coleman (14/287,4TDs) and the Colonels ran away from the Eagles to remain unbeaten. 

Both respective defenses came out to play early on, forcing punts and trading turnovers the entire first quarter and early on into the second. The Eagles offense was the first to threaten to score, with a long, 11 play drive. The Eagles got all the way down to the Colonels 9-yard line before fumbling the ball. Colonel OLB 8 Tyshawn Henderson gathered in the loose ball.

The very next play, Coleman made them pay, taking it 91 yards the other way to open up the scoring on the night, putting the Colonels up 7-0 with 7:01 left in the half. Both defenses continued to win the night, so Fleming took that 7-0 lead into the half.

The Colonels added to their lead early in the second as Coleman took a handoff and raced down the middle of the field for a 54 yard touchdown on the opening play of the third quarter. That would give the high flying Colonels a 14-0 lead. But Coach Nick Leftwich’s troops weren’t done. The visitors added another score, this time through th air to go up 20-0 after a missed PAT. Junior QB 4 Jycer Preston found Senior WR 9 K-Ron Furguson for a 53 yard touchdown grab at the 8:24 mark of the 3rd quarter. 

The onslaught would continue as Coleman added two more rushing TDs, 55 and 29 yards respectively to push it to a  34-0 margin in the third. Despite being down, Franklin County kept fighting until the end which led to a big defensive stop, forcing a punt that was mishandled, which resulted in Eagle RB/LB 44 Landon Divers scooping up the loose ball and running 30 yards down the sideline to put the Eagles on the board early in the fourth 34-7. Fleming added one more score. RB 11 Za’mondre Spinner punched it in from 2 yards out. – Chase Dorman