'Endless amount of fight': Franklin football shows its resilience in season opener

LAWRENCE - Franklin quarterback Justin Bianchetto's final pass skipped across Veterans Memorial stadium's blue end zone turf between the "L" and "A."

Harmlessly for Central Catholic. Mournfully for the Panthers . It came on fourth down from the Central Catholic 13 yard line trailing by seven points with 11 seconds remaining. The turnover on downs allowed the Raiders to kneel the final play of a 21-14 win in Thursday's season opener .

The Panthers drove 67 yards to even put themselves in that position after Central Catholic missed a game-clinching 33-yard field goal. Bianchetto completed 7-of-8 passes to propel Franklin (0-1) from its own 20 with 2:33 remaining. He spiked the ball on first down after a 14-yard pass to Kyle Walsh brought the Panthers into the red zone.

Four incompletions later, the Raiders celebrated a season-opening win that tightened over the final nine minutes. The Panthers couldn't ask for better effort in the first game under new coach Todd Kiley .

"This is a group of guys who have an endless amount of fight," Franklin senior Will Tirrell said.

The fight could have been over with 8:39 remaining after Caden Chase scampered around the right side to the corner of the end zone to put the Raiders up 21-7.

Big man moving

CC's Drew Alsup intercepted a Franklin pass on the next drive to seemingly end the competitive portion of the game until Franklin senior Kyle Walsh punched the ball out at the 43. Panthers lineman Hayden Reilly scooped it up at the Franklin 33 then carried it to the CC 22.

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"I was right there, I'm not gonna give up on this play," Walsh said. "I think he could have scored though."

Reilly's run energized Franklin's offense, and Cole Sidwell took the next handoof 22 yards to make it 21-14 with 5:50 left.

"When you see a lineman moving down the field like that, it gets you a little excited," Tirrell said.

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Franklin's resilience catalyzed it late in the first half and into the second half after two early turnovers led to 14 Raiders points, both on runs from quarterback Caden Smith. He finished 117 yards on the ground and 80 through the air.

CC could have led by three scores at halftime after punter Drew O'Keefe converted a fake with an 18-yard run in the final few minutes of the second quarter after Franklin accepted a penalty that required a re-kick. Smith hit Alsup with a 29-yard pass to the 1-yard line. The Raiders thought they scored, and Franklin held the ensuing run play out of the end zone before time expired and sent the teams to the locker room.

"This is why we play defense. The defensive guys are toughest guys, and we showed it right there," Tirrell said.

That toughness rubbed off on the offense in the third quarter with Tirrell under center. Franklin lined up in its war formation, a tight set, after receiving the second half kickoff and ran the ball 12 times in a row for 77 yards. Tirrell ultimately punched the ball in from five yards out with 4:09 left in the third.

"Our coaches like to say war is a mentality, not an offense," Tirrell said. "I've been telling my players it's not even a mentality anymore, it's a lifestyle."

Contact Kyle Grabowski at kgrabowski@gannett.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @kylegrbwsk .

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: 'Endless amount of fight': Franklin football shows its resilience in season opener