Coming into the sectional semifinals on Nov. 1, Franklin Central had won four of their last five but had a bitter taste of a 40-7 defeat to Westfield in their mouths.
On the other hand, Columbus North had won four games in a row and sat at 8-1 on the season. In their best season since 2018, things were supposed to be different for the Bulldogs.
“Our conference prepares for this,” Franklin Central head coach Jayson West said. “We’ve been down, up and everything in between. I do like that about our kids — they stay consistent and don’t get their heads down.”
The Flashes’ resiliency was on display early, as the Bulldogs took a 10-0 lead in the second quarter thanks to a Mykel Jones touchdown run and big plays from Asher Ratliff and Gino Prescott.
An Avery Allen touchdown run would help send the Flashes into the locker room down 10-7 after a stagnant first half from their offense.
Starting the second half, Ratliff continued to find Prescott through the air before hitting Jordan Briner with a missile down the seam to extend to a 17-7 lead early in the second half.
On the next drive, Jackson Haston was able to hawk the eyes of quarterback Nevan Tutterow for the defense’s second takeaway of the game.
All the momentum rode with the Bulldogs until they got away from the basics. Scoring on a reverse earlier in the game, they went back to Jones who would end up coughing up the ball deep in their own territory following the interception. Just two plays later, Nathan Spark was able to plow into the endzone from a yard out to make it a 17-14 ball game.
On the ensuing drive, Ratliff would throw it late over the middle into the hands of Ezekiel Draher, leading to an Emauri Hines touchdown reception late in the third quarter.
In just eight minutes of game time, Columbus North went from up 17-7 to down 21-17 without any momentum going into the fourth quarter.
The score would remain stagnant throughout the final period of play, but it was not without two close calls to win it for the Bulldogs.
With five minutes left in the game, Columbus North began their march downfield to try and win the ball game.
Ratliff was able to find Braylon Thoman deep down the sideline with a fantastic catch and again in the red zone to start knocking at the door with under a minute left.
Scrambling around the pocket, Ratliff’s pass would be batted around and picked off in the endzone by Tyson Simpson to all but seal the win with 40 seconds left.
Playing with a broken heart and the season on the line — with the odds against them — the Bulldogs were able to force a fumble just 16 seconds later and arise from the grave.
After several incompletions, Ratliff had one last look at the endzone but would end up sacked on the final play from scrimmage.
“That’s a good, well-coached team,” West said. “They threw everything at us and they were great with it. For our defense to kind of hang on and not lose composure — they had to bow up twice there at the end to win the game for us.”
As they have done all season, the Flashes were able to squeak by with the win despite an inefficient offense putting up just 17 points per outing.
“The offense got physical there in the second and third quarter,” West said. “Finally, in the fourth [quarter] we started to run the football well, and that’s what we got to do. We aren’t able to do it any other way, so I was glad to see that our kids hunkered down, got physical and started moving the ball.”
Up next, the Flashes will take on a talented Center Grove team for the sectional championship.
“I don’t know if anybody’s coached [against] Coach [Eric] Moore more than I have,” West said. “I started coaching with him his first year, so it’s always unfortunate to have to play against [somebody] that is like a brother to me. [However], it’s always an honor to play against the program he’s built, so we always look forward to it, but it’s also a heck of a chore.”