In fact, Tommy Nyquist had three touchdowns called back due to Dragon penalties, and still finished with 235 yards rushing and three touchdowns, plus 58 yards receiving.

Officially a 48-yard reception, Nyquist took a short pass from quarterback Eric Dippold over the middle and broke tackle, after tackle, after tackle, spinning out of trouble, for an 80-yard touchdown with time winding down in the first half. A block in the back call against the Dragons brought it back, but it was the most exciting play of the night among several big plays.

“It seems like whenever we come here, it’s a dogfight,” said Warren coach Mark Morelli, whose Dragons are 3-1 overall and 3-0 in the region. “It seems like every time we come here, we get off to a slow start. Then we faced some adversity, and when you add all of that up, and the fact that we didn’t play all that well tonight. … I mean, the scoreboard shows an 18-point victory, but it doesn’t feel like an 18-point victory. … But we did what we had to do to come through with the win, and we move on from here.”

Franklin is 0-4 overall and 0-2 in Region 5. The Knights have lost to Warren County teams Eisenhower last week, and Warren in successive weeks.

Times Observer Photo by Cody Elms Warren’s Justice Greene (85) and Rashad Fofana bring down Franklin fullback Carson Wible.

“These are 15-, 16-, 17-, 18-year-old kids; it’s natural for them to start looking forward to Senior Night, and a big game against Meadville; you see Franklin’s record is 0-3, you see what Franklin did last week against Eisenhower, and that’s no disrespect to Franklin, it’s human nature,” said Morelli. “Bottom line, we did what we needed to do to win.”

In addition to Nyquist’s 293 yards from scrimmage, Ethan Senz rushed for his first high school 100-yard game with 110 yards on 15 carries, Ben White had 151 yards receiving and two touchdowns on three catches, an interception on defense, and several big kick or punt returns, and Dippold had 209 yards passing and two scores. On defense, Gage Shaffer blasted through the Franklin line for five tackles for a loss and a sack.

“Those players you mentioned are game-changing, game-breaking players; they are capable of making the big play at any time. It shows that our offense has some diversity, and a lot of explosive weapons that we try to take advantage of,” said Morelli. “But the other thing you’ve got to take into consideration is the job that our offensive line does. When two kids rush for over 300 yards, the offensive line deserves a lot of credit.

“But the negative is we were sloppy at times,” he said. “We gave up a kick return that led to a touchdown, and there were times tonight we were lackadaisical and lethargic. Next week, we can’t do that.”

Warren was called for 14 penalties for 124 yards to Franklin’s 15 yards in penalties. But Warren would not be denied. Prior to Nyquist’s 34-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, he ran for two other touchdowns on the same drive, both called back by penalties.

Warren had 573 yards of total offense to Franklin’s 203.

Warren 14 19 7 7 – 47

Franklin 7 8 7 7 – 29

First quarter

W-Ben White 87 pass from Eric Dippold, 6:51 (kick failed)

W-Tommy Nyquist 25 run, 4:08 (Sam Harvey run)

F-Carson Wible 35 run, 1:15 (Nathon Pfenningworth kick)

Second quarter

W-Ethan Senz 13 run, 9:26 (Senz kick)

W-White 24 pass from Dippold, 6:56 (kick fails)

W-Harvey 1 run, 4:05 (run fails)

F-Cole Buckley 58 pass from Hunter Marsteller (Pfenningworth kick)

Third quarter

W-Nyquist 34 run, 4:57 (Senz kick)

F-Wible 1 run, 2:55 (Pfenningworth kick)

Fourth quarter

W-Nyquist 11 run, 9:41 (Senz kick)

F-Wible 82 interception return, 3:16 (Pfenningworth kick)

Individual stats

RUSH: W-Nyquist 19-235, 3TD; Senz 15-110, 1TD; Dippold 1-(-11); Talon Mesel 4-11; Harvey 3-9; Gage Shaffer 1-10. F-Wible 12-64, 2TD; Buckley 9-5; Marsteller 12-26; Wyatt Bell 4-5.

PASS: W-Dippold 5 for 15 for 209 yards, 2TD, 2INT. F-Buckley 3 for4 for 32 yards; Marsteller 3 for 8 for 71 yards, 1TD, 1INT.

RECEIVING: W-White 3-151, 2 TD; Nyquist 2-58. F-Buckley 3-71, 1TD; Marsteller 2-24; Bell 1-8.