In an electric atmosphere with all the pomp and circumstance, Warren managed just 150 total yards of offense (to Franklin’s 362) to drop to 0-6 overall and 0-3 in Region 5.

Franklin, on the other hand, won its first game in two years, having lost 20 straight dating back to October of 2021.

“Tonight, we were going up against an older team, and they were hungry for their first win,” said Warren coach Cody Bupp. “I tip my cap to coach Turk; they were ready to rock’n roll. They battled through injuries and didn’t have guys available, and they made plays when they had to.”

Franklin’s first touchdown was on a 74-yard pass play bobbled twice in the air by 250-pound senior tight end Alex Wible, who pulled it in to rumble all the way to the end zone at 8:51 left in the first quarter.

Photo courtesy of Mark Evans Warren punter Tage Wyman just gets a punt off past the outstretched hands of Franklin’s Landon Perry (65).

Buckley had himself a first half with that TD pass and three rushing scores, including from 25 yards to end the first quarter and 79 yards near the beginning of the second. He finished with 116 yards on the ground in the first half. So did Bryson Watson, who ended with 141 on the ground despite losing two fumbles.

Watson made up for it with a 19-yard interception return for a touchdown late in the third quarter to help run the clock out up 35 points.

“Over the summer, we did our chalk-talks, and we had all the kids set our individual and team goals, and I held on to those until this week,” said Bupp. “I gave them back to the kids and we went over them in pregame because there are still goals that we can achieve. We talked about all those goals that have been achieved, and now it’s about setting new ones.”

“I’m telling the kids you’ve just got to keep working,” Bupp added. “There’s no other way. You’ve just got to keep working.”

Warren freshman Ethan Ringer had 26 yards on seven carries — all in the fourth quarter, but Warren didn’t sniff the end zone.

Photo courtesy of Mark Evans Warren’s Pat Ross (30) goes after a fumble on Friday in Franklin’s 35-0 win on the Dragons’ homecoming game at War Memorial Field.

Sophomore Tage Wyman did well in his punting role, including pinning the Knights back to their own 5-yard line in the middle of the second quarter. He also caught a fourth-quarter pass from sophomore backup quarterback Brady Shene for 17 yards.

Matt Sowa and Pat Ross recovered fumbles for Warren. Johnny Corbett also recovered a fumble after chasing down Watson on a 74-yard run.

Franklin is 1-2 in Region 5.

Franklin 14 14 7 0 — 35

Warren 0 0 0 0 — 0

First quarter

Fra–Alex Wible 74 pass from Cole Buckley, 8:51 (Nathan Pfenningwerth kick)

Fra–Buckley 25 run, 3:07 (Pfenningwerth kick)

Second quarter

Fra–Buckley 79 run, 10:50 (Pfenningwerth kick)

Fra–Buckley 10 run, 2:17 (Pfenningwerth kick)

Third quarter

Fra–Bryson Watson 19 interception return, 2:58 (Pfenningwerth kick)

Individual stats

RUSH: F–Watson 16-141, Buckley 6-118, 3TD, Wible 3-15, Tryson Boocks 2-4, Gabriel Wright 1-(-2), Caden Mincer-Lakeland 1-(-5). W–Tommy Nyquist 10-26, Ethan Ringer 7-26, Johnny Corbett 5-(-8), Eric Dippold 4-3, Hector Cruz 3-(-13), Sam Harvey 2-3, Matt Sowa 1-1.

PASS: F–Buckley 2 of 4 for 91 yards, TD. W–Dippold 10 of 24 for 95 yards, 2 INT, Brady Shene 1 of 1 for 17 yards.

RECEIVE: F–Wible 1-74, TD, Dreyden Payne 1-17. W-Nyquist 4-45, Corbett 4-21, Harvey 1-22, Tage Wyman 1-17, Sowa 1-7.