Ravenwood High School used a dominating defensive performance and a stout running game to remain undefeated on the season, defeating Franklin High School 28-7 Friday night.
The Raptors (8-0, 4-0) defense racked up eight sacks on the evening and held Franklin to just seven points. The stingy defense failed to surprise Ravenwood head coach Will Hester.
“They have been carrying us all year, and they were great again tonight,” Hester said. “I can’t say enough about how well our defense played.”
The offense got some key runs from sophomore running back Caden Pace and its two quarterbacks, Maverick Chance and Femi Babalola.
“Caden played super well,” Hester said. “He was the hot hand, so we rode him tonight. He did a good job.”
Pace had a 28-yard run, which eventually led to a 1-yard touchdown by Chance on the second play of the fourth quarter to make the score 21-7 Raptors. Pace added the final touchdown on a 15-yard run with 3:03 left to play in the contest.
The Raptors failed to score on another drive earlier in the quarter when an attempted lateral by the holder to the kicker Drew Crabtree got the ball inside the 1-yard line, but the play was called back because the holder did not raise his knee off the turf before catching the snap. In college, the holder can receive the snap and lateral it from a knee.
“That was a coaching mistake on our part, 100 percent,” Hester said. “That’s how we coach our kids to do it. We were incorrect on the rule. I am proud of our kids for executing the way that they did, but that is situation where us coaches have got to be better.”
Franklin had some opportunities to pull closer but failed to put the ball in the end zone. On one drive in the third quarter, senior Sean Gaca got the ball to the 3-yard line before a flagrant personal foul by one of Franklin's offensive linemen, which led to an ejection, and a third-down sack by the Ravenwood defense led to a missed field goal.
The victory marked the seventh straight time the Ravenwood defense allowed fewer than 10 points this season.
After stopping Franklin on its first drive of the game, Ravenwood scored on its first possession. Auburn University commit Donovan Starr caught a short pass from Chance and took it 46 yards for the touchdown.
Franklin responded early in the second quarter when senior quarterback Brewer Wilson hit Lucas Young on fourth down for a 37-yard touchdown to tie the score 7-7 with 9:41 left to play in the first half.
On the Raptors’ next drive, Babalola and Pace ripped off some nice runs to set up a 16-yard reverse to senior wide receiver Ben Hubbard for the touchdown near the halfway point of the second quarter.
The Admirals tried to respond on the next drive after converting a third-and-15 on an unbelievable tip-drill reception by Gaca. But a fourth sack of Wilson by the Raptor defense and a personal foul penalty stalled the drive.
Ravenwood led 14-7 at the break and the two touchdowns and four sacks in the second half proved to be enough to win the game.
Next week, both teams will step outside the region and visit some potential postseason opponents. Franklin will travel to Mount Juliet (8-0), who they defeated last season 21–7. The victory ended the Admirals’ 22-game losing streak over three seasons and ended Mount Juliet‘s undefeated season.
Ravenwood will travel to Murfreesboro to battle unbeaten Oakland (8–0). The Raptors fell to the Patriots 42-18 last season.
"Other than bragging rights it doesn’t really mean a whole lot in the grand scheme of things,” Hester said. “It’s all about region games, region seeding, playoffs and all that right now. But what an exciting game it’s going to be for the student bodies and the players, and basically play, depending on which polls you look at, a 1 versus 2 matchup.”
Hester believes his team will be ready for the challenge and won’t be looking forward to the next week against rival Brentwood to close out the season.
“Our kids know who Oakland is and clearly they are going to be focused on this week and not the Battle of the Woods the week after.”
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