MEADVILLE — Bernard Selmon had two touchdown runs and Danzel Allen returned an interception 109 yards for a touchdown as the Franklin County High School Bulldogs took care of the Wilkinson County High School Wildcats 40-22 in not only the MHSAA Division 7-3A opener for both teams Friday night, but also Franklin County’s homecoming game.

“It was a big win for us with it being the first district game,” Bulldogs head coach Anthony Hart said.

Selmon ran the ball 21 times and finished with 132 yards. He had a 24-yard touchdown run with 11:51 to go in the second quarter and a 4-yard TD run with just 1:19 remaining until halftime.

Franklin County was out-gained by Wilkinson County 385 yards to 210 yards, but the Wildcats hurt themselves with

penalties and turnovers. The Bulldogs intercepted quarterback Desmond Hunter three times and forced a fumble that was returned 59 yards for a touchdown by Courtney Smith early in the fourth quarter.

“We played a bad game,” Wildcats head coach Kenneth Brown said. “We turned the ball over too much.”

They were also penalized 13 times for 135 yards while the Bulldogs were flagged nine times for 65 yards.

Despite the three picks, Hunter accounted for all three of Wilkinson County’s touchdowns. He had touchdown passes of 35 yards and 84 yards to go with a 1-yard TD run.

Quarterback DeMartre Collins returned to the lineup for Franklin County and late in the first quarter, he threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Michael White. He also had an 8-yard TD run late in the third quarter.

“Offense played well. The starters only played three quarters,” Hart said. “We played our subs in the fourth quarter. We made some big plays. We’ve been waiting for everybody to get healthy.”

Even though the Bulldogs gave up a lot of yards, Hart said the defense played well and noted that the Wildcats scored their last two touchdowns after he took his starters out.

Brown said there were some positives he took out of this game.

“We threw the ball well,” Brown said. “I thought we had some success running the ball. We played good in spurts.”

Wilkinson County (2-5, 0-1) hosts Jefferson County next Friday at 7 p.m. Franklin County (3-3, 1-0) plays at Hazlehurst at 7 p.m. next Friday.