FAYETTE — Just three little extra point attempts made all the difference in Franklin County’s win over Jefferson County on Friday.

Both teams had touchdowns called back and both teams had plenty of penalties, but it was the points after touchdowns that mattered most.

Jace Carlock went 3-for-3 in extra point attempts for the Bulldogs, while the Tigers missed two of three two-point conversion attempts.

“The big difference in the ball game is extra points,” said Franklin County coach Trent Hammond. “When you can make your extra points and the other team doesn’t, each time you score you get a one-point advantage that eventually builds up.”

The Tigers never tried to kick for an extra point.

“After we didn’t get the first one, I thought that the game would probably come down to a point or two, and I was just basically trying to convert those two-point conversions,” said Jefferson County coach James Herrington. “We were trying to get that one-score differential in there.”

The officials took away six points from both teams, but Jefferson County’s recalled touchdown turned out to be the more game-changing.

With 50 seconds left in the game, Jeffery Collins threw a 90-yard pass into the end zone, but the Tigers were penalized for illegal motion.

“The formation was fine, everything was legal, but during the snap it looked like one of our receivers anticipated the ball pretty well and got a little early start,” Herrington said. “It was iffy, but it was a judgment call that didn’t go our way.”

The Bulldogs’ intercepted a Collins pass with five minutes to go and ran it back 96 yards for a score, but the referees called a block in the back that negated a score that would have put Franklin County up 30-12.

But Hammond said the referees did not determine the outcome of the game despite the 21 flags thrown.

“Earlier in the year, we overcame a game that we had 19 flags and and our opponent had four. Those games don’t beat you. As a whole, the game is played in between the lines. Officials are paid to make the calls they think happened.

“There were a lot of penalties last night that could have been called that weren’t. There were 12 men on the field a couple times, there were five men in the backfield — which is an illegal formation — about seven times last night. There were a lot of things that could go on, but in truth you come out with two football teams that played well and played hard.”

Jamie Collins, the Bulldogs’ quarterback, carried 18 times for 172 yards to add to Franklin County’s 294 yards rushing.

Jeffery Collins completed 10-of-26 for 202 yards and carried 15 times for 65 yards.

“It was that we were just able to hold on and overcome some mistakes in the first half. Our team did a pretty good job overall,” Hammond said. “We did a pretty fair job of containing their quarterback, not letting him just totally take over the game.”

Franklin County will take on North Pike in its homecoming on Friday.

Jefferson County will play host to Tylertown, a team that beat Franklin County, 13-7, and routed Wilkinson County by 61 points this past Friday.

“We’re not going to change anything we’ve been doing,” Herrington said. “We’ve been in close games all year. Last two games came down to the last seconds. We just have to put forth a little more effort.”

But Wilkinson County coach Elbert “Mo” Lyles knows Tylertown is more than just a competitive team.

His Wildcats could do nothing to stop the Chiefs.

“They jumped out the gates and did whatever they wanted to do,” he said. “We weren’t able to defend them or establish anything from an offensive standpoint. We weren’t mentally ready to perform last night.”

The Wildcats had planned to run right at Tylertown, knowing that the Chiefs’ speed was far greater, and hoped that defensively they could stop Tylertown’s offensive misdirection.

But now Wilkinson County is just focusing on its next game, against its biggest rival.

“We try not to speak too much about negatives and just try to correct the mistakes and do what we can to motivate them for next Friday,” Lyles said. “The good thing is it’s against Amite County, so if there’s any kind of determination or commitment, you’ll get it against our rival. We figure that’s going to be a big help as far as getting up for our next district game.”

Every game is a district game for Cathedral, who almost pulled out an upset against Mount Olive.

The Green Wave held the lead for three quarters, but a tough second half proved too much.

“We had a couple turnovers early in the fourth quarter that they returned inside our 20-yard line, and they were able to punch those drives in for touchdowns,” said coach Craig Beesley. “We held on in the third quarter even though they controlled the clock the entire time. We just couldn’t hold on in the fourth.”

Beesley said Mount Olive running back Ruben Ducksworth, who had 13 carries for 183 yards, seemed to get stronger as the game went on.

“They didn’t run him as much early on, and we were physically worn down in fourth quarter because we had to work so hard in the third,” he said. “We played on our half of the field the entire quarter, and they took advantage of that at the end.”

The Green Wave defense held Mount Olive to 14 points in the first half.

Beesley said there will be no rest for his weary team, which takes on Stringer on Friday.

Stringer beat Bogue Chitto, 42-12, this past Friday, and the Bobcats trampled the Green Wave by 30 points two weeks ago.

Vidalia, who lost 28-14 to Jena, will take on Bunkie. Ferriday, who shutout Northwood-Lena for 25 points, will travel to Jonesboro Hodge, and Block hosts Montgomery following a close loss to Mangham.

Natchez High will also try to get back on track as they host Brandon in a region game Friday night.