MEADVILLE — Franklin County sophomore quarterback De’Mantre Collins accounted for three touchdowns as the Bulldogs gave head coach Anthony Hart his first win in his second stint at the school.
Franklin County defeated the North Pike Jaguars 28-20 Friday night.
After North Pike scored on a 15-yard run by Makia Trotter less than two minutes into the game, Franklin County scored 28 straight points between the 5:12 mark of the first quarter and the 6:44 mark of the second quarter.
Bernard Selmon got it started with a 4-yard run and then it was Collins who took over. First, he scored on a 5-yard run with 2:35 left in the opening quarter. Then, he threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Keontre Hayes with 7:53 left in the second quarter. And he added a 46-yard touchdown run to make it a 28-6 Bulldogs lead.
But just when it looked like the home team was in control of the game, North Pike junior quarterback Juwan Adams made sure that would not be the case. Adams connected with Javian Jackson on a 43-yard touchdown pass with 8:26 remaining in the third quarter, but the point after was no good, leaving the Jaguars trailing 28-12.
Then with 5:53 left in the ball game, Adams threw a touchdown pass to Colton Magee and the two-point conversion was good. That made it a 28-20 game, but the Bulldogs were able to run out the clock.
Not only did Collins have an effective game throwing the ball going 5-for-9 for 121 yards and no interceptions, but he also led Franklin County in rushing with 19 carries for 124 yards. Adams was North Pike’s leading rusher with 71 yards on nine carries. He completed 13 of 23 passes for 121 yards and one interception.
Chris O’Quinn led the Bulldogs’ defense with nine tackles and Michael White added seven tackles.
Franklin County (1-1) plays at McComb at 7 p.m. Friday.