TURNERS — With the Intercounty League North title on the line, both Franklin Tech and Ware brought it on the defensive side of the ball.
Monday’s contest — which was rescheduled from Friday due to field conditions from the rain — saw Ware open the game with touchdowns on its opening two drives of the game. From there, the Eagles defense was lights out, not allowing Ware to pick up another first down until the second half.
Conversely, Ware’s defense swarmed Tech all night. The Eagles picked up one first down in the first half and while its offense was able to get things going and gain seven first downs in the second half, Ware kept Franklin Tech out of the end zone, with the Eagles falling 20-0.
Ware (7-0, 4-0) can secure the outright league title with a win over Palmer or a Franklin Tech loss to Mahar on Friday.
“It’s two physical football teams,” Eagles coach Joe Gamche said. “I would have liked a different outing on the scoreboard but it is what it is.”
It was miscues on the offensive end that hurt Franklin Tech (5-2, 3-1) on Monday. The Eagles fumbled twice in the first half, and Gabe Tomasi was sacked twice while the passing game was unable to get established. The senior QB finishing 6-for-17 for 42 yards through the air.
Tech leading rusher Josiah Little was limited to nine yards on the ground. Tomasi’s legs were the Eagles’ best option, as he finished with 65 yards rushing.
“Offensively we had some big dropped balls,” Gamache said. “It’s a tough defense. The times we almost made plays, they came up and hit us. We have to have a short memory.”
A Tomasi incompletion on the first drive of the game gave Ware the ball at the Tech 44. Talan Molina broke off runs of 11, five and 12 yards to get into the red zone, before he capped it off with a 3-yard touchdown to give Ware the opening lead of the game. Brady Dyer’s extra point made it a 7-0 game with 8:29 to go in the first.
The Eagles’ second drive also ended on a Tomasi incompletion, giving Ware the ball at nearly the same spot – this time at the Tech 46.
Kyle Safford and Molina each carried it twice to get to the Eagles 26 when Molina ran one off the right side of the line, broke a tackle and galloped into the end zone. Dyer’s extra point gave Ware an early 14-0 lead with 4:14 to go in the first quarter.
Ware nearly threw the knockout punch later in the frame.
Facing a third-and-21, Tomasi swung a pass out to Little, but Ware knocked the ball loose and recovered at the Eagles 34.
Ware got it into the red zone and Safford ran right to the goal line, but Franklin Tech was able to knock the ball loose before he crossed the plane and the Eagles recovered, keeping Ware from adding a third touchdown in the opening quarter.
From there, the Eagles defense was lights out, forcing two punts and a turnover on downs on the next three Ware drives to close out the half.
“They’re an old-school, smash mouth team who’s going to bring it to you,” Gamache said of Ware. “They don’t run anything too fancy. We adjusted after those first two scores and went to a 3-5 look so they couldn’t get out on our linemen and had to travel to get out on our linebackers. The defense did a great job. Our coaching staff did a great job making those adjustments.”
Franklin Tech opened the second half with a successful onside kick and drove it down to the Ware 17 but a Tomasi pass to Cam Candelaria was stopped short on fourth down to give Ware the ball back.
Ware was able to gain a trio of first downs to keep the clock running, but a fumbled snap on fourth down gave Tech the ball back with 9:40 to play.
The Eagles once again drove it into Ware territory, but Tomasi’s fourth down pass bounced off the hands of his intended receiver, allowing Ware to take over with 6:46 to go.
The ground game of Ware put things away, earning four first downs and capping the drive off with a 1-yard touchdown run by Safford with eight seconds remaining.
The Eagles will travel to Orange to face the Senators to close out their regular season on Friday.