NORTH ADAMS — The Franklin Tech football needed to shake some cobwebs off on Opening Night of the 2025 football season.
Because underneath them, there’s a darn strong football team.
The Eagles scored 22 points in the third quarter to bury host McCann Tech and kick on running clock in a 48-0 independent victory to open the new campaign.
The Eagles got 145 yards and two touchdowns on the ground from senior Maxon Brunette, part of a rushing attack that amassed 311 yards on 23 carries. Brunette added a pick-6 interception return in the fourth quarter for the game’s final points. Fellow senior Nathan Sabolevski took two of his four handoffs to the house for TDs.
But first, it was the Eagles defense doing damage. Caleb Begos had a sack and then on fourth-and-5 of McCann’s opening drive quarterback Landyn Phillips went down for a loss and the turnover on downs at the Hornets’ 44-yard line.
An 18-yard scamper by Wyatt Whitman set up Sabolevski’s first touchdown from 3 yards out. The defense returned to the field for a three-and-out, but Bassett was intercepted on Franklin Tech’s first play.
That was a learning experience though, and after another three-and-out punt, the Eagles drove 48-yards on six plays before Bassett hit Hunter Donahue with a dart on the goal line for a 20-yard touchdown pass with seconds left in the first quarter.
The Hornets hung around for the first half, despite finding little traction on offense. The Eagles themselves mostly kept it from being a runaway early. The visitors had three long touchdowns waved off with flags, including a punt return and an interception return. They also ran into the punter to extend a Hornets drive on fourth-and-8.
Into the final minute of the half, the score remained 12-0, and the Hornets were bending their backs to keep it there. But, with time running out in the half, Franklin Tech fed Brunette. The senior carried four times on the closing drive, and Bassett did complete a 42-yard pass to Nolyn Stafford, but it was Brunette carrying across for a 2-yard score with seven seconds left.
Franklin Tech took a 20-0 lead into the half and got the ball out of it. They stuck with what was working. After a touchback, Brunette took the first play of the third quarter 80 yards to the end zone.
Sabolevski added a 58-yard touchdown run and Stafford a 37-yard TD reception from Bassett and the rout was on.
Franklin Tech plays its home opener next Friday night against Frontier.
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Franklin Tech 12 8 22 6 — 48
McCann Tech 0 0 0 0 — 0
SCORING PLAYS
First Quarter
FT — Sabolevski 3-yard run (kick no good), 6:51.
FT — Donahue 20-yard pass from Bassett (run fail), 0:35.
Second Quarter
FT — Brunette 2-yard run (Donahue pass from Bassett), 0:07.
Third Quarter
FT — Brunette 80-yard run (Gancarz run), 11:43.
FT — Stafford 37-yard pass from Bassett (Bassett run), 5:00.
FT — Savolevski 58-yard run (kick no good), 0:55.
Fourth Quarter
FT — Brunette 45-yard interception return (kick blocked), 9:17.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing — FT: Brunette 12-145, Sabolevski 4-76, Stafford 3-50, Donahue 3-20, Whitman 2-25; MT:
Passing — FT: Bassett 5-8-131; MT: Phillips 1-4-7, Mendonca 0-6-0.
Receiving — FT: Stafford 3-97, Donahue 1-20, Brunette 1-13; MT: Trzcinski 9-42, Ford 7-7, Rickert 5-9, Phillips 3-1, Lancto 2–11.