MONTAGUE — The Franklin County Technical School football team scored within the first 30 seconds of kickoff and never looked back in its season opening 38-0 win against McCann Technical School under the lights on Friday night.
It was domination from the opening whistle for the Eagles (1-0), as the Hornets (0-1) didn’t earn their first first-down until near the end of the first half, turning the ball over on downs on their first five drives. Thirty-two of the Eagles’ 38 points came in the first half, with the offense slowing down as the game entered the late stages. Five of the six 2-point conversions from the Eagles were unsuccessful following touchdowns.
“It’s obviously a great start, it’s an independent win against a vocational school, former rival,” Eagles head coach Joe Gamache said. “We did a lot of good things in the first half, second half we got a little bit sloppy. We made some mistakes, a couple penalties. We certainly have plenty of things we need to clean up. Would’ve been nice if we capitalized on some of those conversions.”
Twenty-nine seconds into the start of regulation, with the Eagles on the doorstep of the endzone, Brady Gancarz punched in the first score of the season for Franklin Tech, and later scored a second touchdown which made the score 30-0 at the time.
Starting quarterback for Franklin Tech, junior Mason Bassett, scored two rushing touchdowns of his own and also had a passing touchdown to Jed Niquette, which was the final scoring play of the game, making it 38-0 with just over seven minutes left in the third quarter. The other touchdown was a rushing touchdown scored by running back Justin Lent.
“It just boosts everybody’s morale and gets everybody ready for the next week, keeps it positive” Bassett said on the shutout victory. “I have a good center in front of me, he can push [the defense] forward, I can get in and get those short runs.”
Deferring at the start of the game, McCann Tech had a good return to open the second half, starting its offensive possession at its own 46. On the very first play of the latter half, a botched handoff led the ball to hit the dirt, and it was recovered by the Eagles’ Nolyn Stafford.
This was one of three second half turnovers from the Hornets, with a second fumble occurring on their second drive of the half, after the ball was stripped from wide receiver Marquese Moody, and recovered by Zachary Haskell. A third turnover from McCann Tech came via an interception, as quarterback Landyn Phillips was picked off by defensive back Landon Smead with 9:09 left in the fourth.
In total, however, the Hornets only gave up six points on their three second half turnovers.
“We knew coming in here that Franklin [Tech] is a well-coached team, they’ve got some great talent here,” McCann Tech Head Coach Jon Rochelo said. “It’s … a tough way to start, but maybe it’s an eye opener on how we need to work harder during the week.”
Both teams only punted once, with the Hornets attempting a punt on their first offensive drive of the game. The snap wasn’t clean, and the punter was ruled down after going to a knee to pick up the ball. Regardless of field position, McCann Tech went for it on fourth down for the rest of the game.
The Eagles only punted once for the opposite reason, facing a fourth and 10 just once throughout the contest.
“All in all, it’s a good way to start the season,” Gamache said. “It gives us a little momentum, we have a big independent game next week at home against Frontier. We’ll enjoy this one for tonight, but it’s time to focus on next week.”
The Eagles will host Frontier Regional School next Saturday at 7 p.m., while McCann will welcome Mahar Regional High School to its field next Friday at 7 p.m.
