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The School Newspaper of Franklin High School

Pantherbook

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The School Newspaper of Franklin High School

Pantherbook

The School Newspaper of Franklin High School

Pantherbook

Thanksgiving Game Turns Around at Last Minute

Twitter feeds and Facebook walls of senior players were littered with varying degrees of the same message: Four years of Panther football passed by in the blink of an eye, but the memories with the team will last forever.

Franklin’s loss to King Phillip in the annual Thanksgiving rivalry game was not the way they would’ve hoped to have ended their 7- 4 season, of which not a single loss occurred on their home turf. The game traditionally draws a pretty large crowd, with recently graduated Panthers home from college for the Holiday break, and alumni Panthers turning out to see how the team is doing since they left.

“[The rivalry] definitely matters, I would’ve loved to of beat KP” said Franklin senior Kevin Leffert.

The Panthers started the game off strong, arriving at the half with a 6 to 0 lead over King Phillip. The Warriors came back equally strong in the second half, gaining a 12 to 6 lead.

Then, late in the fourth quarter, Franklin Junior Robert Dellorco caught an incredible pass from quarterback Nick Zucco, and made an equally incredible run down the field to get stopped only 4 feet away from the end zone. On the next play, the Panthers scored to secure a 13-12 lead with 4 minutes left in the game

“Dellorco’s bobbled catch to get down to the one yard line was pretty awesome” said Leffert. “Our defense just kind of got walked over at the end” he added, admitting the slight lead the Panther’s held may have actually worked against them, letting their guard down.

With the game suddenly neck in neck, both teams were fired up. With a minute on the clock, King Phillip quarterback landed a successful pass which resulted in a touchdown, followed by a two point conversion with 8 seconds left in the game; bringing the final score to 20- 13 in favor of the Warriors.

For the seniors on the team, this game was the culmination of four years of hard work, one last hurrah in a long career of Franklin football.

“It sucks, but what are you gonna do” said Leffert who seemed, like many others, to be at a loss for words to describe the feeling of leaving Panther football behind, especially leaving on such a sore note.

What did you think of the Panther's performance?

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