Franklin Regional Narrowly Defeats North Hills in 17-16 Thriller

Tagged under: District 7, Gameday Hub, News, Playoffs

Blake Fuchs | November 2, 2024

Pittsburgh-A defensive slugfest led to an exciting victory, with lower seed Franklin Regional advancing in the WPIAL 5A playoffs over North Hills.

Ah, high school football playoffs. The best of the best compete to win it all, hoping to rise to the top and claim greatness. All is on the line and nothing is left behind, every team who competes fighting tooth and nail to survive. One of, if not the best places to see such vigor, passion, and skill is District 7-the famed WPIAL. At its current point in time, its 5A section may be one of the best in the entire state of Pennsylvania, its champion almost guaranteed a deep playoff run. But to become champion, you have to start somewhere. That is what leads us to our game tonight: Two teams that may not be considered the best, but are looking to prove they are one of the best. With a major opponent up next, these squads were determined to show they were the ones who should move on.

First, the home team. The North Hills Indians were delegated the 8 seed, the lowest seed to get a home first round game. They finished 8-2 at the end of the regular season, losing to 5A Northeast Conference opponents Pine-Richland and Penn Hills, the respective 1 and 7 seeds in the playoffs. The Indians qualified into the WPIAL playoffs due to them finishing third in the conference, but that’s not the whole story. While they did have eight wins, four were one-score victories, including 2-8 5A Northeast Conference opponent Plum, Mars from the 4A section, and 3A team (yes, a 3A team) Central Valley. Their only 1-score loss was to Pine-Richland, so if all those scores get flipped instead of an 8-2 team, you have instead a 5-5 team. Did North Hills have what it took to get what could be a solid win and move on to play a revenge game against Pine-Richland as well as getting their first playoff win since 2010?

When it comes to Franklin Regional, they have a similar looking resume to North Hills. For one, both teams won against 6A team Hempfield Area, who did not make the 4-team playoffs this year. The Panthers also had four one-score victories as a part of their 7-3 record, against very strong opponents such as 2-8 Armstrong and a 3-0 win against Greater Latrobe, who lost 42-7 in the first round to Bethel Park in their first round game. They also finished in the 3rd spot in the 5A Big East Conference, losing to the top two teams of Woodland Hills and Penn-Trafford, who are the respective 4 and 6 seeds in the WPIAL playoffs. Like North Hills, Franklin Regional had not won against a team who won more than half their games in the regular season. Not much was expected from this Panther squad, but could they overcome the expectations and pull off a surprise win, winning their first playoff game since 2018?

To start out the game, nothing really happened. North Hills got the ball first which was highlighted by three first downs, but 10 plays later the Indians would simply punt. They were helmed by junior quarterback Kelly McCarthy along with the running back tandem of seniors Julius Green and Jack Martin, who split carries under the run-heavy offense. Franklin Regional didn’t have much of anything either, their three run plays leading to an eventual punt. The Panthers were led by senior Chase Lemke, who wasn’t afraid to take the ball himself on read options. If not, he was handing it off to fellow senior running back Jude Gentil.

Soon it was clear the initial drives were allowing the offenses to get acclimated to what they were dealing with, as soon after both sides traded scores. After being moved back 5 yards for a false start back to their own 25 yard line, North Hills would only need two plays to score, senior wideout Stephen Murphy streaking down the sideline 72 yards for a touchdown where it didn’t even look as if he was touched. Murphy wasn’t utilized as much as Green or Martin, but when he got the ball he used his opportunities well. Not to be outdone, Franklin Regional slowly but methodically took their second drive 82 yards over 13 plays, burning more than 7 minutes of game time to score from the half yard line, Gentile punching it in to get on the board. Lemke kept it on shorter run distances, a 5 yard first down, while Gentile gained larger chunks with his three first downs which got him 31, 14, and 11 yards in that order. 

After the first initial shots were fired from both sides, the scoring quieted down. However, this certainly didn’t mean the excitement didn’t. North Hills had no initial response for the Franklin Regional touchdown due to a penalty moving the fourth down distance out of reasonable range to go for it, so they punted. The Panthers subsequently settled for a 22 yard field goal from senior kicker Joseph Bayne, who gave them their first lead of the night. 

North Hills looked poised to score again on their fourth drive after a slick reception from Martin, who kept his eyes on the ball to grab it off the back of a Franklin Regional defender as he was falling to the ground. However, this 17 yard first down would be for naught as on the next play a 15 yard penalty moved the line of scrimmage basically back to where it was originally, but now with a larger distance to gain. North Hills punted. Three plays later they got it back. Lemke faked the inside handoff to Gentile, rolled out to his right, looking like he was going to take it himself, and instead threw into the middle of the field…right to North Hills senior defender Logan Illnicki. 

Unfortunately for the Indians, they were not able to capitalize as a misunderstanding led to an ill-timed mistake. With 2 and a half minutes left in the first half and down three points, it would be very good if they scored going into the locker room. Assisted by Franklin Regional’s first penalty of the game, the Indians moved from their 41 to the Panther 21 before being faced with a third down and 12 with around 15 seconds remaining in the half. It looked as if Murphy gained the distance off a catch from McCarthy, as the chain gang started to move. With a running clock, McCarthy spiked it with 9 seconds remaining, thus turning the ball over to Franklin Regional. As it turned out, Murphy was short and it had been fourth down, and so by spiking the ball, McCarthy had subsequently (but unintentionally) given up possible points to close out the half.

While Franklin Regional did get the ball to start the second half, it would be North Hills who scored first. Their first possession was capped with its 5th play being taken 44 yards by Murphy to retake the lead. Murphy was evidently the favorite target of McCarthy, and while he wasn’t the #1 playcalling option, he was a lethal weapon when used and got at least 10 yards on every reception he made. 

There wouldn’t be any more scoring changes for the rest of the quarter, as neither side could even get a first down, settling for four consecutive punts, the last one coming at the beginning of the fourth quarter. The fifth consecutive punt did lead to points, however, as the long snapper for Franklin Regional sailed the ball over the head of Bayne, who attempted to recover the ball near the goal line. Having no other options, Bayne batted the ball into the back of the end zone, which was originally ruled a touchback but moments later changed to a safety. Now the points margin was 6, the probability of a tie jumping up significantly.

After the safety North Hills got the ball off the free kick, but had it for a single play as Martin lost the football while running, the ball floating in the air and landing in the open hands of junior Franklin Regional defender Jaymier Austin. The Panthers burned three minutes off the game clock over the course of 6 plays, including being gifted a first down after a North Hills penalty instead having to convert a fourth down. The second fourth down of the drive was handled as well, as a QB sneak to convert one yard was actually a play action pass to tight end Cole Devola, who came off the end of the offensive line to get wide open in the middle of the field and make it 19 yards to tie the game at 16. Bayne gave the lead back to Franklin Regional after the extra point, and North Hills had five and a half minutes to score and take back the lead.

Time would only be wasted as both teams ran the clock down and punted twice, with Franklin Regional’s 11th drive draining it down under a minute. North Hills now had 44 seconds to make it 63 yards, as they would be taking it from their own 37 yard line. 

The first play from scrimmage was a McCarthy pass on the sideline on his left to sophomore Johnell Edison, stepping immediately out of bounds after catching the ball for 11 yards. First down. The clock stopped. 

McCarthy threw it again to the same sideline to Murphy, who again grabbed the ball then went out of bounds. First down. The clock stopped. 

McCarthy would not be as lucky the next play, dancing around and trying to make something happen, but only succeeded in burning time and was sacked. Only one play was possible now, and the lateral game began. Fortunately for Franklin Regional and unfortunately for North Hills, it would not score. 

For North Hills, this was such an unfortunate way to lose. One point being the margin probably doesn’t help either, and for all they had done, it meant nothing now. There would be no revenge game against Pine-Richland. There would be no more playoffs. Now, their season is over. McCarthy, Martin, and Murphy were an exceptional trio in the game, with Martin being an excellent runner and the McCarthy-Martin passing duo was lethal when used. But generally, the biggest reason for the Indians’ loss was penalties. Holding yourself back and giving your opponent an advantage is never what you want to do as a team, and North Hills did it on multiple occasions. Thus they made it harder for themselves by making it easier for the other side. While the McCarthy-Martin-Murphy trio is disbanding as McCarthy and Murphy graduate this year, what they were able to do this season is commendable and they deserve credit for being the backbone of this North Hills team. Now they, like us, simply see what happens next.

Franklin Regional has done it. Despite all the odds, they went into Martorelli Stadium and upset the higher seeded home team. Lernke and Gentile have a great balance with the running game, with their triple option offense doing wonders against defenses. However, Lernke threw the ball minimally in large distances, and stayed to mostly screen plays. This could be a problem next week against Pine-Richland. If the Rams are able to lock the triple option down early things could get ugly. Even if Franklin Regional loses against Pine-Richland, it’s still an achievement to have won a playoff game in the way they did. They will need to step up their game though, as any game against a 1 seed is daunting. Hope is there for the Panthers, but the possibility of it going away quickly on November 8th is now the looming threat.

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