Marion Franklin Red Devils down the Briggs Bruins 20-6

Tagged under: Beyond The Keystone, Game Photos, Gameday Hub, News

David Burnworth | September 18, 2022

Saturday afternoon I made the 11.5-mile drive over to Marion Franklin High school to watch the Columbus City League battle between the Red Devils and the Briggs Bruins. The home team entered this one 1-2 while the Bruins came in 2-1. I estimated the crowd of 300 or so was ready to see a highly contested game and as I watched the teams going through their warmups I thought it was going to be a defensive battle as both teams looked a little sluggish. Before I get into the game I have to give thanks to the guys in the press box for not only getting me the rosters of both teams but for the conversation that gave me some history about the Red Devils and some future plans along with a sprite to drink.

With the scoreboard not being functional yardage might be a bit off and there will be no times listed with any of the plays. Early in the opening period, the Red Devils pulled off a fake punt when hard-running Terry Black took off to his right and used some blocking to easily move the chains. De’Aire Summerall brought in a nicely thrown ball from Noah McGlendon. Tito Glass would pick up 13-yards then he capped off the 15-play, 86-yard drive with a 9-yard run. Summerall would be sacked by Adam Wemmer on the two-point conversion try leaving this a 6-0 game.

The opening quarter would be a defensive slugfest with only two more plays of note. The first play came when Malik Ali stopped the Briggs ball carrier on fourth and one, with the second play, was a nice 12-yard gain by Summerall where he used a Barry Sanders-like spin move to break two tackles. The small crowd at this point was as quiet as both of the offenses even with the cheerleaders and band trying hard to get them pumped up.

Blake Messer, the Bruins 5-7, 165-pound quarterback used his arm on his team’s next drive completing passes to Quinnten Loel for 20-yards, Isiah Price for ten, and then on fourth and seven he found Mason Daugherty for the first down. He would close out the 11-play, 67-yard drive with a 32-yard touchdown pass to Price. Mason Wemmer was hit by several Red Devils to stop the two-point conversion try. On this drive, Messer would have some time to scan the field and make a good read but the rest of the contest he seldom had time to throw as the Red Devils defensive line and linebackers were able to burn the guys in front of them causing crazy pressure making the quarterback throw earlier then he wanted to.

The rest of the quarter would bring the crowd just three more plays to note. First, we got to see Summerall race to a gain of twenty yards where he again showed nice field vision to go with a quickness. Then the Bruins got a pick by Price on a poorly thrown ball from McGlendon making the pick pretty easy for the talented Price. The Briggs defense would again come up with a big play when Loel stopped Summerall for a loss of four. The two teams combined for just 202 yards in the opening half with a total of eight completed passes.

On the first play of the third quarter, Ryan Palmer picked off the Red Devils pass keeping the defensive battle going. Later in the quarter, Black would pick up 14-yards on another run where he showed some power and a little speed. I.M.O. black could be the feature back on a lot of teams I have watched play this season. The kid seemed to give 100% effort each time he had his numbered called. The Red Devils would take a 12-6 lead on a 2-yard run by Glass.

With the third quarter slowly moving we were treated to three more plays of note. Loel would show some John Riggins-like power as he went up the gut of the Marion Franklin defense on his way to a nice 12-yard gain. Dezwaun Dickerson would record a hard sack on Messer. and then we got a major mistake from the refs when an inadvertent whistle help Black to just a 14-yard gain. If not for the whistle Black would have had a long touchdown run. This was one of the few times the crowd on the Marion Franklin side was vocal.

The fourth quarter really had no rhythm thanks to injuries but we did see some action in between them all. Paler got another pick for the Bruins, then we would see a run of thirty yards from Glass. Black went back to work later in the quarter with a 19-yard run. He would cap off a 6-play, 70-yard drive with a 9-yard run to give us what turned out to be the last touchdown of the game. Glass ended the scoring with a two-point conversion run making the final score 20-6 Red Devils. Daugherty would get a 46-yard completion to Price to end the big plays in this one as the clock ran out before any more action could take place.

Unofficial Stats

Briggs

48 plays

150 yards

Passing 9-16 1 TD 1 INT

Marion Franklin

58 plays

290 yards

passing 4-14 2 Int’s

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