MAKING A FALCON STATEMENT

Franklin beat Country Day 33-6 Friday night behind the legs of Tim Picone, who rushed for 150 yards and a score.

Not exactly the same old Falcons.

“We’re tired of the old cliché: Ben Franklin − they have a football team?” Falcons head coach Charles Firneno said.

And barring anything strange this week in practice, none of the 28 players on the roster were injured seriously against Country Day.

“They’re in pretty good shape,” Firneno said. “They’re really looking at this season seriously.”

Getting back on track
Willie Brooks had a good feeling about this season for Helen Cox prior to Aug. 31. Then it all came crashing down. A 20-14 loss to St. Augustine will do that, especially once you consider the ridiculous discrepancy in statistics.

Cox recorded a whopping 350 yards of total offense. The Cougars reached the red zone seven times. And, yet, the offense put up only 14 points on the board, and trailed 13-8 going into the fourth quarter.

Too, the defense held the Purple Knights to less than 150 total yards.

“I hate to put it in this context, but I think the kids took the game very, very lightly,” Brooks said. “Not to take away from the victory St. Augustine had. We had a deflected pass for a touchdown. A bobbled snap for a touchdown. A special teams blunder. For all their points.”

He added, “Ten out of 10 things have to go wrong for us to lose, and 10 out of 10 things went wrong for us to lose.”

All was not a total disaster. Brooks found himself a young safety who might just be able to carry the defense not just in the future, but now. Freshman Ellis Carey came up with three interceptions and six tackles.

“It would have capped it off even better if we would have won, but it was a great night for him,” Brooks said.

The Cougars get what should be a reprieve from tough football Friday when they travel to Yenni to play Riverside, a 71-6 loser to St. Michael this past Friday. Brooks will see then if his team learned anything from losing to the Purple Knights.

“I’d rather learn these lessons in September as opposed to October or November or possibly December,” Brooks said. “I think our kids understand now we have to play up to our level, our capabilities. I don’t think we did that the other night. My hats off to Coach Cordova for pulling out the victory.”