By ANDREW FEEBACK
The Bluffton Tigers turned in a much better showing Friday night than the previous two games, but this one featured a tough finish as they came up short to the visiting Franklin County Wildcats 29-22.
“Obviously not what we want,” Bluffton head coach Brent Kunkel said. “It’s frustrating because we thought we had some stuff coming out of the half that we could hit. Credit to Coach Gillman and his staff; they’ve got some tough-nosed kids.”
Bluffton (6-3) appeared to score with no time on the clock, leaving them a conversion away from either tying or winning the game.
But a penalty for offensive pass interference wiped it out, and the Tigers failed to score on the following play.
Unlike the past two games, where the Tigers fell behind early and couldn’t come back, they found themselves in front for much of the contest.
Cooper Craig’s one-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter, followed by a two-point conversion pass from Axton Beste to Parker Barnes, had the Tigers up 8-0.
Franklin County (6-3) responded with a 63-yard drive, most of it on the ground, ending with Mason Wewe’s two-yard score to make it 8-7.
The Tiger defense came up with a huge stop to end the first half when Treyton Bustos intercepted a pass in the end zone.
The Wildcats went in front 14-8 when Quinn Gillman scored on a 12-yard run early in the second half.
Bluffton responded to go up 15-14 after an eight-play drive. Beste had a hand in every play, running six times and throwing twice to Elijah Bertsch. His last run came on fourth and goal, just managing to get inside the pylon before being pushed out of bounds.
The defense again came up with a crucial stop, turning the Wildcats over on downs at the Bluffton 38-yard line.
This time it was Craig with the big play, an electrifying run down the sideline for a 29-yard score that had the home team up 22-14.
After the teams traded three-and-outs, Gillman started to take over.
He threw a 34-yard pass to Kayden Kerr, then took off on a 26-yard run that got the Wildcats into the red zone.
His five-yard touchdown run and subsequent two-point conversion run tied the game with 6:53 to play.
A big kickoff return into Wildcat territory gave the Tigers a spark, but Beste was picked off by his counterpart on the very next play, with Gillman returning it to the Bluffton 23.
Five plays later, Gillman hit Braylon Kruthaupt in the end zone on third down, and Franklin County led 29-22 with 4:36 remaining.
Beste found Craig for a 15-yard pickup on third and 12, and two more first downs had the Tigers 25 yards from paydirt. A pass interference penalty on the Wildcats moved the ball down to the 12.
Facing third and three from the five-yard-line, a block in the back penalty sent the Tigers back to the 15, where it was now third and long.
The Tigers then ran a reversal that featured Craig throwing a pass back to Beste, who headed toward the far sideline and was tackled short of the end zone.
The clock stopped for a first down at the two-yard-line, but the Tigers needed to call timeout to stop it again with 0.6 seconds showing.
Beste then threw a pass to his left and hit Bustos in the end zone for an apparent score, but the officials determined Bluffton committed offensive pass interference, backing them up 15 yards and forcing another attempt from the 17-yard-line on an untimed down.
Beste’s final attempt was intercepted near the goal line.
“It’s a frustrating end,” Kunkel said. “We thought we did everything we could do to win that, but fell short.”
After a rough couple weeks defensively, the Bluffton defense had a much better showing against an impressive Wildcat offense that had scored at least four touchdowns in all but one game this season.
Only two players ran the ball for Franklin County, and they had nearly identical numbers: Gillman carried 22 times for 125 yards, and Wewe ran 22 times for 135.
Franklin County, located in southeast Indiana, was a late addition to Bluffton’s schedule. Unfortunately, this was a one-off and there will be no rematch next year.
Bluffton will open sectional play next week against a newcomer to Class 2A, but a familiar foe: Adams Central.
It will come just two weeks after the teams met on the Jets’ field, this time on the Tigers’ turf.
“Our job this week is to figure out what’s our counter, what’s our answer,” Kunkel said. “We’ll come out Friday and put our best foot forward against one of the best programs in northeast Indiana. Our guys are excited for the challenge and won’t back down.”
The game will begin at 7 p.m.
FRANKLIN COUNTY 29, BLUFFTON 22
At Bluffton
Score By Quarters
Franklin County 0 7 7 15 – 29
Bluffton 0 8 14 0 – 22
Scoring Summary
Second Quarter
B—Cooper Craig 1 run (Parker Barnes pass from Axton Beste), 10:12.
FC—Mason Wewe 8 run (Hunter Weartz kick), 4:55.
Third Quarter
FC—Quinn Gillman 12 run (Weartz kick), 8:26.
B—Beste 1 run (Abram Gehrett kick), 4:57.
B—Craig 29 run (Gehrett kick), 0:31.
Fourth Quarter
FC—Gillman 5 run (Gillman run), 6:53.
FC—Braylon Kruthaupt 8 pass from Gillman (Weartz kick), 4:36.
Team Statistics
FC BLU
First Downs 19 13
Rushes-Yards 44-260 24-75
Yards Passing 63 170
Passing (Comp-Att-Int) 6-14-2 17-25-2
Penalties-Yards 4-48 7-76
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0
Punts-Average 1-34 3-32
Time of Possession 22:20 25:40
Individual Statistics
Rushing: Franklin County, Mason Wewe 22-135, Quinn Gillman 22-125. Bluffton, Cooper Craig 10-45, Axton Beste 13-31.
Passing: Franklin County, Gillman 6-14-2-63. Bluffton, Beste 16-24-2-157, Craig 1-1-0-13.
Receiving: Franklin County, Braylon Kruthaupt 3-36, Kayden Kerr 2-32, Jack Seals 1-(minus 5). Bluffton, Elijah Bertsch 4-69, Treyton Bustos 5-38, Craig 3-28, Parker Barnes 3-16, Beste 1-13, Easton Blair 1-6.
