PENNSYLVANIA Franklin thwarts Hickory's late bid

The Hornets overcame a 15-point deficit, but came up short in a 22-20 loss.
By BILL ALBRIGHT
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
SLIPPERY ROCK -- After spotting Franklin High 15 unanswered points in the first half, Hickory fought back twice to cut the deficit to two before falling, 22-20, in the opening round of the District 10-AAA football playoffs.
The Hornets had one last-gasp hope of pulling the game out of the fire, but Ben Woods' 48-yard field goal fell about 5 yards short of the crossbar as time ran out.
Leading the Knights to their big win was senior quarterback Rich Cerro, who accounted for 266 yards. Cerro rushed for 174 yards and two touchdowns and passed for 92 yards and one score. He also found time to haul in a 27-yard reception on a halfback option, as well as return a couple punts.
"We knew coming in that he was a heckuva football player," said Hickory coach Jim Bell of Cerro. "He is one of the best that we saw all year, and for the exception of one play, I thought we did a pretty good job of containing him.
Cerro goes 83 yards
That one play Bell referred to was an 83-yard scamper by Cerro late in the third period, to give Franklin a 22-13 lead.
"We ran that play exactly as it was designed," said Cerro. "Sean Saunders gave me a good lead block, I cut it back a little bit and was able to hit a seam to get to the outside."
The Knights ran a wide-open offense featuring just about everything in the book, and Bell felt that caused his team some problems defensively.
"They were a very difficult team to defend," said Bell. "They line in double-tight sometimes, one back at times, no backs at times and you can find Cerro all over the place on certain plays. They did a real good job coaching those kids for the game and their kids played real hard."
Cerro admitted that he got a little tired down the stretch.
Had a sore back
"I woke up Sunday with a sore back," admitted Cerro. "I didn't practice all week, and late in the game, it showed."
After Franklin scored on a 1-yard run by Cerro and an 8-yard TD connection from Cerro to Mike Bell to spearhead a 15-0 lead, the Hornets came to life in the third period when Dustin Kulka put the team on his back.
After scoring on an 8-yard run three minutes into the third period, Kulka went in from 2 yards out less than three minutes later, following a fumble recovery by linebacker Keith Yager.
On the first drive, Kulka rushed for 50 yards and passed for 16 more, while on the second TD march, he hit Steve Lumpp for 23 yards to set up his 2-yard TD run.
For the game, he finished with 124 yards rushing, good for all three Hickory scores, and completed eight passes for another 81 yards.
"Dustin did a great job for us," said Bell. "We told them at halftime that we can't afford any more mistakes by anybody and he did a great job of putting the guys on his back and taking over."
Bell had some good things about his seniors turning a 2-7 season into a 7-3 mark.
"Those seniors really hung in there to turn things around, especially with a second-year head coach," said Bell. "We changed the offense around and the seniors did a great job of leading the underclassmen. I just told them they can hold their heads high and stick their chest out because they did an outstanding job of turning things around."