Jim Mashek

WILDCATS GET EAST ON THE ROPES, BUT THE RAIDERS STAY UNBEATEN IN NINE GAMES

For two, even three quarters, Franklin-Simpson High School was dictating the tone of Thursday night’s showdown with unbeaten Warren East at Jim Ross Field.

The first half was over in about 50 minutes. Ball control was the name of the game. The Wildcats’ vaunted Wing-T offense was moving the chains. Warren East was starting to run out of time.

Then, BOOM. It happened.

Dane Parsley up the middle for 15 yards. Dane Parsley around left end for 25 or 30 yards. Dane Parsley, Dane Parsley, Dane Parsley …

And this young man is just a sophomore.

Parsley basically willed Warren East to its biggest victory in years. An injury to Raiders safety Gauge Doyle also resulted in his starting role in the secondary. Franklin-Simpson’s rugged defense did everything it could to keep him in check, but ultimately, the Warren East quarterback, a three-sport star, was not going to be denied.

Warren East 36, Franklin-Simpson 21.

The Raiders have defeated their longtime nemesis from Franklin, Kentucky, for the first time since 2012. The 10-game losing streak to the Wildcats included a 27-26 thriller last year at Franklin-Simpson’s Jim Mathews Stadium, in the first round of the KHSAA Class 4A playoffs. Veteran F-S coach Max Chaney put together a masterful game plan for the Wildcats’ showdown with the Raiders.

Ultimately, it was Warren East’s night.

“We just believe in each other,” senior Warren East tailback Quinton Hollis said. “We’ve been working toward this game since we lost to Franklin, down there, a year ago. We just had to dig in and play.”

Parsley had two touchdown runs in the second half, the first a brilliant 51-yard scoring play in which he broke two or three tackles near the line of scrimmage, and the Raiders’ defense finished the task at hand. Warren East claimed its KHSAA Class 4A, 2nd District championship and improved to 9-0 overall and 4-0 in district play.

Franklin-Simpson, a traditional 4A power, dropped to 6-3 and 3-1, respectively.

“When you lose to a traditional rival 10 straight times, that isn’t a ‘monkey on your back.’ That was a 10,000-pound gorilla,” a beaming Warren East coach Jeff Griffith said when it was over. “We’ve kind of been building toward this game for a while. Franklin-Simpson is tough. Very good. We knew it was going to be this kind of game.

“Our defense played extremely well in the second half, and Dane, well, he’s a great kid to have as your quarterback. He’s the leader of our football team.”

Parsley basked in the glow of the memorable victory, giving credit to his teammates and making a special point to mention the late Tucker Stringfield, his baseball teammate who died in an ATV crash about one year ago. The 6-foot-2, 185-pound sophomore has been on top of his game all season, having passed for 23 touchdowns while adding 18 rushing TDs in the Raiders’ nine outings.

“(Franklin-Simpson) is a phenomenal Wing-T team. They’ve been running that offense since we were kids playing youth football, Little League,” Parsley said when it was over. “They’re a powerhouse, really. At the beginning of the game, I made some mistakes. It’s really good to have these guys, my teammates, around me.

“This game has been circled on our calendars, for a long time.”

Franklin-Simpson seemed to sense the opportunity at hand, too. The Wildcats started fast. Junior quarterback Mathias Dickerson found F-S teammate Daniel Klingman for a 25-yard completion on the right sideline in the game’s opening moments. Then the Wildcats’ Blake McPherson took a sweep to the right side for a 29-yard gain.

The Wildcats’ Wing-T was purring like a flashy dark blue Corvette off the GM assembly line just a few miles away.

Junior running back/safety Gavin Dickerson got Franklin-Simpson on the scoreboard with a 25-yard touchdown run, through the teeth of the East defense, with 8:40 left in the first quarter.

Bang.

The Raiders were already scrambling, at least a little. Senior all-purpose player Isaiah Ghee caught the Wildcats napping on a fake punt, scooting 29 yards for a first down, before Franklin-Simpson’s Hunter Jones stopped the threat with an interception in the end zone.

Warren East would tie it up, after a mistake by the Wildcats in the kicking game. The Raiders’ Maddox Torrance came up with a fumble on a botched punt return, and Warren East tailback Quinton Hollis tied the game at 7 with a 20-yard scoring run with 2:17 left in the first quarter.

The Wildcats’ offense started breaking off chunks of yardage in their next possession, and sophomore fullback Layne Alford scored on a 7-yard run at the 9:34 mark of the second quarter, putting Franklin-Simpson in front 14-7.

Parsley moved the sticks on a third-and-7 play, on the Raiders’ next series, rambling 36 yards on a quarterback draw to put Warren East in the red zone. But the Wildcats’ Hayden Satterly came up with a key stop on Parsley’s fourth-down keeper to the right side, and Warren East still trailed by a touchdown.

Warren East’s Simon Ghee and Josh Collins sacked F-S quarterback Mathias Dickerson on the Wildcats’ next series, and Hollis scored again, this time on a 5-yard run, in the final minute of the first half.

The PAT attempt failed, however, and Franklin-Simpson took a tenuous 14-13 lead into the locker room.

“It was a very rough start,” Warren East linebacker Simon Ghee said. “We got back in the locker room, and (sophomore linebacker) Jackson McCool made a little speech … it seemed to get us going.

“Jackson said, ‘I’ve been playing with y’all for eight, 10 years … this is something we gotta have.’

“It brought tears to my eyes.”

Franklin-Simpson’s all-purpose dynamo, senior linebacker/guard/placekicker Atakis Allen, opened the second half with a masterful onside kick to the left sideline. Limiting Parsley’s time with the ball in his hands was F-S coach Max Chaney’s plan, all along.

The Wildcats came up with the loose football, and Mathias Dickerson got them back in the end zone in no time.

Layne Alford punched out a first down on a fourth-and-3 play in the red zone, and two plays later, Dickerson found Alford at the goal line for a 5-yard touchdown pass that put the Wildcats in front 21-13.

That’s when Dane Parsley took over.

The 6-foot-2, 185-pound sophomore broke two or three tackles near the line of scrimmage before bolting down the left sideline for a 51-yard touchdown run with 4:04 left in the third quarter. East coach Jeff Griffith opted for the two-point conversion, and, perhaps true to form, opted for an unconventional call, a reverse to senior receiver Ahmad Alexander.

Naturally, Alexander scored on the play and the game was tied at 21.

Parsley delivered an open-field tackle to stop Franklin-Simpson on its next series, on a fourth-and-six play, and the Raiders had good field position at their own 44-yard line.

Parsley converted a fourth-down play with a 20-yard run up the middle, and he would find the end zone three plays later, scoring on a 14-yard run with 6:53 left in the game.

Parsley added the two-point conversion himself, extending the Raiders’ lead to 29-21, and Mathias Dickerson and the Franklin-Simpson offense pretty much had to throw the ball the rest of the way.

As fate would have it, the Raiders’ Isaiah Ghee, who plans to play college football at Murray State as a preferred walk-on, intercepted F-S quarterback Mathias Dickerson before scoring on a 15-yard return in the final minute.

“Our defense took care of business,” Isaiah Ghee said. “We came out strong in the second half … That 27-26 loss, last year, at Franklin, that was fuel for the whole thing.”

Franklin-Simpson coach Max Chaney’s game plan had the Raiders on the ropes, but this time, they recovered before landing the knockout punch on Ghee’s pick six.

“I thought our kids fought hard, to the very end,” Chaney said via text message Friday morning. “It’s hard to overcome penalties, and miscues, in all phases of the game and win. They are a very good team with some really athletic kids.

“Dane Parsley is as advertised. He’s a very tough competitor and a great quarterback.”

Warren East’s Jeff Griffith has almost run out of things to say about his sophomore signal-caller.

But give him time. The Raiders play host to KHSAA Class 6A Daviess County next week at Jim Ross Field.

“Dane Parsley is a special player, a great leader,” Griffith said. “Our entire team has a lot of faith in him.”

Franklin-Simpson will close regular-season play at home next week against Glasgow (5-3, 1-2 in KHSAA Class 3A, 3rd District). With the association’s revised playoff format, the Wildcats and Raiders would not tee it up against one another until at least the 4A quarterfinals.

Warren East linebacker Simon Ghee was asked about that possibility afterward.

“This was the biggest game, for most of us, since we got to Warren East,” Ghee said. “Yes, I wouldn’t be surprised, either … Franklin-Simpson is very good.”

Big things are definitely happening on Louisville Road.