MEADVILLE — Franklin County senior Darrin Wiley turned the Bulldogs’ homecoming into his own personal talent show Friday night, scoring touchdowns on both sides of the ball and making his mark all over the stat sheet in a 52-28 win over Crystal Springs.
Six-foot, 250-pound defensive lineman/fullback Wiley collected five tackles, forced two fumbles, recovering both and blocked a punt in the Bulldogs’ victory.
Wiley scooped up a loose football in the end zone for a touchdown following his blocked punt, and ran another in on offense from one yard out.
The win, a much-needed one for Franklin County, kept the team’s playoff chances alive inside the powerful Region 7-3A. The Bulldogs moved to 4-4 overall and 1-2 in the division standings with the win. Franklin County must beat Wesson and Jefferson County to secure the third spot in the division.
Chris Robinson, the Bulldogs senior sparkplug at running back highlighted the first half with a number of big plays. Robinson threw a 26-yard scoring strike to Demarrius Tyler and ran in another score from 10 yards out.
Franklin County senior quarterback Malik Moore also showcased his skills by throwing a 20-yard touchdown to Austin Wallace and an 11-yard touchdown strike to Tyler.
The Bulldogs led 40-12 at halftime.
Bernard Selmon and Courtney Smith each provided touchdown runs of one and five yards respectively for the Bulldogs, while Denzel Allen and Dontavious Felton each collected an interception.
Robinson led all rushers with 106 yards rushing on 17 attempts.
Chardaarrious Wilson added 7 tackles, while Selmon finished with six hits.
For Crystal Springs Jeriko Morris scored four touchdowns. Morris had 92 yards rushing on 16 carries for two touchdowns.
He returned a kickoff 83 yards for a score and caught a 36-yard touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter from quarterback Jeremy Archie.
Franklin County is at Wesson next Friday, with kickoff slated for 7 p.m.
