Franklinton will play at home tonight, taking on perennial powerhouse Neville in a non-district contest at 7 p.m.
Franklinton enters this week with a 2-4 record. The Demons have played a tough schedule and are on a three-game losing streak. Two of the losses are by just one point — against Tylertown, Miss., 19-18, two weeks ago and 34-33 last week against Salmen.
This year’s losses have come against Covington (6-0), Tylertown (4-4), St. Thomas More (5-1) and Salmen (5-1).
Covington is sixth in the Class 5A Louisiana Sports Writers Association Poll and third in the unofficial LHSAA Class 5A power rankings. St. Thomas More is fifth in the Class 4A Louisiana Sports Writers Association Poll and fourth in the unofficial LHSAA Division II power rankings. Salmen is among others receiving votes in the Class 4A Louisiana Sports Writers Association Poll and Salmen is 11th in the unofficial LHSAA Class 4A power rankings.
“We’ve had a tough schedule. We’ve struggled at times when we’ve needed to close the deal,” Franklinton coach Stephen Burris said. “We’re playing a tough Neville team hoping to get things on track. The kids are still working their butts off, the confidence is there and we’ve just got to finish the game.”
Burris talked about the keys to this week.
“We’ve got to stop the run and we’ve got to find ways to run the football and we can’t turn it over,” Burris said.
Quarterback Tahj Magee enters this week with 958 yards passing with 10 touchdowns and eight interceptions. He has also run for 586 yards and seven scores.
TreQuan Charles enters with 535 yards rushing and five touchdowns. He also has 77 yards receiving.
Rakerian Conerly enters tonight’s game with 25 catches for 416 yards and five touchdowns to go with 161 rushing yards on 30 attempts and two touchdowns.
Lagarian Bell begins with 26 receptions for 308 yards and three touchdowns.
Defensively, the team forced three turnovers in the second half against Salmen, which helped the Demons nearly come back from a 14-point deficit in the fourth quarter.
KeAndre Martin had an interception and James Bickham and Rondrick King each recovered a fumble.
Neville comes into this week with a 2-3 record.
Like Franklinton, the team has played a tough schedule. Neville’s losses have come against Ruston (3-2), Warren Central, Miss., (4-3) and West Monroe (6-0). West Monroe is second in the unofficial LHSAA Class 5A power rankings and Ruston is 28th in the LHSAA unofficial Class 5A power rankings.
Neville has been on an impressive run of going deep in the playoffs since 2009.
In that time period, Neville has won four Class 4A state titles (2009, 2011, 2014 and 2015). The team has also been state runner-up twice (2012 and 2016). They were a state semifinalist in 2013.