FRA Stuns the Wildcats on Senior Night

<h2 class="wp-block-heading">A big Mid-Tennessee region contest went in the favor of the road team, who put it on BGA early and never let up! FRA was impressive on both sides of the ball, especially in the trenches where their physicality was a game changer. </h2>     The tone was set from the get-go by FRA with their physicality as they walked into BGA's stadium and owned the line of scrimmage on their way to a 39-14 region win. The Panthers big men made it a point in this game to get physical early and maintain that standard throughout. It paid off as FRA was definitely the more physical team.    Their approach early was simple. Run the ball and play good defense while staying disciplined. It was a good game plan as the Panthers defense was near dominant from start to finish where  they forced the BGA offense to go three and out, three times in the 1st quarter and keep the Cats off the board.    The Panthers would strike first with a rushing touchdown from senior back [player_tooltip player_id='1106238' first='Michael' last='Hassell']. His first rushing score of the night came by being at the right spot at the right time as he recovered a fumble and ran into the end zone. That score would put FRA ahead at 6-0 and the Panthers wouldn't relinquish the lead the remainder of the night.    <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/CSmithScout/status/1844900586497757221 </div></figure>   Finding the end zone was tough in the 1st half, especially for the home team. FRA would go on to tack on two more touchdowns throughout the first half while their defense continued to smother the Wildcats and force them off the field without sniffing scoring range.    Clamping things down in the secondary while the front seven caused havoc, the Panthers defensive backs were particularly strong in the 1st half and throughout the game. They received excellent play from the likes of Hassell, [player_tooltip player_id='1167514' first='Jayden' last='Rush'], [player_tooltip player_id='903033' first='Omarii' last='Sanders'] and Amir Mitchell. Those three along with a few others kept the BGA receivers in-check, which caused issues for Marable and their passing game.    Early on, it looked like BGA might be able to run the ball a little with [player_tooltip player_id='1405419' first='Ethan' last='Kellum'] but the junior went out with an injury in the 2nd quarter, which then allowed [player_tooltip player_id='866750' first='Keilan' last='Neal'] and the Panthers front seven to tee up on [player_tooltip player_id='914547' first='Kaedyn' last='Marable']. The Panthers defensive front was outstanding all night long, especially the play from Neal, who was double teamed a lot of the evening due to his ability to disrupt plays.    Franklin Road Academy pushed their lead out to 12-0 headed into the locker room and to be honest, the game looked over at this point due to the Wildcats offense not being able to consistently move the ball nor their defense finding a way to slow down Hassell and the Panthers rushing attack.    <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/CSmithScout/status/1844902025622061070 </div></figure>   The Panthers came out of the break and immediately put their foot back on the gas. The road team would get back on the board, pushing their lead out to 19-0 while closing the door on a possible comeback from the Wildcats.    It wasn't looking good for Battle Ground Academy after the early 3rd quarter score but plenty of time was left for them to make some headway and get back into this game but it needed to be asap!    BGA would finally get on the board, late in the 3rd quarter after a nice quarterback run from Marable. Excitement finally started coming off the Wildcats sideline but that wouldn't last long. Immediately after the BGA score, Hassell returned the opposing kickoff into Wildcats territory where two plays later, sophomore running back Cam Glenn ran into the end zone to push the Panthers lead out to 25-7.    <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/CSmithScout/status/1844918906118602781 </div></figure>   The home team had one last glimmer of hope after sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='905296' first='Fletcher' last='Fields'] produced a rushing touchdown but a gutsy call on 3rd and long from FRA proved to be the dagger. The Panthers ran a hook and ladder on 3rd and 20 plus and succeeded. They got the ball down inside the Wildcats redzone where Hassell sealed the game with his 3rd rushing score of the night.    A few possessions later, Franklin Road Academy would come out the victor and pick up a huge win that pushes them closer to a possible region title while remaining undefeated at 7-0. For the home Wildcats, it was a tough loss but one they can certainly learn from as BGA will more than likely see this same FRA team in the coming playoffs.    Watch out for the Panthers moving forward as they are legit with several college quality players on both sides of the ball that can defeat CPA in a few weeks when they match up for the region title. Friday's night performance against a good BGA proved that!   <figure class="wp-block-image size-large is-resized"><img src="https://prepredzone.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2024/10/20241011_190312.jpg?w=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-1526041" style="width:493px;height:auto" /></figure>