I was just reading on Franklin's Facebook page that due to a scheduling issue with Western Carolina the game will be played at Cherokee High School Friday night @ 7PM.
Forest Hills vs Franklin 5A 2nd Round
- Thread starter FHJackets90
- Start date
Whew, I’m finally back after the whole regular season! Just in time for the playoffs. Look forward to chatting with the FH peeps about Friday night’s game. It is indeed at Cherokee’s stadium.
Here is some info on Franklin. We are a traditional Mnt football team. Our bread and butter is the run. We have a Soph. RB who is from the Young family tree. He’s a bruiser who plays LB also. Our passing game has better athletes than usual. Our concepts are pretty simple and basic. We are a better more rounded version of Smoky for the FH crew. We will always struggle with speed. Spread the field and you can get some chunk plays. Run to the outside with good blocking and speed will gain yards. We have a good kicker. We struggle with coverage on special teams. I listened to some of the game Friday and I expect a battle. Our game plan will be to chew clock with ground and pound. Sprinkle in some passing plays to keep you honest. We will definitely try to shorten the game. If you can shorten our possessions you stand a good chance of winning. If not, you stand a good chance of losing. Nothing fancy from the Panthers, your D just has to be good enough to stop it. Let’s hear about the Jackets!
FH has size and speed. They run a spread offense and have a balanced offense of passing and running. They've had some injuries at WR which hurt this season. Two of our best receivers are out due to injury one all season. Too many dropped passes this past Friday night. QB was hitting them right in the hands. Our QB took over just after mid-season after the other QB left the team. He's done a good job and would be even better if his receivers were more consistent. RBs are quick especially #1 Kylan Polk. He's around 1100 yards on the season. We also have 2 other backs that are pretty good. Defense has been pretty strong and the D-Line is big. Problem with the Defense has been coaching adjustments. Smoky Mountain ran basically the same or similiar play all night and it took the coaches forever to finally adjust to it forcing them to finally have to pass. Gave up way to many yards on the ground because of it.
Cherokee's stadium is unbelievable! Great stadium for a game!
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We will have our hands full Friday night, your strengths are our weaknesses. It sounds like one of the keys will be our Oline vs your D front. Looking forward to this one!
Massey had it dead even last time I checked but if the FH defensive coaches don't realize this is another power running team from the get go we'll get beat. Last night they tried the typical 3-4 with the linebackers too far off from the line of scrimmage. Took them forever to switch to a 4 man front and bring the linebackers up to stack the box.
I could see that or worse if our coaches aren't ready for the running game. They haven't been against teams like Anson, Mount Pleasant and Smoky Mountain so far. Got to start with a different Defensive set up. We barely beat Anson, lost to Mount Pleasant by a TD and gave up too much on the ground against Smoky Mountain.
I think Franklin wins this one but I guarantee one thing for sure come Friday night. You Forest Hills fans are definitely going to see Franklin’s tailbacks size and say, “He’s a 10th grader???” 
And unless he’s had a birthday in the last month or so he’s only 15 years old.
And unless he’s had a birthday in the last month or so he’s only 15 years old.
We saw a hoss of a RB when we played Mount Pleasant. He was hard to get down. Might be similiar in size but only a sophmore is impressive.I think Franklin wins this one but I guarantee one thing for sure come Friday night. You Forest Hills fans are definitely going to see Franklin’s tailbacks size and say, “He’s a 10th grader???”
And unless he’s had a birthday in the last month or so he’s only 15 years old.
If Forest Hills struggled to adjust to Smoky even a little bit you're going to have a big problem with Franklin. I'll take the Panthers by a couple of TDs in this one and my apologies ahead of time to the Franklin faithful because my backing is usually the kiss of death.
When you Jackets fans head up the mountain stop off at Fresh Burger in Cherokee for a bite before heading to the stadium. They have great burgers, fries and wings. (not to mention a fantastic view of the Oconaluftee river) All Fried Up is a great option as well if you like fried chicken, fish or shrimp.
When you Jackets fans head up the mountain stop off at Fresh Burger in Cherokee for a bite before heading to the stadium. They have great burgers, fries and wings. (not to mention a fantastic view of the Oconaluftee river) All Fried Up is a great option as well if you like fried chicken, fish or shrimp.
Does anyone know if the game will be streamed at all? Hudl or NFHS or any platform for that matter
After we FINALLY adjusted to their running game it slowed them down. It just took the coaches way too long to do it. Smoky then had to spread out receivers to try and loosen us up after that and it didn't work quite as well. They only had around 20 yards passing but over 250 plus rushing. Ridiculous what we have up on the ground. Depends on what defense shows up. For most of the year they've been pretty stout...... I might try the Burger place. I've decided to stay overnight and make the trek back home Saturday morning. I've got a college game to go to that afternoon.
I love football.On of my bucket list trip is to see a game at Cherokee high to check their stadium and field out. When the day I can make it up I will throw in my fishing gear and hit the streams. lol
You have any idea when tickets will go on sale? I've called FH and they said they were working on it and there's nothing through GoFan for either team.
Just a little longer than the Brevard trip last year in the 4th round. Just hope for a different outcome.
The game will be streamed by Franklin Panthers Sports Network (FPSN). It’s available on Facebook or YouTube.
Simmons has his picks up on his site (also on the 3A/4A board). He has the Panthers by 11. I’m a diehard Panthers fan but that’s a head scratcher to me. I see this being a very close tight ball game. My thought is that if it’s not that close, it’ll favor FH not Franklin.
Massey has it FH by 2. Not sure how they come up with their numbers exactly.
I'm at Cherokee Stadium. This place is nicer than most Division II stadiums. The school even looks more like a small college than a high school. Plus a beautiful backdrop all around.
Aided by a fake punt the Panthers hit a pretty pass play for the TD.
7-0 Panthers, 10 left in the 2nd.
7-0 Panthers, 10 left in the 2nd.
Really sloppy 1st half of play, especially by the Panthers. Tons of flags so far! Panthers fumbled on the FH 3. Jackets turnover on downs on the Panthers 13. FH has started keying on Young to slow him down. The team that cleans things up in the 2nd will likely win.
Classic Panther drive to start the 2nd half. Methodical 10:02 march.
Franklin 14 - Forest Hills 0 late 3rd.
Franklin 14 - Forest Hills 0 late 3rd.
Jackets use tempo to their advantage and drive quickly for the score.
Franklin 14 - Forest Hills 7 10 left in the 4th
Franklin 14 - Forest Hills 7 10 left in the 4th
Panthers pick off the Jackets and are driving. 1st down on the FH 13 with about 2 left in the 4th.
Panthers take a knee on the 2 to run out the clock. This one is final, hard fought game tonight. Much respect to the Yellow Jackets!
Great game tonight. On that extra point block we were pleading for the coach to go for 2 before he sent out the kicking team. Then when we got the ball back he should have stuck with the 2 minute offense but the coach didn't. Still though good season. Good luck next week against Hickory. That's going to be a tough one.
Ya I’m a realist, next week isn’t going to be fun! I thought your staff adjusted well to Young. The blocked XP off the edge is something we never accomplish, kid made a great play perfectly. I thought both teams battled hard all night. Once you got cranking with the hurry up it put us on our heels. Hated Brooks decision on the 2nd fake. That’s way out of character for him. You guys definitely have some players on your team. What’s the class situation like?
We were young team this year. We graduated 24 off a team that had gone to the 4th round the last two years. So we have a lot coming back and a JV team that went 8-1 this year. We also had two great receivers down one we lost before the season started. Our WRs did play better tonight than they did against Smoky Mountain. You guys have some serious beef. That line and RBs were impressive. We adjusted better tonight than we did against Smoky Mountain but it was still hard getting him down.
Sounds like the future is bright! Hope you enjoyed the Mnts. GL going forward.
Always love the mountains. I've got mountain blood in me. My late grandmother was from Ashe County. Hope Franklin can give Hickory a run for their money.