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The Franklin County Middle School Cubs football team celebrated the regular season region championship last week after a win over Rabun County.
The Franklin County Middle School Cubs will host the region playoff football semifinals Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Jeff Davis Field at Ed Bryant Stadium.
The Cubs will look to avenge their only loss of the year against Habersham County.
FCMS goes into the playoffs as the regular season region champions and the No. 1 seed in the playoffs.
It’s the team’s first regular season region title since 2015.
Franklin secured the top seed with a 36-6 win over Rabun County Sept. 27 in Tiger.
“Our guys did a good job of executing the game plan, taking care of business and getting the win,” Coach Chuck Holland said. “It’s special to win a regular season championship and lock up the No. 1 seed for the playoffs, and I’m very proud of how hard they’ve worked to achieve that.”
The Cubs scored the first 28 points of the game and were never challenged.
“Offensively, our linemen did a good job of picking up their blitzes and creating running lanes for our backs,” Holland said.
Gavin Wells led Franklin with 65 yards on four carries and two touchdowns. Kain Roach and Carson Cheek also ran for touchdowns in the game.
Holland commended Sihon Wigfall, Roach and Elliott Harbin for “a great job at fullback blocking and getting some tough yardage for us.” Knox Whitworth also did a good job running the offense and throwing the ball, the coach said.
Harbin and Zeryk Mizway led the Cubs defense with four tackles apiece, with Myles Kelley and James Umholtz adding three each.
Wells intercepted a pass and returned it 53 yards for a touchdown.
Kelley and Wigfall each recovered a fumble in the game.
"Defensively, our D-line and inside linebackers did a great job of shutting down their run game and putting pressure on their quarterback, and our DBs and outside linebackers did a good job of covering. I was very pleased with our defense's overall effort and performance," Holland sid.
Kicker Gage Robinson was a perfect four-for-four on extra points.
The winner of next week’s semifinal in Carnesville will face either Hart County or Madison County Oct. 20 at 6 p.m. at FCHS.