Franklinton’s Demons are playing their home opener tonight with a contest against the Amite Warriors.
The Demons come into tonight after a 14-6 setback to Covington in the opening week.
Franklinton hung tough after getting down, 14-0, just 4:38 into the game.
The Demons’ touchdown came midway through the third quarter.
Franklinton played Amite last season and the Demons captured a 39-13 victory.
Both teams come into tonight’s match-up ranked in the top 10 of their classifications by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association. Franklinton fell four spots to seventh in Class 4A with last week’s loss.
Amite, which defeated St. Helena College & Career Academy, 44-12, remained No. 2 in Class 3A.
Franklinton sophomore quarterback Tahj Magee completed 10-of-24 passes for 64 yards in his first varsity start. He was also the team’s leading rusher with 88 yards on 19 carries.
Chandler Davis caught three passes for 20 yards.
Azende T. Magee ran for 53 yards on 13 carries. He also had three receptions for 17 yards. Tavion Partman finished with two carries for nine yards and the Demons’ lone touchdown along with three catches for 21 yards.
Also, Ryché Jenkins posted a catch for six yards.
Defensively, Chandler Scott posted nine solo tackles with two assists and three tackles for loss.
Kobe Crain recorded nine solo stops, two assists, a sack and three tackles behind the line.
Damien Dawson made eight solo tackles and an assist.
The Demons defense allowed 29 yards passing with a touchdown and 111 yards rushing on 44 carries (2.5 yards per attempt) and a touchdown.
Amite comes into this year following a Class 3A state runner-up season. Amite lost to Livonia, 43-14, in the finals last season.
“Defensively, we’re returning four starters,” Amite first-year coach Zephaniah Powell said. “We pretty much had to replace the core of our defense. We scrimmaged Hammond and we held them to 14 points.
“Our jamboree was against West St. John and we held them to negative-8 yards rushing. Once we opened up the season last week against St. Helena, we held them to 12 points. Our defense is flying around to the ball.”
Powell went to Amite after coaching at Jewel Sumner from 2009-14.
He said some players to watch for defensively for the Warriors are senior cornerback Josh Perry, a University of Alabama commit, junior safety Myron Dokes and senior defensive tackle Mark Wilson and junior defensive tackle Rodney Sopsher.
Offensively, quarterback Elijah Walker threw for 133 yards last week while running for 126 yards.
He accounted for four touchdowns — two rushing and two throwing.
Running back Kenner Harrell, who ran for more than 1,000 yards last season, finished with 57 rushing yards and two touchdowns last week.
Junior wide receiver Devonte Smith, a University of Georgia commitment, only played in four games last year because of a shoulder injury.
Last season, he intercepted seven passes and scored 10 total touchdowns between offense and defense.
Last week, he tallied two touchdowns — one receiving and one rushing.
Andrew Jones is the main receiver. Last week, he made three catches and a two-point conversion.