By JON WEBB
FRANKLIN — Metcalfe County football’s offensive struggles continued into the second week of the season in a loss to Franklin-Simpson 42-6 on Saturday.
Franklin shutout the Hornets until about three minutes to go in the game, when a Jesse Jones rushing touchdown put Metcalfe on the board.
Jones was one of the few offensive bright spots on Saturday, rushing 10 times for 81 yards and a touchdown.
The loss comes on the heels of a 35-0 loss to Barren County at Aug. 22’s T.J. Samson Bowl in Glasgow.
Despite the margin of defeat, head coach Larry Harbison said he saw some minor improvements.
“We didn’t get down on ourselves,” Harbison said. “(The players) didn’t have the frustration they had last week and they showed some maturity. I’m at least pleased with their attitude.”
Harbison said the Hornets kept the game close early, playing Franklin to a 0-0 tie at the end of the first quarter and he said the team had several opportunities to make a play.
“We were in a situation to make a few plays,” Harbison said, “but we had a couple of dropped balls and missed assignments.”
Franklin pulled away in the second quarter, however, and never looked back.
For the second week in a row, Metcalfe’s passing game struggled mightily. Between Justin Bonnema and Luke Saunders, Metcalfe completed only 2 of 15 passes for 19 yards and three interceptions.
“The offense is what’s struggling right now,” Harbison said. “The defense just has to play and play and play.”
Not much of Metcalfe’s roster is comprised of experienced players, and Harbison said the struggles may be the case of trying to turn his athletes in football players. According to Harbison, the offensive line and quarterback positions are lacking in varsity polish.
Considering Metcalfe’s comparably small number of players, fatigue could be a factor too.
“We got tired, playing both ways the whole time,” Harbison said.
Metcalfe, a 2A school, opened their season with 5A and 4A squads respectively, but will face similarly-sized Hart County this Friday, who has had played a sort of opposite-of-Metcalfe schedule, opening with smaller schools Todd County Central and Clinton County.
So far this season, Hart has outscored their opponents 61-20.
According to Harbison, Metcalfe will continue to work on execution in practice this week and come out ready to play similar competition.
“I feel like we’ve got some kids that can play better,” Harbison said. “We just need to continue sharpening their attitude.”
