As the clock ran down on Friday, Aug. 22, the reunion of new head football coach Sean Little and his old team, the Franklin Community Grizzly Cubs, was coming to an end and the newest chapter in SHS’s football history had just begun.
Throughout the game, the Cards could do little on offense with the Grizzly Cubs defense helping their own offense to storm out to a 28-0 lead going into halftime. Franklin never looked back from there.
The Cards were looking for some spark in the second half, but Franklin continued to add to the scorer’s book.
They tackled on a field goal and a fifth touchdown off a fumble by the offense in the third quarter. This put the nail in the coffin as the Grizzly Cubs ended the night beating the Cards 38-0.
Though the Cards lost in the end, Little is proud the team continued to compete throughout the game, and he will see this as a way to learn through defeat.
“We learned some of the weaknesses we have,” Little said. “We can now go back and figure out exactly what those weaknesses were, how we can fix them, how can we change them and go from there.”
Little could see the resilience from the team, none more apparent to the fans than junior defensive end Aganze Mulumeoderwa, who continued to go back out on the field while dealing with an injured shoulder after a play early on in the first half.
“I was trying my best to go back in even though my shoulder was falling out,” Mulumeoderwa said.
Though this reunion of Little and the Grizzly Cubs, a team he coached for 10 seasons, didn’t go as planned, he hopes to continue to work through the flaws and learn from the mistakes in his first game as head football coach.
“I told the kids, long season, we’ve got a lot to work on and it starts on what we do Monday through Thursday and how we handle ourselves that way,” Little said.
As the Cards look to turn the corner and get back on their feet, they have a big test for this season’s home opener game next Friday, Aug. 29, which will be the Battle of the Birds with the rival: Perry Meridian Falcons.
