Woodford Co. 38 Franklin Co. 14

Yellow Jacket quarter back Steven Duckworth found a groove last night against the Flyers and put up career numbers as Woodford County rolled to a 38-14 win over visiting Franklin County on homecoming.

Duckworth completed 40 of 49 passes for 416 yards and four touchdowns and one interception.

The Jackets got off to a quick start, blocking a Flyer punt after forcing Franklin three and out on their first possession. Duckworth took advantage of the short field, throwing a 12-yard strike to Nick Vanderpool.

But the Flyers took the ball and drove it right up the field to tie the score and it looked like the defense might struggle again.

Franklin briefly took a 14-10 lead midway through the second quarter.

Woodford clung to a 17-14 lead at the half, but pulled away in the second and cruised to on for the win.

Steven Peavler, Bobby Neal and Alex Forkner caught the other three Duckworth TD passes. Duck also ran for one.

In what was probably the play of the game, wide receiver Chris Jones laid an awesome block to spring Peavler on his touchdown catch.

The defense really stepped it up in the second half and shut down the Flyer attack. They got a good push up the middle and spent a good portion of the second half in the Flyer backfield.

Flyer quarterback Sean Thompson injured his leg in the first quarter. He missed one series, but came back, gutted it out and finished the game. The injury clearly hampered his mobility and made the Woodford pass rush that much more effective.

Woodford coach Chris Tracy told me last week that he wanted to shut the Franklin running game down and make them one-dimensional, and that’s exactly what the Yellow Jackets did. Even early in the game when Franklin was moving the ball, Woodford had success in containing the run. After the Jackets scored on their opening possession of the second half, the Flyers virtually abandoned the run, allowing the Woodford D-line to tee off on the Franklin QB.

The Jacket D forced the Flyers to turn the ball over on down in four straight series in the second half.

Woodford running back/linebacker Jordan Carter injured an ankle late in the first half. He said he could come back if needed, but with Woodford holding a lead, Tracy held him out as a precaution. Tracy said he expects Carter to be ready to go next Saturday against Ashland Paul Blazer.