WOODVILLE — Firing on all cylinders and dominating fully, theFranklin County Bulldogs kept their finally-tuned motor runningFriday night with a 45-6 bashing of Wilkinson County. The Bulldogshad plenty of bite on defense as they held the Wildcats to 109yards of total offense.

“We played well on each side of the football,” said FranklinCounty coach Grady McCluskey. “We got the job done.”

The Bulldogs (5-3, 4-1) jumped out to a swift 14-0 lead behindscoring scampers of 57 and 3-yards from Preston Griffith and D.J.Shaw respectfully. Junior kicker Dane Hodges added the extrapoints.

“Jumping out on them early was big,” added McCluskey.

Franklin High senior quarterback Jonte Marshall kept the scoringspree going in the second quarter with a 70-yard strike to juniorfullback Gary Rogers. After Hodges added the extra-point, theBulldogs led 21-0.

“They (Wilkinson) kept playing the run, so we mixed it up,” saidMarshall afterwards. “That pass to Gary was big.”

The Bulldogs added touchdown runs of five and one by Griffithand Shaw to take a 35-0 lead into the half.

After intermission, the Bulldogs kept rolling as sophomorespeedster Antonie Guice broke several tackles en route to returningthe second-half kickoff 89 yards to paydirt. Franklin led 42-0.

Wilkinson County (2-6, 1-4) finally broke the Bulldogs shutoutattempt at the 5:56 mark of the third quarter when seniorquarterback David Dawson found a wide-open Nathan Magee for afive-yard touchdown. The Wildcats extra-point pass sailedincomplete.

Hodges added the last points of the game for the Bulldogs, as heconnected on a 21-yard field goal with 11:50 to play in the fourthperiod.

“This was a good win for us,” continued McCluskey. “We’ve got abig game at Tylertown next.”

The Bulldogs travel to Tylertown Friday night for a key Region7-3A battle. The winner will be awarded the runners-up spot in thedivision behind South Pike. Franklin County beat Tylertown lastyear 28-21 in overtime, in the third round of the Class 3A StatePlayoffs.\par

“We’re going to have play a lot harder next week,” said seniorBulldog linebacker Casey Hammack. “It’s going to be a battle forfour quarters.”

Hammack led Franklin County’s defensive rampage with eight hits.Also, 6-foot-3, 190-pound junior Mike Hunt added five hits andintercepted two passes. Standout senior defensive end MarcusTillman registered five hits, blocked a punt, and had a sack. BoTillman added two sacks.