SOUTH DAYTON - Franklinville (2-2) pulled away in the second half and defeated Pine Valley, 25-13, Friday in Class DD football action.
Pine Valley (0-4) looked strong on defense in the first quarter as neither team was able to muster any points.
"We played well in the first quarter," Pine Valley head coach Chris Buczek stated. "We came out with good emotions and a lot of passion."
Franklinville, however, struck first with two straight touchdowns in the second quarter to open the scoring.
The first scoring drive was capped by a 1-yard plunge by running back Jamie Griener. After Frankinvile got the ball back, Griener took off for a 75-yard touchdown scamper.
Both two-point conversions failed, leaving Franklinville up 12-0.
Pine Valley put up seven points before halftime on a 13-yard touchdown pass from Dan Weaver to Bryce Jay.
Weaver led the Pine Valley offense with 86 yards on 7 of 14 passing and rushed 10 times for another 50 yards. He also led the defense with 14 tackles.
"He's a heart and soul kind of guy," Buczek said of Weaver. "He plays with all out emotion. He works hard all the time. He's capable of doing this every game."
The third quarter was nearly scoreless too, but Franklinville struck on a 34-yard touchdown pass from Peter Copp to Brandon Winter in the waning moments of the stanza.
Copp carried nine times for 47 yards and was 4 of 7 for 67 yards through the air.
Griener was Franklinville's leading rusher with 143 yards on 16 carries.
"I don't want to take too much credit away from him," Buczek said of Griener. "He's a kid who works hard. He runs straight and earns every yard he gets. But we definitely missed some tackles."
Both teams found the end zone in a tightly contested fourth quarter.
First, Copp gave Franklinville a 25-7 lead with a 2-yard run, but Pine Valley answered back quickly with a 9-yard pass from Dylan Granger to Nick Sandy.
"We stuck with it and we played hard," Buczek concluded. "At the end of the game we could have easily just packed it in. We had kids come off the bench and play hard. We can walk into next week and know that working hard is something we're going to do."
Pine Valley will look for its first win of the season at Forestville, next Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
