Onward Franklin!
Ian Haynes update
Franklin's Ian Haynes is still on the mend from a broken foot he sustained in September 2022. What's more, Kutztown's starting QB, Donny Blaine, went down with an elbow injury early this season, so the Bears have been going with a red-shirt freshman, Judd Novak.
"I travel to games, but I'm not in uniform," said Haynes who threw for more than 9,000 yards in high school. "(I'm) just there to help Judd out."
Haynes did say this is the healthiest he's been in the past 18 months. The criminal justice major still has two years of eligibility as he works on his masters degree.
The Bears, meanwhile, remain alive in the NCAA Division II playoffs.
Blane Gold's team stays
with WPIAL champ
but falls in state semis
District 9 champion Redbank Valley, coached by 2007 Franklin graduate Blane Gold, gave WPIAL champion Fort Cherry all it could handle, but bowed to the Rangers, 33-23, Dec. 1 in the PIAA Class 1A semifinals.
The Bulldogs, who closed at 12-3, were hoping to reach the state final for the second time in three years. They lost to Bishop Guilfoyle in the 2021 state final.
Redbank led much of the way against Fort Cherry, which is led by sophomore Matt Seig, a Division I safety prospect who is being looked at by Penn State, Pitt and Syracuse among others. Seig is is dual threat high school quarterback who has more than 3,000 yards total offense this year and runs a 10.9 100 meters in track. He scored three touchdowns and ran for more than 120 yards in the fourth quarter alone.
The Bulldogs led 16-13 near halftime, but Fort Cherry began imposing its will in the third quarter. Still, Redbank was within 26-23 with 2:29 left to play.
Fort Cherry then recovered an onside kick and went on to score again.
This is Gold's fifth year as coach of the New Bethlehem school, where he is 50-11. The Bulldogs were coming off a 44-0 romp over D-10 champion Cambridge Springs, which beat Lakeview, 32-29, for the right to play Redbank.
Gold, a state co-Coach of the Year in 2021, played college football at Grove City and had been an assistant coach at Oil City.
He applied for the head job at Franklin, but the school board felt he was too young and offered him an assistantship. But when the Redbank head job opened up, he took that instead.