Chatsworth Eliminated in Final Minute

Ricky Branscombe’s one-yard run with 13 seconds remaining gave Franklin High a 19-12 victory over Chatsworth in a City Section 3-A Division semifinal game Friday night at Wilson High.

The winning score was set up when a roughing-the-punter penalty against Everett Darby gave Franklin the ball at the Chancellors’ 29-yard line. The Panthers (9-1) then ran 4 1/2 minutes off the clock before Branscombe’s run.

Chatsworth (7-4), which trailed most of the game, had tied the score, 12-12, midway through the final quarter on a 25-yard pass from quarterback Bryan Addison to wide receiver Ron Martin. The pass capped a nine-play, 60-yard drive that was set up when Martin returned an interception 28 yards.

“Our players did a great job,” Chatsworth Coach Myron Gibford said. “But I think we should have won and I’m very disappointed.”

Trailing, 9-0, in the second quarter, Chatsworth narrowed the deficit to 9-6 on Dan Joella’s one-yard run with 33 seconds left in the half. The run capped a 13-play, 72-yard drive.

Franklin took an early 6-0 lead on a two-yard touchdown run by Lamont Levett. The key play in the four-play, 43-yard drive was a 37-yard pass from quarterback Ronnie Lopez to Lomar Levett.

Levett rushed for 84 yards in 25 carries and scored once. Lopez completed 8 of 15 passes for 152 yards and had one pass intercepted.

Franklin Coach Armando Gonzalez said the Panthers’ defense played a major role in the victory.

“The key to the game was putting pressure on their quarterback,” Gonzalez said. “He’s a great athlete and we had to come after him.”

Addison, who played quarterback for all but one offensive play, ran for 59 yards in 17 carries and completed 8 of 16 passes for 74 yards and a touchdown.

Franklin won the 3-A title last season but later was stripped of the title because of an ineligible player.