Franklin College

For the last 22 minutes of Saturday afternoon's game at Rose-Hulman, Franklin football was an unstoppable force.

Unfortunately, the first 38 minutes didn't go as well.

A wild second-half rally that produced four touchdowns erased most of a 29-point deficit, but the Grizzlies' comeback bid ran out of time in a 42-34 defeat.

The Engineers spoiled Franklin's opening drive with a 78-yard interception return for a touchdown, then followed up with another first-quarter touchdown. The Grizzlies (1-3) got on the board with a 31-yard scoring pass from Marshall Kmiecik to Owen Wright, but Rose-Hulman answered with two more touchdowns to take a 28-6 lead and then scored another TD with 7:06 left in the third quarter.

That's when the Grizzlies found their stride.

Kmiecik connected with Wright on another 31-yard TD pass and then added an 8-yard scoring run late in the third to cut the deficit to 35-18. After the Engineers got back in the end zone early in the fourth period, Franklin struck for a pair of touchdowns in five minutes.

First up came Kmiecik's 25-yard touchdown throw to Jake Thrash, followed by a two-point pass to Noah Lien that made it 42-26 with 10:32 to go. Then, Kmiecik found Isaiah Miller twice — first for a 13-yard TD and then on the ensuing two-point conversion to make it a one-score game at the 7:06 mark.

The Franklin defense then forced a Rose-Hulman punt, giving the Griz offense the ball back with 2:20 remaining, but a potential game-tying drive was thwarted by a late interception with 1:28 on the clock.

Kmiecik passed for 423 yards and four touchdowns while rushing for 56 yards and an additional score. Miller caught eight passes for 120 yards. Wright gained 133 yards on his five receptions while also completing a 43-yard heave to Brayden Wilkins on the first play of the game. 

Brayden Baker led the Griz defense with 15 tackles, followed by Drew Servies with 14 and Haidyn Bulmer with 11.

Franklin returns to action next Saturday afternoon (Oct. 10, 1:30 p.m.), hosting Mount St. Joseph for its annual Homecoming game.