In their third straight trip to the state championship game, the Franklin Lions beat Brock 17-14 to clinch its second consecutive state title.
Franklin is just the 6th program in Texas high school football history to win a championship in successive years after rising to a higher division. The Lions jumped from 3A-II to 3A-I this offseason.
Both teams struggled to find an offensive rhythm in the first half. Franklin missed a field goal on its opening drive, and Brock followed it up with a missed kick of their own. The score remained knotted at 0-0 until just before halftime.
Franklin running back Jayden Jackson finally broke the tie by diving over the pylon to give the Lions a 7-0 lead with less than 30 seconds remaining in the second quarter. Franklin would carry that 7-point lead into halftime.
In the third quarter, Brock would level the score once again with 2:57 left on the clock behind a 22-yard Reid Watkins run.
That would stay the score until midway through the fourth when Frageil Owens stripped the ball from a Brock receiver and returned it 64 yards for a Lion touchdown.
However, the lead would not last long. Brock countered with a quick strike to Watkins and tied the game, 14-14.
In the end, Cort Lowry hit a game-winning field goal as time expired to give Franklin the title.
