-- — The No. 9 ranked East Central Trojans bounced back from their first loss of the football season to defeat the Franklin County Wildcats by a score of 42-14 at Trojan Field on Friday.

 It was the start Franklin County could not afford.

The visiting Wildcats turned the ball over on their first possession and gave East Central favorable field position from the start.

The Trojans capitalized just over three minutes later on a 3-yard run by Tyler Douthit. Nate Volz added the extra point and it was quickly 7-0.

The field position battle was one-sided the entire first half.

The Wildcats took over on their next possession on the 16-yard line. A penalty pushed them back to the 11 and, again, the Wildcats were stymied.

Three plays later, the Wildcats were forced to punt and the Trojans took over the 41- yard line.

The next Trojan scoring drive began and ended with a Tommy Schroer pass completion to senior Evan Fette. Fette hauled in a 20-yard touchdown pass on the fifth play of the drive to extend the EC lead at the 3:23 mark. Volz added his second extra point to make it 14-0.

The field position trend continued and so did the Wildcats’ inability to move the ball against the Trojan defense.

Coach Tim Behlmer’s crew controlled the line of scrimmage and forced another three and out.

This time the Trojans began near midfield at their own 49-yard line.

Franklin  County was successful defensively for the first time, but the result was again poor field position.

The Trojan punt pinned the Wildcats deep in their own territory.

Again forced punt, Franklin County managed to only back the Trojans up to the 34-yard line.

The Trojans countered with a 34-yard run by Douthit on their first play of the second quarter. A third Volz extra point made it 21-0.

The offensive struggles continued for the Wildcats and the result was the same – great field position for the Trojans.

The Trojans scored on a nice pass and catch from Schroer to Fette in the corner of the endzone with 4:43 to play in the half.

A second Franklin County interception only added  to their problems as the end result was becoming obvious.

A 15-yard touchdown pass over the middle to Nick Billman capped the scoring with :28 remaining in the first half.

The Trojans entered halftime with a commanding 35-0 lead.

The Wildcats turned things around a bit in the second half, but deficit was too much to overcome.

Franklin County outscored the Trojans 14-7 over the final two quarters.

The Trojans improved to 3-1 on the season, while it was the first loss in four outings for the Wildcats.