Franklin Pierce routs Eatonville 78–14 in Homecoming match up

The defending 2A South Puget Sound League champion Franklin Pierce Cardinals showed exactly why they hold that title Friday night, steamrolling the Eatonville Cruisers 78–14 in a one-sided Homecoming game at Yelm High School Stadium.

Eatonville receiver Jackson Doll hauls in a Cole Fowler 19 yard pass and drug the Franklin Pierce defender with him into the end zone for the Cruisers first score of the night. Photo: Heather Quirie

From the opening kickoff, Franklin Pierce (3–2) wasted no time asserting dominance. The Cardinals scored touchdowns on their first nine possessions, racking up points in rapid succession and leaving the Cruisers reeling before halftime.

Franklin Pierce’s first drive began at its own 47-yard line and ended just minutes later with a 17-yard touchdown pass to open the scoring. After a quick Eatonville three-and-out, the Cardinals struck again on the next play — a 49-yard touchdown run — to go up 14–0 less than three minutes into the game.

The onslaught continued. A 35-yard rushing touchdown and a 42-yard scoring run on back-to-back possessions gave Franklin Pierce a 26–0 lead midway through the first quarter. Eatonville finally found life late in the period when quarterback Cole Fowler connected with Jackson Doll for a 19-yard touchdown pass, cutting the deficit to 26–7 with 2:07 left in the quarter.

Any momentum Eatonville (3-2) hoped to build quickly vanished. Franklin Pierce answered immediately with a 39-yard touchdown reception to close the first quarter up 34–7.

The second quarter was all Cardinals. Fowler threw two interceptions in the span of three minutes, both leading directly to Franklin Pierce scores. Running back Bryson Allen powered in a 9-yard touchdown to make it 50–7 midway through the quarter, and another rushing score extended the lead to 58–7 with just over two minutes left before halftime.

Moments later, a bad Eatonville snap resulted in a fumble that set up perhaps the game’s biggest highlight — a 78-yard Franklin Pierce touchdown run on the very next play, capping a dominant half with the Cardinals ahead 65–7.

Franklin Pierce continued to pile on in the third quarter with two more long touchdown runs, including a 42-yarder that pushed the lead to 72–7 early in the period.

Eatonville’s lone second-half highlight came late in the fourth when Fowler found Jacob Simons on a 39-yard touchdown pass after the Cruisers recovered a muffed punt, making it 78–14, the final margin.

Despite the lopsided score, the Cruisers played with heart in front of a packed Homecoming crowd, fighting to the end against one of the state’s most explosive 2A teams. Fowler threw touchdown passes of 19 and 39 yards, both deep strikes that accounted for nearly all of Eatonville’s offensive production.

Eatonville will look to regroup next week when they travel to Fife to face the Trojans at 7 p.m. Friday.