Nov 1, 2014 By Jim Wexell for The 4 min read

MURRYSVILLE — In a WPIAL Class AAA playoff matchup of wildcat/read-option teams, Franklin Regional made a few plays and that was enough to beat Belle Vernon, 20-0, in the first round.

Franklin Regional jumped out to a 13-0 lead thanks to a pair of first-quarter touchdowns and Belle Vernon couldn’t get its offense rolling until the second half. 

But even then, the Leopards couldn’t pull off a big play, or convert at critical short-yardage junctures.

“We did well with some of our drives,” said Belle Vernon coach Matt Humbert. “But if you can’t convert those third and fourth downs, it’s kind of pointless.”

Trailing 13-0 early in the second half, Belle Vernon moved past the 50 for the first time and appeared poised to score its first points. But on third-and-1 from the Franklin 24, quarterback Travis Snyder ran for an apparent first down by a good two yards. However, the officials ruled no gain, and on fourth-and-1 Mike Fine was stopped and the ball went over to Franklin.

On Belle Vernon’s next possession, Snyder was stopped on a fourth-and-3 conversion attempt at the Franklin 32, and Franklin then tacked on a touchdown with 5:09 left to put the game out of reach.

“Those two fourth-down conversions that we didn’t convert were huge,” Humbert said. “Those would’ve sustained drives, and maybe we score off them.”

What did Humbert think of the horrific spot the officials missed by at least two yards?

“Yeah,” he said. “I thought that forward progress might’ve played a little factor into that. They didn’t give it to us but I’m not going to make a living complaining about calls. We needed to make plays and we didn’t.”

Humbert used five different quarterbacks in a variety of attempts at wildcat and read-option running plays, but to little avail.

“We’ve been doing that about five weeks straight,” Humbert said. “It’s been working well for us the past four games. At times tonight it worked as well but again we didn’t put our best foot forward when we needed to. That’s on me.”

Franklin jumped on top with its own wildcat quarterback. Maryland-bound linebacker Brett Zanotto took a snap on Franklin’s first possession and ran 20 yards for a touchdown.

One of Belle Vernon’s wildcat QBs was intercepted at his own seven-yard line, and Franklin’s regular quarterback, Santino Birty, ran three yards for the game’s second touchdown.

Franklin was driving again late in the second half but Belle Vernon cornerback Phil Taylor intercepted a pass at the Leopards seven-yard line to end the threat and keep the score 13-0 at the half.

Taylor intercepted a second pass to start the second half, and that got the junior a few snaps at quarterback. He ripped of a 13-yard run and Snyder re-entered to throw 14- and 13-yard passes to Derek Verkleeren that moved the ball to the Franklin 36. But the drive stalled four plays later on the preposterous spot by the line judge.

Taylor intercepted his third pass of the game to thwart another deep Franklin drive, but Belle Vernon’s deepest foray into Franklin territory late in the game ended at the five-yard line.

“Phil’s been playing well all year,” Humbert said of his cornerback. “He’s just a good football player. He’s going to be a good one for us next year, too.”

After a slow start, Belle Vernon finished with 202 yards of offense and finished its season with a 5-5 record.

“We realized early on our heavier packages weren’t going to win us the game,” Humbert said. “So we went back to a little more spread and used our quarterback a little more. He played well. He threw the ball fairly well for us. We caught them on a little sucker play and dropped the ball. We didn’t make the plays. Without a couple dropped passes and with a couple conversions, maybe it’s a different ball game.

“But hats off to Franklin Regional. They’re a helluva football team. And we knew that coming in.”

WPIAL Class AAA Playoffs

Belle Vernon 0-0-0-0 — 0

Franklin Regional 13-0-0-7 — 20

First Quarter

FR: Zanotto, 20 run (kick fail), 9:31.

FR: Birty, 3 run (Young kick), 2:02.

Fourth Quarter

FR: Zanotto, 10 run (Young kick), 5:09.

Records: Belle Vernon (5-5), Franklin Regional (7-3).