The Franklin County Wildcats' football team will look to rebound from a down year after going 3-7 a season ago. A gut-wrenching one-point loss to Indian Creek ended the Cats' season in the home sectional opener. They pulled out three wins on the season, beating Rushville, Greensburg and a tough road game over Beech Grove.

The Cats will be sporting a new turf field for the 2023 season. Coach Wes Gillman, entering his sixth season leading the blue and silver, is excited about the new field coming in. 

Gillman stated, “We have played at least most of our games on turf, so it will be an advantage to be able to practice on a safer surface where the mood will be much improved, and we'll be able to get a lot more things done. I just hope it gets completed by our first home game.”

Franklin County's offense lost the top two running backs to graduation but will return junior quarterback Quinn Gillman. Gillman was one of the top rushing quarterbacks in the Eastern Indiana Athletic Conference last season, running for over 800 yards, and going over the 100-yard rushing mark in four games as a sophomore. Despite the run-heavy offense, Gillman also threw for 763 yards and seven touchdowns. He also picked up 40 tackles on the defensive side of the ball in 2022. 

Protecting Gillman will be All-EIAC lineman Ben Becker. Becker is a two-way player who also had six hurries and 1.5 sacks a season ago for FC's defense. The Cats return wideouts Blake Stephenson and Braylon Kruthaupt as targets for Gillman, who both saw playing time at their positions last season. Junior Jack Seals will step in this season as a key receiver for FC.

Coach Gillman had this to say about his offense: “Running back is a big question mark for us right now. We have a few kids who we're waiting to take that spot and separate themselves from the others, but right now it's by committee. Senior Jared Moore, sophomores Wyatt Bowling and Carter Dozier could all get reps. Quinn is going to have to rely on his feet quite a bit this year running the football from the quarterback position.” 

Gillman went on to say, “Our three biggest losses from last year are without a doubt Bryce Hodapp, Peyton McCreary and Brady Morehead. We're going to have to rely on Becker, Breck Bohman, Jack Dirkhising, Seals, and a few first-year varsity players are going to have to step up and fill voids. In a lot of ways, we're going to be young again this year. That's good for the future but for this year we're going to have to rely on some sophomores to play big-time minutes.”

The Wildcats' defense will see Dirkhising take the reins at the middle linebacker spot along with Seals and Stephenson at outside linebackers. Becker will man the line with Bohman, and Kruthaupt is back for his junior campaign with a year of experience as a cover corner. The number of returning players with experience on defense should help to keep opponents out of the end zone more than a season ago and lower the 26 points per game allowed. A 54-point blowout loss to state champion East Central inflated that number.

The Cats start the season with two road contests, New Castle (Aug. 18) and Connersville (Aug. 25 Water Keg), before they host Rushville on Sept. 1. The regular season will end with the Cats hosting Beech Grove on Oct. 13. FC will look to make it three wins in a row against the Indianapolis school. First action is this Friday in a controlled scrimmage at Batesville starting 7 p.m.