Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Young Panther Team Off To Good Start

The Franklin Panthers looked goof Friday in a 24-7 win over West Henderson. It was a nice start to the 2008 season. At times the team showed their youthfulness with hints of inexperience, but overall had a solid showing. For the lack of returning expereinced players the offense did a fine job behind QB Auston Bishop, WR Ryan Evers and RB Blaine Clark. I think we will see signs of a very good offense as the weeks go by.
The defense looked great. Our defense will be the key to the season. Great defense wins games.
the season is young but the promise of another great year of Franklin football looks good.

Monday, August 18, 2008

2008 Football Season Is Here!

Friday begins the 2008 season of high school football in western North Carolina. I wondered if people get this excited about HS football in other part of the the country. It's hard to imagine they do.
We at Panther Country are geared up to bring you the best season of Panther Football on the web as humanly possibly. We have made some great contacts with other people who will be helping supply even more photos this year. We will also continue to add weekly highlight videos from every game possible. (last year we had high light videos for all but 2 games!).

We will have links to news articles written by our own volunteers and links to local media with their coverage as well!

It's going to be a great season and lot of fun. Hope you will be checking back often here at Panther Country to see it all.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Plemmons Resigns As Franklin Basketball Coach

Plemmons resigns from Franklin
by APEARSON@CITIZEN-TIMES.COM
published April 8, 2008 12:17 am

FRANKLIN — Robert Browning sat across from Doug Plemmons last year at Franklin, interviewing for much more than an assistant coaching position.
Plemmons made good on a promise Monday by resigning as the Panthers’ boys basketball coach and handing the title to Browning.
The timing might seem peculiar — Plemmons shared the Mountain Athletic Conference Coach of the Year award this past season with Roberson’s Kevin Keen. But Plemmons, a veteran of 25 years (15 at Franklin), had a plan when he brought in Browning.
“This is something I’ve thought about for a few years now,” said Plemmons, who will remain Franklin’s athletic director.
“I wanted to wait until the correct time, and this is it. I feel proud of the progress we made this year, and it was a good, solid year for our nine seniors.”
The Panthers won just five games in the 2006-07 season but improved to 12-12 this winter.
Plemmons has accumulated 456 career wins, 10 regular-season conference championships, five conference tournament titles and three sectional championships. His teams advanced to a regional championship twice and qualified for the state playoffs in all but four seasons.
Browning’s coaching career began in 1992.
He has head coaching experience at North Carolina and West Virginia high schools and was most recently Greene Central’s coach from 2005-07. In his final year there, Browning, 41, was named the Eastern Plains Conference Coach of the Year.
“I’m thankful for this opportunity,” Browning said. “Since I’ve gotten to Franklin, I’ve been amazed at how respectful the kids are. The standards for athletics and teaching are high.
“We’ll have to start from scratch next year since not a lot of our players are going to have experience. We’ll really have to be a team that plays as one. And to me, that’s what coach Plemmons taught so well here.”

Friday, March 7, 2008

Lady Panthers Basketball State Playoffs

The Lady Panthers play in the 4th round of the state playoffs tonight. Panther Country wishes them all the best.

Here's is an article in todays Asheville Citizen Times about their playoff run:

Panthers turn season around
by Andrew Pearson

WINSTON-SALEM – Last month, it took the Franklin girls four tries to lock up the Mountain Athletic Conference’s No. 2 seed for the NCHSAA 3-A playoffs.
The Panthers (23-6) haven’t squandered an opportunity since, winning their first, second and third postseason games since 1987.

“This group has just shown a ton of heart,” Franklin coach Jay Brooks said. “They’ve paid the price to get this program where it is. Being down here (at the 3-A Western Regional basketball tournament) is something they’ve earned.”
Brooks wasn’t always so cheery. Especially not after the Panthers were upset by Erwin, 47-37, in the MAC tournament’s semifinals on Feb. 20.
That costly defeat put Franklin into a position where it had to win the No. 2 seed the next day in a tiebreaker game against North Buncombe, which the Panthers did. During the regular season, they also had two opportunities to clinch but lost both times.
Now, Franklin and leading scorer Jena Cabe (16.5 points and 3.0 steals per game) faces South Piedmont Conference champion Concord (28-2) at 7 tonight at Atkins High. The Spiders average 73 points a game. Senior T.T. Belcher, who has more than 1,000 career points and rebounds, is the SPC Player of the Year.
“I think we’ve scored 73 points maybe three times this season,” Brooks said. “We’ve had a real tough two weeks with six games. But we’ve also played two of our best games (in the 3-A state playoffs).”
Center Melanie Stewart (5.1 rebounds a game) had double-doubles in the Panthers’ last two victories over Kings Mountain and Charlotte Catholic. Two Panthers dish out two or more assists a game — Evan Moffitt (2.3) and Whitney Harrell (2.1).

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Franklin Football Just 5 Months Away

Alright, first thing...it's been FOREVER since we have posted on the Panther Country Blog. Sorry about that. The Panther Country website with the pictures, videos, stories and other upkeep make it very hard to get on here and type entries.

So it's the end of February and we are just over 5months away from Franklin Football kicking back up. We do have the 2008 schedule available now. Here's a look at who the Panthers square off against in '08:


Aug. 12
Hayesville (Scrimmage)
Away
6:00


Aug. 15
Owen (Scrimmage)
Home
TBA


Aug. 22
West Henderson
Away
7:30


Aug. 29
Murphy
Away
7:30


Sept. 5
Robbinsville
Home
7:30


Sept. 12
Swain
Away
7:30


Sept. 19
Smoky Mtn.
Home
7:30


Sept. 26
TC Roberson **
Away
7:30


Oct. 3
Erwin**
Home
7:30


Oct. 10
Tuscola**
Away
7:30


Oct. 17
Open


Oct. 24
North Buncombe**
Home
7:30


Oct. 31
Asheville**
Away
7:30


Nov. 07
Enka**
Home
7:30


Nov. 14
1st Rd Playoffs-TBA
TBA
7:30