It wasn’t looking good for the Franklin High School football Warriors with less than six minutes left in their season-opener game against Trenton Central on August 30.

The Warriors were down 22-20, having trailed by as much as 10 points during the game.

With about 5:50 left in the game, Junior Dubem Kawah was handed the ball at midfield, found a hole and sprinted the 40 yards into the end zone.

“I just popped one,” Kawah said. “I thank my lineman, thank everybody. We were working for it all summer.”

Kawah got the Warriors on the board on their first possession with a similar dash.

After the Warriors recovered a Trenton fumble mid-field, Kawah eluded Trenton defenders to race 45 yards to the season’s first touchdown.

The Warriors were unsuccessful in the conversion so had to settle for a 6-0 lead.

Trenton responded with two unanswered touchdowns to end the first quarter up 14-6.

A safety at the start of the second quarter gave Trenton a 16-6 lead.

A touchdown by Franklin’s Michael Rogers brought the Warriors to within two, 16-14, but a touchdown and a failed conversion by Trenton gave the Tornadoes a 22-14 lead.

That was short-lived, as Junior Amir Glover grabbed the kickoff and returned it 86 yards, bringing Franklin to 22-20.

Then, with about 5:40 left in the game, Kawah was once again given the ball at mid-field and took it to the end zone, sealing Franklin’s 26-22 win.

Warriors’ head coach Blair Wilson said the game signaled a new mindset among his players.

“This program, there was a point in time that if we got behind, it was curtains,” Wilson said. “Our heads down, body language bad.”

“Tonight was totally the opposite, kids uplifting with other, just fighting with their brother,” he said

“It’s just one, we’ve got eight more to go,” Wilson said. “We’re going to take it game-by-game.”

The Franklin Reporter & Advocate spoke to Coach Wilson and Kawah after the game:

Here are some scenes from the game: