Many Franklin High School students have the opportunity to witness high school football. Whether they are diehard football fans, or just looking for an excuse to hang out with friends, hundreds of students file into the bleachers every week to support their school. Being a supporter of a winning team feels great; unfortunately, Franklin football has struggled in the last decade.
It’s been almost 10 years since Franklin football has had a positive winning record in a regular season. Ever since winning seven games and losing four in the 2013 season, Franklin has been plagued with an astonishing job turnover record in the head coach’s position. This year is Adam Grimes’ first year on the job, and his sixth season being a part of the Franklin football program. Grimes is the fourth head coach that FHS has hired in a five year period.
Just like all Franklin athletics, the football program competes in the Portland Interscholastic League (PIL) and plays other PPS schools. Last year, Franklin finished dead center, placing fourth in the eight team league, with four wins and four losses, including preseason.
Franklin’s quest for a winning season this year started with a home game against Gresham High School. For the majority of the game, the two teams were tied and fighting to get ahead. With three minutes left, Franklin was down by seven points, but they were able to rally and score a touchdown that left them only down by one point. With the game on the line, Coach Grimes elected to let his offense attempt for a two point conversion by running it into the endzone to win the game, as opposed to kicking for one point which would tie the game. In the end, that decision paid off as Franklin got the two point conversion that resulted in a win.
In Franklin’s second game, coming off of a win, the team hoped to establish a winning streak by beating Aloha High School on their home turf. From the kick off, Franklin controlled the game and the end result was a 35-0 win.
Heading into week three, Franklin started their PIL schedule by taking on their Southeast rival, Cleveland High School, who was also undefeated heading into the game. During the game, Franklin’s offense looked unstoppable as they were able to keep the ball moving regardless of the position, this factor largely contributed to their win of 42-6.
Franklin then headed across town to take on Roosevelt High School. At the time, Franklin and Roosevelt were ranked first and second in PIL, leading to a highly anticipated game. Unfortunately, Franklin couldn’t get enough stops on defense to stay in the game, and lost to Roosevelt 40-27.
Unlike his predecessor, Jamal Jones, Coach Grimes is not new to Franklin Football. Grimes has been a head coach at Lincoln High School, and assistant coach at Centennial High School before coming to Franklin. For the past five years, he’s worked as the offensive coordinator for Franklin football.
Tactically, not a whole lot has changed for Franklin, since Grimes has been coordinating the offense for the last five years anyway. “As far as football goes, you know, he’s a great offensive guy. Great play caller. [He’s] had a lot of success with our offense,” says Max Wallace, a captain and senior on the team. Grimes also organizes his team efficiently. We met him on the practice field, and it was clear that his organization and team discipline was key to his coaching philosophy.
Grimes has a holistic approach to coaching football, not only focusing on the game, but also on the personal and academic development of his players. Grimes represents his core values in the team’s acronym SHAPED, which stands for “selfless, honest, accountable, prideful, equals, and dependable.” “That’s kind of the base of everything,” Grimes explains, “it’s about loving these kids and showing them respect. As long as we preach that and teach that and are actually sincere with it, it kind of rubs off on their daily life.”
Heading into the season, Franklin has one of the youngest teams in PIL, with only 10 seniors, tied for the least amount in PIL, with Grant and Cleveland. With this comes a young team with lots of potential, but less experience. Grimes is aware of the lack of seniors and believes COVID-19 plays a big role: “It’s definitely the lowest number of seniors I’ve ever been around, but I think it’s reflective of that COVID[-19] year and trying to get kids back out.” However, the young team hasn’t been a bad thing, and they haven’t shown a lot of flaws that you would typically see from a team this young, like penalties, and not showing up under pressure. Instead, they act as mature as any other Franklin team we’ve witnessed, and the discipline this year will leave room for more experience for years to come.
The program’s goals don’t just target one season. One of Grimes’ main goals is to expand the number of players to 100 in the next four years. To reach this goal, despite all other recruiting endeavors, Grimes notes that he has to make some of his short-term goals into a reality first. He believes that winning is the best way to expand the program. “I try to walk the halls as much as I can and make introductions. We’re going to draw athletes from track especially … and then obviously, the youth program.” However, Grimes stated that “Football might be tough [to] sell [at Franklin] until we win a PIL championship.”
As the season goes on, Franklin will continue to pursue the winning season that they’ve been chasing and attempt to qualify for the state tournament. In the current standings, Franklin is ranked 26 in Oregon and number four in PIL. Only the top 16 teams in Oregon will go to the state competition, as well as the winner from each league. Franklin can utilize the support of the community and students, so if you’re available on a Friday this fall, we’d encourage you to go out and support your Lightning as they continue to chase their goal of a winning season.
