Blue Streaks adding to rich playoff history

SANDUSKY — Twenty-eight years have passed, but Sandusky coach Mike Franklin has yet to watch his final game as a Blue Streaks player. It happened in Week 13 in the 1990 season."I watched the Massillon game from the week before, but I've never watched the game we lost to Warren Harding," said Franklin, whose team is back in Week 13 for the first time since that November night at Akron's Rubber Bowl. "I'm just one of those guys who doesn't dwell on his past. I've always been more worried about the current and finding ways to get this program back to a point like that."But people should relish our past. Sandusky has a very storied past and a tremendous amount of tradition."History such as the "Sensational Sixties," when the Streaks went 87-10-3 with a mythical state title, seven Buckeye Conference crowns, two 10-0 seasons and two other undefeated seasons. Or 1978, when Sandusky made the playoffs as regional champion when only four teams per class made it.The 1978 state semifinals saw the Streaks battle Cincinnati Princeton, the No. 1-ranked team in Class AAA, at Dayton's Welcome Stadium. Riding the legs of Buckeye Conference Back of the Year Kelvin Lindsey (1,589 rushing yards), who had 287 yards in a 34-16 win against rival Fremont Ross the week before, Sandusky entered its first playoff game with a 9-1 record. But despite recording two safeties in the game, the Blue Streaks dropped a 13-11 decision to the eventual state champions. Three fumbles proved costly and a late 47-yard TD run by Vikings running back Ken Roundtree proved too much to overcome.But it was the start of things to come a decade later.In 1982, Sandusky went 10-1. However, it lost its playoff opener 29-7 to Massillon.Franklin was a freshman in 1987 when the Blue Streaks went 10-3, beating Logan (21-7) and Brunswick (21-14) in the playoffs to earn a second regional championship. Five times in eight wins during the regular season, Sandusky came from behind.Prior to a matchup with Youngstown Boardman at the Rubber Bowl, the Sandusky Boosters Club, with Jackie Collins serving as president, raised $2,500 in a matter of days to buy turf shoes for the football team.Sandusky led 14-7 in the fourth quarter of the semifinal, then controversy struck. After forcing Boardman to punt, an official from Youngstown (as the Register pointed out) said the punt touched Streaks return man Chris Corso, allowing Boardman to get the ball at the Sandusky 8-yard line.The teams went to overtime tied at 14. Boardman got the ball first from the 20 and scored to take a seven-point lead. Then the Streaks mounted an attack, getting inside the 10 when disaster struck. Sandusky quarterback Troy Keegan fumbled the ball, which was wet from the rain, ending the Streaks' run. "We looked up to those guys like there was no tomorrow," said Franklin of the 1987 team. "You saw the effort, you saw the hard work that it takes to get to that level. Even that 1988 team (lost 35-21 at home in the playoff opener to Toledo Whitmer) in front of me with Corey Croom (a current Sandusky assistant coach) and you wanted to be part of that. "That's what we set our mind towards in 1990. We knew we had to be close as a group and we did all kinds of things on and off the field together."With Franklin at quarterback, the 1990 Blue Streaks went 10-0 for the first time since 1982, dominating their rivals from Fremont 31-0 in Week 3."We were able to dominate the game, and that generated a tremendous amount of confidence," former Sandusky coach Larry Cook told the Register. "We felt we could beat anyone."Franklin scored the winning TD in overtime of a 21-15 come-from-behind win over Toledo St. John's Jesuit in the postseason opener. It was a play called 46 keeper, a bootleg to the right, which the Streaks hadn't run all season. It was something Cook later gave credit to Toby Notestine (current St. Mary Central Catholic coach) and Gary Lill for planning. Then came the big one. In front of crowd of 11,125 fans at the Rubber Bowl, Sandusky met Massillon for the Division I, Region 2 championship. After giving up the first score of the game, it was all Blue Streaks. They outgained the Tigers 397-188 in total yards, which included a career-high 79 rushing yards from Franklin in a 27-7 win."I'm ecstatic. I've been coaching for 27 years and this is the happiest moment in my coaching career," Cook told longtime Register sports editor Charles "Butch" Wagner after the game.In a battle of 12-0 teams, Sandusky scored on its first two possessions in the Division I state semifinal contest to lead Warren Harding 14-0 just 12 minutes into the game. However, that's where a lot of the game's positives stopped for the Streaks.With his team trailing 21-14 late in the third, Franklin was stopped on third-and-1 and fourth-and-1 in Harding territory. The Raiders took advantage, scoring again for a two-score lead before stopping Sandusky again on fourth-and-short later in the game to wrap up a 27-14 win.The Streaks wouldn't reach the playoffs again until 2010 with Franklin serving as head coach. They upset No. 1 seed Avon 42-35 on the road before falling to eventual state champion Maple Heights (61-27) in the seocnd round. They made it again in 2011, losing at home in a rematch against Tiffin Columbian (25-20)."Those years were a huge piece to getting us back to where we are now," Franklin said.No Sandusky group has ever made it to the playoffs three straight times. A Blue Streaks win Friday over Norwalk would move them four weeks into the postseason for the first time in program history, as the playoffs only expanded to the current format in 1999."What I think is nice right now is that we got that expectation that we're going to be in the playoffs," Franklin said. "There were 20 years in there where Sandusky was not in the playoffs. It's really hard to get that expectation back." SANDUSKY'S PLAYOFF HISTORY1978 — Class AAA state semifinals (four teams in three classes qualified)Lost to Cincinnati Princeton, 13-11(Playoffs expanded to five divisions and two teams per region in 1980)1980Division I regional final: Lost to Upper Arlington, 42-61982Division I regional final: Lost to Massillon, 29-71983Division I regional final: Lost to Fremont Ross, 7-0(In 1985, playoffs expanded to four teams per region)1987Division I regional semifinal: Defeated Logan, 21-7Regional final: Defeated Brunswick, 21-14State semifinal: Lost to Youngstown Boardman, 21-14 (OT)1990 Division I regional semifinal: Defeated Toledo St. John's Jesuit, 21-15 (OT)Regional final: Defeated Massillon, 27-7State semifinal: Lost to Warren Harding, 27-14(In 1999, state playoffs expanded to current format)2010Division II, Region 6 quarterfinals: Defeated Avon, 42-35Regional semifinals: Lost to Maple Heights, 61-272011Division II, Region 6 quarterfinals: Lost to Tiffin Columbian, 25-202016Division III, Region 10 quarterfinals: Defeated Ashland, 42-7Regional semifinals: Lost to Lexington, 30-192017 Division III, Region 10 quarterfinals: Lost to Clyde, 35-02018Division III, Region 10 quarterfinals: Defeated Bay Village Bay, 34-14Regional semifinals: Defeated Lexington, 56-12 Sandusky head coach Mike Franklin, pictured as the Blue Streaks' quarterback on the far right in the Register's 1990 Football Preview, hands the ball to Shon Grant as (left to right) tight end Bill Knupke and guard Adam McCune block.Corey Croom, now an assistant football coach for the Blue Streaks, played for the New England Patriots in the early 90's. Larry Cook coaches the Sandusky Blue Streaks to his 100th win in October of 1997 against Clay High School at Strobel Field.