The junior quarterback/running back finished with 361 yards of offense, including 262 on the ground after entering the night with 341 yards rushing for the season.
“Honestly, my guys believed in me,” said Montgomery, who plays running back when Braden White is in at quarterback. “We worked hard all week, and they came out and believed in me. They made their plays, did their jobs and I did mine. We’ve been talking about this all week, getting to 5-0. Valley View is a great team, so it means a lot to win this game.”
A big third quarter – starting with Montgomery’s 88-yard touchdown run – gave Franklin (5-0, 2-0 SWBL Southwestern) the momentum it needed to put Valley View (4-1, 0-1) away after the Wildcats took just a 13-8 lead into halftime.
After Valley View was forced to punt on the first drive of the second half, Montgomery found a hole at the line of scrimmage on first down and broke up the middle untouched to extend the Wildcats’ lead to 20-8 with Matt Schneider’s kick.
Valley View made it as far as the 3-yard line on the ensuing possession, but again the defense stepped up and made a fourth-down stop. Three plays later, White connected with Noah Kremer for a 97-yard touchdown pass.
Montgomery then added two touchdown runs of 54 and 15 yards and Kremer picked off Spartans quarterback Collin Wood to seal it in the fourth quarter. Kremer finished with 146 yards on four catches, and Trenten Scott led the defense with seven tackles as Valley View managed just 195 yards of offense.
“I told our guys before we came out (in the second half), we’re going to get a stop here, not let them score, and we’re going to punch another one in,” Franklin coach Brad Childers said. “We executed. Once again, we took control of the line of scrimmage. We didn’t fall prey to the chatter between the two groups and we executed at a high level tonight.”
Montgomery had opened the scoring on a 4-yard run with 9:06 left in the second quarter, but the Spartans answered two drives later on Collin Genslinger’s 13-yard run, and Wood’s two-point conversion run gave them a 8-7 lead with 1:59 left on the clock.
With time winding down, Montgomery showed poise in leading the Wildcats down field for the go-ahead score. On the final play of the half, he rolled out to the left side and found Braxton Rodenberger in the corner of the end zone with a 21-yard touchdown pass as time expired.
“He’s a special kid,” Childers said. “With Ryan we know if he touches the ball anywhere on the football field he can make something happen, and he proved it. It was just a great player making plays.”
Both squads will be at home next Friday. Franklin plays Waynesville, while Valley View faces Bellbrook.
Valley View 0-8-0-0—8
Franklin 0-13-14-14—41
F: Ryan Montgomery 4 run (Matt Schneider kick)
VV: Collin Genslinger 13 run (Collin Wood run)
F: Braxton Rodenberger 21 pass from Montgomery (Pass failed)
F: Montgomery 88 run (Schneider kick)
F: Noah Kremer 97 pass from Braden White (Schneider kick)
F: Montgomery 54 run (Schneider kick)
F: Montgomery 15 run (Schneider kick)
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