WASHOUGAL — Asking Elijah Franco to pick his favorite play of the season yields a quick answer from the Washougal senior.
During a Week 4 football game against Mark Morris, Franco was roaming the defensive backfield from his safety position when he jumped up to deflect a deep pass. He reached out to snag the ball into his gloves, and from there, he was off to the races for a 93-yard touchdown, one of three defensive scores he’s had already this season.
“I thought, I’m just going to bat it down, but it kind of tipped it upwards instead of out,” Franco recalled. “(I) brought it down, and then the blocking was just insane on that play — I got like five pancakes from teammates. … It was great.”
Franco considers himself defense-first player at heart, and he’s in the midst of a dominant season on that side of the ball with eight interceptions, two fumble recoveries, three defensive touchdowns and 109 total tackles. Earlier this week, he was also tabbed by coaches as the 2A Greater St. Helens League’s Defensive MVP.
Franco’s knack for playmaking, as it turned out, also made him a great fit in the Panthers’ offense.
Washougal coaches made a midseason pivot when they put Franco in at quarterback, splitting series with starter Kaden Fautt. Since Franco entered the fold, the Panthers (6-3) have won four straight games ahead of their Week 10 state preliminary round game at Olympic (7-2) on Friday at 6:30 p.m.
By introducing new formations and two different styles opposing defenses have to prepare for, the Panthers’ offense has reached another gear.
“They started giving me a couple drives and it started working,” Franco said. “Kaden is still doing great at QB. But we’re able to switch off, switch things up and it’s a fully different look for defenses, so they gotta adjust.”
According to Washougal coach Dave Hajek, the Panthers’ initially envisioned Franco taking direct snaps in the team’s Wildcat formation. But after experimenting late in a Week 5 loss to Ridgefield, Washougal coaches realized they needed to find a bigger role for Franco in the team’s offense.
Franco hadn’t played quarterback before, or taken many offensive snaps in previous seasons with the Panthers, but it didn’t matter. Coaches and teammates had confidence in him. He embraced the challenge.
“I was definitely up for it,” Franco said. “I thought it would be fun, it would be exciting. … (I wasn’t sure) how good I would be at it. But it’s been working out, even if I’m not throwing too much I’m still impacting the team.”
Over the last four weeks, Franco has rushed for 373 yards and nine touchdowns. The senior has put together several highlight-reel plays, like a 43-yard touchdown run against R.A. Long in which Franco broke one tackle, side-stepped another defender, then reversed field and outran the defense to the end zone. Washougal is averaging 39 points per game over that stretch.
“This year, first half of the season, he was a menace on defense. Unstoppable,” Washougal senior captain Harrison DeShazer said. “Then we threw him in at quarterback, and at R.A. Long, you’ve seen that run from him, he took it back like (43) yards. That just fully turned our offense around.”
The Panthers have dealt with injuries to key players, including DeShazer, a defensive end and tight end who’s out with a season-ending leg injury, and fellow senior captain Mercy Johnston, who hopes to play in Friday’s game as he recovers from a bruised kidney.
Without them on the field for big stretches of the season, Franco has been a stabilizing presence with his play and leadership.
“He’s been really helpful just to lead the team, especially since me and Harry have been hurt,” Johnston said. “He’s definitely a great example as a player — how good he is and how hard he works — for everyone else.”
Franco also credits Washougal’s coaching staff for making key adjustments to account for those injuries and utilize players in new ways, like his recent move to QB. Though the Panthers felt like underdogs entering the season after graduating some key seniors, a collective effort between players and coaches has helped the program sustain success.
“(We) played like (we had) nothing to lose,” Franco said. “Beginning of the season it felt like not a lot of people had much expectations for us. Losing guys, obviously, last year, but we knew we’d be good. …. It’s just been fun to change people’s minds.”
As the Panthers began preparing for their playoff opponent this week, Franco received some good news on Tuesday when Linfield University, an NCAA Division III powerhouse, gave the senior his first college offer. Franco called the moment relieving, knowing he’ll have an opportunity to play football beyond this season.
“I’m so proud of him,” said DeShazer, an Idaho commit. “We put in a bunch of work throughout the summer (with) camps and stuff, and just coming out here putting in work just us two.”
Those future plans will be finalized in due time, but first, the focus is on Friday. The Panthers have reached the playoffs in three straight seasons, and a win over Olympic would get them back to the Class 2A state playoffs for a third straight year as well.
Franco is proud to be part of the Panthers’ growing tradition.
“It’s been awesome,” Franco said. “Three years in a row, we’ve been playing well, we’ve been doing our best and we want to continue that. … But we definitely can, obviously, and I think they’ll continue to do it for years to come as well.”
