FRANKLIN — The effort was there. The time and crisp play were not.

A second-half comeback came up short Saturday night for Slippery Rock in a 35-31 high school football loss at Franklin.

"These guys have a lot of fight in them," Rockets coach Brendan Hathaway said. "I knew they were never going to quit ... just too many mistakes.

"We can't put ourselves in that type of hole and expect to pull it out."

The Rockets (0-2) never led Saturday and put themselves in an immediate hole by botching a snap on the second play of the game. Franklin's Devin Dolan recovered at the Slippery Rock 11-yard line.

Quarterback Nick Billingsley scored on a 1-yard run three plays later and the Black Knights were in front.

Jake Docherty got behind the Rockets' defense to snag a 70-yard touchdown pass on Franklin's next possession as the hosts took a quick 13-0 lead. Slippery Rock quarterback Ryan Currie responded with a 48-yard scoring burst on a bootleg with 48 seconds left in the first quarter.

Currie had a 15-yard touchdown run wiped out by a holding penalty on the Rockets' previous possession.

Following a Chris Thomas interception and trailing only 13-6, the Rockets faced a fourth-and-10 from their own 46-yard line. Currie faked a punt and had Ben Gaul wide open deep, only to overthrow him.

Franklin then faced a fourth-and-6 from the Slippery Rock 11-yard line. The Black Knights spurned the field goal attempt and Billingsley found Dillon King for an 11-yard TD pass instead.

"Our kicker can get it there, but he's a first-year kicker and I didn't feel comfortable with it," Franklin coach Dave Smith said. "Fourth-down plays were big in this game.

"We preach to our kids: Play all four quarters, play all four downs."

Brandon Henry's 6-yard scoring run capped a 13-play, 66-yard drive as the Rockets answered with 40 seconds left in the half. Billingsley then broke loose for 48 yards on a quarterback sneak, but a Ziggy Mertens interception snuffed the last-second scoring threat.

"We made plays to hang in there," Hathaway said. "Ultimately, we didn't make enough."

Slippery Rock couldn't get a stop in the third quarter. Franklin (2-0) marched 77 yards on 15 plays, eating 6:47 off the clock to begin the second half. When Romeo Cooley scored on an 88-yard run with 2:02 left in the third quarter, the Black Knights had a 35-19 lead in a driving rain.

The game appeared to be over.

Sam Furrh returned the ensuing kickoff 85 yards for a score, however. Furrh caught a 40-yard TD pass from Currie with 2:12 left to pull the Rockets within 35-31.

King covered the onsides kick, but the Rockets got the ball back at their own 9-yard line with 52 seconds left and no timeouts.

They got as far as midfield before turning the ball over on downs.

"You have to be able to put a team away and we didn't do that tonight," Smith said.

The Black Knights, 1-9 a year ago and with 21 lettermen back, did generate 459 yards of offense. Billingsley threw for 161 yards and Cooley rushed for 132.

Currie had 13 carries for 119 yards for Slippery Rock.

"Ryan played well," Hathaway said. "We played hard. We just have to play a little smarter."

Franklin 35, Slippery Rock 31Slippery Rock 6 7 12 6 — 31Franklin 13 8 14 0 — 35SR F16 First Downs 1844-278 Rushes-Yards 46-29853 Passing Yards 1613-14-0 Passes (Comp.-Att.-Int.) 8-16-2331 Total Yards 4593-1 Fumbles-Lost 0-0xx Penalties-Yards xx

First QuarterF — Nick Billingsley 1 run (Colin Bittner kick), 10:04F — Jake Docherty 70 pass from Billingsley (kick failed), 3:57SR — Ryan Currie 48 run (kick blocked), :48

Second QuarterF — Dillon King 11 pass from Billingsley (Steven Marshall run), 4:34SR — Brandon Henry 6 run (Cody Wolinski kick), :40

Third QuarterF — Billingsley 1 run (Bittner kick), 5":13SR — Cole Knight 13 run (pass failed), 2:19F — Romeo Cooley 88 run (Bittner kick), 2:02SR — Sam Furrh 85 kick return (run failed), 1:50

Fourth QuarterSR — Furrh 40 pass from Currie (kick blocked), 2:12

Individual StatisticsPassing: Slippery Rock, Ryan Currie 3-13-53-0, Sam Furrh 0-1-0-0. Franklin, Nick Billingsley 8-16-161-2.

Rushing: Slippery Rock, John McAvoy 13-57, Brandon Henry 10-31, Ryan Currie 13-119, Ben Gaul 3-33, Cole Knight 4-34, Chris Thomas 1-4. Franklin, Nick Billingsley 8-67, Randell Wilson 18-72, Romeo Cooley 13-132, Jesse DiPietro 7-27.

Receiving: Slippery Rock, Sam Furrh 3-53. Franklin, Jake Docherty 1-70, Dillon King 3-41, Steven Marshall 1-23, Brandon Laing 1-18, Romeo Cooley 2-9.