Ravenwood High School used a dominant defensive performance and strong running game to remain undefeated this season, defeating Franklin High School 28-7 on Friday night.

The Raptors (8-0, 4-0) defense racked up eight sacks on the night and held Franklin to just seven points. The stingy defense didn’t surprise Ravenwood head coach Will Hester.

“They’ve carried us all year, and tonight they were great again,” Hester said. “I can’t say enough about how well our defense played.”

The offense got some crucial runs from sophomore running back Caden Pace and his two quarterbacks, Maverick Chance and Femi Babalola.

“Caden played super well,” Hester said. “He was the hot hand, so we rode him tonight. He did a good job.”

Pace had a 28-yard run that eventually led to a 1-yard touchdown by Chance on the second play of the fourth quarter, making the Raptors score 21-7. Pace added the final touchdown on a 15-yard run with 3:03 left in the contest.

The Raptors failed to score on another drive early in the quarter when a lateral attempt by the holder to kicker Drew Crabtree brought the ball inside the 1-yard line, but the play was called back because the holder did not keep his knee off the ball lifted lawn before catching the snap. In college, the holder can receive the snap and move it laterally from one knee.

“It was 100 percent a coaching mistake on our part,” Hester said. “That’s how we teach our kids to do that. We were usually wrong. I’m proud of our kids for how they performed, but this is a situation where we as coaches have to do better.”

Franklin had a few opportunities to get closer, but failed to get the ball into the end zone. On a third-quarter drive, senior Sean Gaca brought the ball to the 3-yard line before a flagrant personal foul by one of Franklin’s offensive linemen led to an ejection and a third-down sack by the Ravenwood defense, resulting in a missed field goal .

The win marked the seventh consecutive time Ravenwood’s defense allowed fewer than 10 points this season.

After stopping Franklin on its first drive of the game, Ravenwood scored on its first possession. Auburn University commit Donovan Starr caught a short pass from Chance and took it 46 yards for a touchdown.

Franklin responded early in the second quarter when senior quarterback Brewer Wilson hit Lucas Young for a 37-yard touchdown on fourth down, tying the score at 7-7 with 9:41 left in the first half.

On the Raptors’ next drive, Babalola and Pace made some nice runs, setting up a 16-yard reverse to senior wide receiver Ben Hubbard for the touchdown midway through the second quarter.

The Admirals tried to respond on their next drive after converting on a third-and-15 following an incredible tip-drill reception from Gaca. But a fourth sack by Wilson by the Raptor defense and a personal foul penalty brought the drive to a halt.

Ravenwood led 14-7 at halftime and the two touchdowns and four sacks in the second half were enough to win the game.

Next week, both teams will head out of the region and visit some potential postseason opponents. Franklin travels to Mount Juliet (8-0), which they defeated 21-7 last season. The win ended the Admirals’ 22-game losing streak over three seasons and ended Mount Juliet’s undefeated season.

Ravenwood will travel to Murfreesboro to face undefeated Oakland (8-0). The Raptors lost to the Patriots 42-18 last season.

“Other than bragging rights, it doesn’t mean much in the grand scheme of things,” Hester said. “Right now it’s all about regional play, regional seeding, playoffs and all that. But what an exciting game this is going to be. “Be for the student body and the players and basically play depending on what polls you look at , a 1v2 match.”

Hester believes his team will be up for the challenge and is not looking forward to facing rivals Brentwood next week to close out the season.

“Our kids know who Oakland is, and they’re obviously going to be focused on this week and not the Battle of the Woods the week after that.”