Fighting spirit endears Jacob Crain to team, community after journey to Superdome
by William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
The purple-and-gold fabric of Franklinton High School’s football program was woven into Jacob Crain at an early age.
When the Demons of coach Shane Smith were in the Superdome in 2010, defeating Karr 34-28 in overtime for the Class 4A state championship – the first for the school – Crain was a 2-year-old in the stands with his parents.
The pulse of the town’s 3,500-plus residents revolved around Franklinton’s football program on Friday nights in the Washington Parish community. The Demons were regarded amongst the state’s top programs under Smith, now the school’s principal, who guided the program to postseason play in all but one of his 17 seasons, including back-to-back trips to the state semifinals in 2014-15.
“Growing up, my family always went to the games, most of the time my dad made me watch the games to understand, and I developed a love for it,” Crain said. “I remember the team being great, and when they lost in (2015 semifinals to Karr, I cried my eyes out.
“I also had two other brothers in the band, and we went to all of the games,” Crain said. “I became a huge fan. I loved the school and wanted to be the QB for Franklinton. It’s been a huge part of my life.”
Crain’s passion for the school and Franklinton High football program grew with each step he took closer to becoming a high school student. He watched some of the school’s greats, such as Terrance Magee, and the unmistakable honor it meant to wear the purple and gold and represent the program.
“It’s why I love coaching here the most,” Franklinton third-year head coach Nick Saltaformaggio. “Kids that play at Franklinton, and the coaches that coach here, they love Franklinton. Jacob’s the epitome of that. It’s something they desire to do as a player and later, if they come back to coach.”
Crain was the quarterback of the town’s youth football team – Demons Association – from the age of 8 until junior high. The program had fallen on hard times, failing to advance out of the first round of the playoffs in five of six seasons when he finally became the team’s starting quarterback in 2023.
After sitting in the stands and cheering from afar, it was finally Crain’s turn to lead the Demons before jam-packed home crowds with the intention of becoming one of the school’s greats.
“I looked up to a lot of the players and wanted to be like them,” he said. “I wanted to be that guy that would represent the program well, show all the little kids, and be an inspiration.”
A lifetime of dreaming about the moment vanished in the span of five games.
Franklinton won one of its first five games, resulting in Saltaformaggio making a change at quarterback for the remainder of the season. The Demons wound up 3-7 and out of the playoffs for only the second time in the last 16 seasons.
“He just wasn’t quite ready,” Franklinton offensive coordinator Matthew Hughes said of Crain. “He wasn’t terrible. We just wasn’t ready. He wasn’t ready to make the types of decisions you need to be able to make as a quarterback at this level to win games.”
Saltaformaggio opted for a more athletic, run-oriented quarterback to try to salvage the season. Crain, who took two snaps the remainder of the regular season, remained positive and was a stellar teammate despite his own hardship.
“It really hurt my heart,” Crain said. “I finally felt that I was that guy when they decided to make a change. I was the QB that everybody knew, the town, and the kids at my school. It was kind of an embarrassment to me.
“It hurt my heart knowing that I kind of failed in a way because that’s how hard I am on myself,” Crain said. “I want to be perfect. I want to be great. I had the right mindset, I had my head up every day going to practice and to games. When I got my chance, I was ready.”
Saltaformaggio, who led East Jefferson to a Class 4A state title in 2013 and Hahnville to a 2017 state runner-up finish in ’17, admired the way Crain dealt with the demotion. Instead of turning in his helmet, he went to play with the Demons’ soccer team, his second favorite sport, and returned for the offseason in pursuit of recapturing the starting quarterback position.
“Credit to him,” he said of Crain. “I lit into him, and he took it like a champ. He never batted an eye. Ninety-five percent of the kids would have quit. He loves soccer, and a lot of kids would have just gone and played soccer. All he did was work, worked on the weekends. He won me over because of that.”
Crain never wavered in his confidence to lead Franklinton’s offense. He was more determined to win back the trust of his coaches and teammates, beginning in the offseason going into his junior year.
Hughes said watching Crain throw for the first time in February and March had brought about a change in his body, making a commitment to getting stronger in the weight room.
“He was mechanically better,” Hughes said. “The ball came off his hand a different way than it had before. It was very clear that he worked on tightening up his motion and made everything more efficient.”
Crain wanted to succeed so badly that he wasn’t able to, Saltaformaggio said.
It was a harsh reality for a dyed-in-the-wool kid from Franklinton who grew up around the program, but Crain pushed forward. He improved his arm strength, accuracy, mechanics, and understanding of the offense.
Crain wasn’t hesitant when it came time to show everyone that he had shored up some of his deficiencies from the previous season.
Crain began executing the team’s Power Spread attack in the RPO (run-pass option) game, showing improved timing in the drop-back game. He settled himself down enough before the spring game to exit the contest with the kind of momentum and confidence he could carry into the summer.
“I had a lot of confidence to get back out there and know that I’m the guy, that I’m really doing this,” he said. “This is what I worked so hard for. It was nerve-racking going into the game. Once I got out there, I started doing my thing.
“It’s what I had done all of my life, and that’s play QB,” he said. “When I got there, I was making plays, running around, showing a lot of good signs to the coaches and to the team. They realized that I could be the guy. It was awesome going into the summer.”
Crain, who benefited from another trip to the Manning Passing Academy, which he did again this summer, also credited his time with former college and NFL quarterback Lester Ricard for his growth.
Crain, who had never met Ricard, drove every three hours round trip every weekend in November to Baton Rouge to train with Ricard, a former All-American at Amite High who passed for 6,608 yards and 55 for Tulane after transferring from LSU.
Ricard, a former head coach at St. Martin’s, Walker, and Scotlandville, pushed him to another level in his decision making, sharpened his mechanics, and his arm strength had also improved with his additional time in the weight room.
The commitment laid the groundwork for Crain’s offseason work last spring and summer.
“I was still playing (high school) soccer, but that was my second sport,” Crain said. “Football was the one I was grinding with, and I gave up travel soccer to focus on football. I was digging hard in the weight room and on the field to get my spot back.”
Hughes witnessed progression in Crain’s play at quarterback through the team’s fall scrimmage, jamboree, and first two games of the regular season that produced varying results.
The Demons opened with a 19-12 home win over Amite in a game played in poor field conditions because of two days of constant rain, followed by a 32-21 road loss at Covington.
“You still don’t have the answers about his ability to turn that improvement into a reality on the field,” Hughes said. “To do that in a drill setting is one thing, but to do that when the bullets are flying is entirely another.
“Considering the conditions and the stakes of us getting off to a good start after the kids had worked so hard, Jacob played pretty good,” Hughes said of the Amite game. “I wanted him to succeed, but still had the handcuffs on him, trying to make sure he didn’t fail, which was the wrong approach to take. It was important for us to win that game.”
Facing a talented Covington defensive line with an eye on slowing down Franklinton’s talented running back Sy Austin, the Demons opened up their offense a little more with Crain throwing more, experiencing some positive results in a 32-21 setback.
“We let him play and he answered that call, that he could do it and did a good job,” Hughes said. “That kind of gave me confidence that he was ready. From that point on, it made it easier on me as a play caller.”
Franklinton survived a 29-28 road victory against Pine that put in motion a nine-game winning streak to close the regular season.
A 61-13 blowout win over Fontainebleau gave the Demons a second straight win, going to undefeated Jewel Sumner for an encounter that turned into a back-and-forth classic.
With his team trailing by two touchdowns in the last five minutes of the fourth quarter, Crain began to discover the kind of playmaking ability his coaches and those closest to him knew that he was capable of.
He engineered a pair of touchdowns that tied the game to send the game to overtime, where the Demons won, 42-39.
“There were no huge plays downfield,” said Crain, who completed 17 of 21 passes. “They were in Cover 3, and that left a lot of seams, hitches, and posts. It was about being efficient and making the plays we needed.
“It was a huge relief,” said Crain, who is still in search of his first scholarship offer. “Just being in that position is amazing. People shy away from that, don’t want that pressure on them, and are scared to make a play. That’s what I live for and dreamed of. Pressure’s a privilege, and doing it for the Demons was really awesome.”
Crain was in his element. A year after getting lifted midway through his first season, he showed he could flourish in tight windows and execute dramatic drives that resulted in game-winning points.
It was what he always dreamed of doing for the Demons.
With Class 4A All-State first team selection Beau Webb leading the way, Franklinton had a veteran offensive line that paved the way for Austin, who enjoyed a breakthrough season with 332 carries for 2,078 yards and 31 touchdowns.
The Demons were becoming a well-rounded group on offense with Crain’s play, a key element in the team’s District 7-4A opening win over Lakeshore, 35-28.
He gave a similar performance in his team’s 49-40 district win at Pearl River, completing 9 of 14 passes for 261 yards with an interception and three touchdowns.
The Demons finished the regular season with a 28-21 win over Loranger and clinched an undefeated league title in a 49-28 triumph at Archbishop Hannan.
“That fall was the most fun time of my life,” Crain said. “The town was rallying around us. The pep rallies and the homecoming parade were great. Everybody knew that the Demons were back. It had been a while. Everybody was rallying with us.”
Franklinton, a 42-21 winner over West Feliciana, advanced beyond the second round of the playoffs for the first time since losing to Karr (34-21) in the ’15 semifinals.
A rematch with Lakeshore, a second meeting in seven weeks, was even more dramatic and required some pivotal throws from Crain to help the Demons persevere, 41-40.
He completed 8 of 9 passes for 229 yards with a pair of scores, taking advantage of a gifted group of receivers on the perimeter that averaged better than 28 yards per reception.
By this time, with his penchant for leading last-minute comebacks and delivering clutch throws, Crain had become a fan favorite, much like the school’s career leading passer, Terrance Magee.
“During the season,” he said, “they started this thing, ‘Crain Train’. Everybody, including my family, was cheering me on.”
Crain became legendary in area circles with his performance in Franklinton’s pulsating 35-29 semifinal victory over Iowa, sending the program back to the Superdome for the first time in 15 years.
The Demons, the No. 1 seed, found themselves in a battle of survival with the fifth-seeded Yellow Jackets and were locked into a tense 29-29 all game in the fourth quarter.
Saltaformaggio saw Crain go to work with the ball around midfield, one timeout and less than a minute remaining, when he authored one of the school’s greatest wins.
Crain connected with tight end Dalton Freeman, squeezing an attempt past Iowa’s Cohen Charles, the Class 4A Defensive Outstanding Player and McNeese State signee, for the go-ahead score.
“Matt makes a call, Jacob makes a throw, and Dalton Freeman makes a catch that in my 43 years of coaching was the best play, the best play call, and the best catch I’ve seen in my life,” Saltaformaggio said. That’s kind of when I knew he was a special player.”
Crain passed for a career-high 309 yards and 3 TDs, completing 15 of 25 passes.
Crain was proud of his teammates’ mettle for their reversal of fortunes after winning three games and not tasting postseason play the year before.
“Against Iowa, the offense was firing on all cylinders,” he said. “That was the best pass rush we had faced all season, the best pass defense we saw. It didn’t matter. We made those plays, and that’s what we did the whole season to win those games.
“Going to the dome felt legendary after being 3-7,” he said. “Besides the Jewel Sumner game, that (Iowa game) was the most fun I’ve had in my life. I felt so good after that. That gave me so much confidence of what I could do. I believed no one would be able to stop me or this team.”
Cecilia, the state runner-up to Opelousas in 2023, made a living on the road as the state’s No. 18 seed, upsetting four higher-seeded teams to advance to the Class 4A title game to face Franklinton.
Franklinton took a 15-14 lead with 40 seconds left in the first quarter on Crain’s fourth-down touchdown run, followed by a two-point conversion pass from Connor Magee to Austin.
The rollercoaster ride of a game was just getting enjoyable for the Superdome crowd, a contest Cecilia twice rallied to lead 29-21 late in the second half, when Crain drove the Demons close enough for a 35-yard field goal from Gabriel Ezell to trail by five at halftime.
“It’s a product that he’s never satisfied with,” Hughes said of Crain. “It wasn’t one particular moment. You could see the growth, but it wasn’t like the lightbulb went off. It was just the result of long, hard, good-old-fashioned hard work.”
Austin’s third rushing touchdown of the game – a 16-yarder – coupled with a two-point conversion from Crain to Jaiden Garrett, gave Franklinton its second lead with 11:45 remaining when the big-play Bulldogs and quarterback Diesel Solari recaptured the lead with 1:17 to play.
Franklinton kept the door ajar for Cecilia with a fumble with three minutes left, and Solari made the Demons pay, lofting a 40-yard pass toward the end zone that was bobbled and then recaptured for a three-point lead with 1:17 to go.
“I knew if we got the ball back,” Crain said, “we were going to make the plays like always.”
Franklinton, with one timeout left, calmly followed Crain’s lead from its own 35 and reached Cecilia’s 28-yard line in four plays.
Then disaster struck.
Crain was sacked and stripped on the next play and looked forward to running another play when video replay changed the ruling on the field to a fumble, the Demons’ third turnover, with 26 seconds left.
Austin was selected as Franklinton’s Most Outstanding Player with 30 carries for 143 yards (237 all-purpose yards) and 3 TDs. Crain was also superb, completing 21 of 29 passes for 234 yards, a touchdown to go along with a rushing score.
DaMikies McClain was the team’s top receiver with 10 receptions for 125 yards. “He continued to improve steadily throughout the year,” Hughes said of Crain.
Crain, who was 44 of 80 for 649 yards with four interceptions and 7 TDs in 2023, had not only taken his game to another level, but also took his team with him.
In his last two games of the season, he completed 67% (36 of 54) of his passes for 553 yards, two interceptions, and 3 TDs.
Crain was showered with postseason honors from the District 7-4A Offensive MVP to a Class 4A All-State honorable mention selection. He wound up with one of the school’s best single seasons, passing for 2,476 yards (on 152 of 223 passing) with just four interceptions and 24 TDs, and nine rushing TDs.
He said his 3,125 career passing yards rank fifth best in school history, with No. 1 Terrance Magee in his sights.
“Making that jump was awesome,” he said of his turnaround. “To get my confidence back, not to doubt myself in what I could do.”
Crain looked back on Saltaformaggio’s scrutiny as a turning point.
“I know when he’s hard on me, it’s because he loves me, to be a great player,” he said. “He made me realize I had to be consistent. I had to be perfect to be a great QB. I knew what it took.”
The graduation of Austin and four offensive linemen shifts a sizeable portion of the responsibility for this year’s offensive production to the shoulders of Crain and his core of receiving targets.
McClain was the team’s leader with 59 catches for 938 yards and 9 TDs, followed by Freeman (10-187, 2 TDs), while promising receivers Jayden Burkhalter and Ricardo Burris will be first-year starters.
“Now that I hear that we’ll have to throw it more, which I expect, that makes me excited,” Crain said. “I know there’s more responsibility on me this year, but I’m ready for it. I think all of the hard work’s going to pay off. I know that I’m the kind of guy that can do it, and I have confidence in myself and in the team.
“I have unfinished business,” Crain said. “This summer I’ve worked harder than last year. I know what it takes, and I have the motivation after the way the season ended last year. I’ve been a bigger part of the locker room, encouraging my teammates, just rallying so we can make another great run.”
Given his team’s deficiencies to start this season, Franklinton’s chances of a return trip to the Superdome – something the school’s never done – Saltaformaggio believes Crain holds the keys if such a scenario is to play out.
“He’s that special,” he said. “I think the world of him. He’s what you want your football program to be about. He’s a kid that worked his way back from being knocked down really hard. He loves his school; he loves the community. The players rally around him. He’s the reason I believe, if we can slow some people down defensively, we’re going to be right back there in December.”