FRANKLIN—Inexperience did Franklin in Wednesday night in the Broncos’ tight 42-40 loss to Essex in a non-district wrestling match.

The match, which began at 152, came down to the final bout at 145. Franklin led 40-36 after an Essex forfeit. Franklin’s Brandon Jones quickly fell behind Montrell Taylor 10-1 after the first period. Taylor added two more points before pinning Jones with 1:19 left in the second period to win the match for Essex.

“He really just came out last week,” said Franklin head coach Daniel Johnson about Jones. “He’s probably got about one week of practice.”

Another key match was at 130 pounds. The Broncos led 34-24 and a very aggressive Joel Sanders led Essex’s Steven Delgado 10-0 in the first period. But Delgado turned around and pinned Sanders at 1:28 of the second period, cutting the Franklin lead to 34-30. A forfeit on each side put the match at 40-36 leading up to the 145 match. Johnson said a similar thing happened to Sanders at Southampton.

“He was leading 13-1 at Southampton and got pinned. “He’s a first-year wrestler, and he’s practiced about three weeks,” Johnson said. “It’s experience for him. He’s going to be an outstanding wrestler and he’s just a ninth grader.”

Franklin (0-2) lost another match to inexperience. To open the evening at 152, Franklin’s Martinez Hill, who recently joined the team, was leading the match in the second period and was also pinned. Johnson said Hill was playing basketball up until this week.

“He has had two days of practice. He came out Monday and wrestled today,” Johnson said.

The Broncos won two matches in a row in the heavier weights. At 189, Anthony Pierce won a 13-4 major decision over Kevin Clarke and at 215, DeShawn Artis won by fall over Thomas Coleman to give Franklin a 16-12 lead.

The match featured nine forfeits.

Johnson he felt like the young Broncos would be ready by the regional tournament.

“We have a lot of athletes. They are strong, but just need to get wrestling experience. We are probably just as athletic as anyone, but we need to get the experience,” Johnson said. “By the time we get to the regional tournament the second week of February, I think we are going to place pretty good.”