WAYNESVILLE — Luke Kennard made his varsity debut a memorable one.

The Franklin High School freshman scored a game-high 26 points to lead the Wildcats to a 69-55 season-opening win at Waynesville on Friday.

Kennard, who admitted feeling nervous before the game, scored seven straight during a stretch early in the fourth quarter that stretched a five-point Franklin lead to double digits. He then iced the game with four free throws in the final minute.

“It was exciting,” Kennard said. “I didn’t expect to do that well in my first game, I just wanted to come out and do my best to help the team win.

“I was pretty nervous for about a quarter, but by the second quarter I got into a rhythm and it was just another basketball game.”

The Wildcats raced to a 19-11 lead after a quarter of play as all five Franklin starters scored.

Waynesville, which got 20 points from senior Luke Creditt, cut the lead to two midway through the third on a bucket by Jake Elton (10 points, six rebounds) but Franklin’s Jacob Rossi (13 points, 12 rebounds, four blocks) scored four straight to stretch it to six.

“Tonight was Luke’s night but we’ve got a lot of guys in that locker room who know that they are going to have their nights this season,” Franklin coach Brian Bales said. “That’s what makes this team special, a team-first mentality.

“We were able to use our length to keep people in front of us and I thought the Rossis (Jacob and Justin) cleaned the glass and did a great job controlling the game with their defense. When we play defense like we did for stretches tonight, we can be successful. Winning in a hostile environment like this only gives us confidence for the next game.”

Franklin’s balance and size gave the Spartans fits.

They stayed in the game thanks to 7-of-18 shooting from 3-point range.

“That certainly wasn’t the plan,” Waynesville coach Todd Cook said. “We wanted to attack the basket and get to the free throw line. But they do a great job of not leaving their feet and have great timing to block shots.

“Franklin’s very good. We’ve got nothing to hang our heads about. When a team with that much talent and that much size plays with that much desire, it’s hard to beat them.”

Four Wildcats scored in double figures. In addition to Kennard and Jacob Rossi, Justin Rossi had 11 points while Travis Lakins added 10.