As Franklin High School football coach Rodney Roberts watches game film of the Madison squad the Wildcats face Friday, he notices one thing.

The Mohawks have become their coach.

“When you watch them play, they’re tough kids,” Roberts said as his 4-1 Wildcats prepare to head to Madison (3-2). “His (coach Chris Wells) stamp is on that team. That’s how he was. He was one of the toughest kids I ever saw play… and he was that way since pee-wee.”

And, Roberts would know.

Roberts’ dad — Rod — was Madison coach Chris Wells’ first pee-wee coach. Wells played alongside another Roberts, Rodney’s younger brother Brad.

“We have that personal connection,” Wells said. “There is no animosity there. We are good friends and he is a great football coach.”

Last year, in the first on-field meeting between the two as head coaches, Franklin pulled out a 10-7 win. Both Roberts and Wells expects tonight’s game to follow the same tough, physical script.

“I think big plays are going to be key,” Wells said. “Last year they had one more than we did and it made the difference. Big plays determine high school football games a lot of times and we want them to go in our favor.”

Add in the weather conditions this week, and big plays and turnovers may go hand in hand.

“The ball may be slick,” Roberts said. “We have been able to generate some big plays on offense and keep them from happening on defense. We’ve got a tall task in hand going to their place.”

Madison started 3-1 before dropping a 47-20 decision to a deeper Milton-Union team last week. All 11 of the Mohawks starters play both ways.

“We play a tough game every Friday because of the numbers,” Wells said. “But if I was a neutral observer, I would be a Mohawk fan. There is no other team you are going to find who has as many guys having to play iron-man football as we have.”

With the change in the weather and the Mohawk players having five weeks of adjustment, Roberts doesn’t think having more players is going to be that big of a help.

“They have become accustomed to it,” Roberts said. “It is going to be a very physical, very competitive ballgame. We have to go in and play our best.”