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The Franklin County Rebels lost to the Lincoln County Falcons 28-24 on the road Friday for their sixth loss of the season.

The teams traded points throughout the back-and-forth regional contest with the Falcons taking the lead for good midway through the fourth quarter and a late scoring attempt by the Rebels being thwarted by a game-sealing interception.

Penalties hampered the Rebels on their opening possession of the game as they were ultimately forced to punt it away.

The Falcons quickly advanced the ball into Franklin County’s territory with a touchdown pass on fourth down putting the Rebels behind 7-0 with 8:37 left in the first quarter.

The Rebels responded on their next drive as Eric Jones broke free for a 31-yard touchdown run to tie the score at 7-7 with about six minutes remaining in the opening period.

The Falcons struck for another touchdown on their ensuing possession as a 44-yard scoring pass on fourth down made it a 14-7 game with 1:27 to go in the first quarter.

The early scoring frenzy continued into the second quarter with Franklin County quarterback CJ Seals connecting with Kai Baker on a 14-yard touchdown pass. Kicker Loui Arellano split the uprights on the point-after attempt to tie the score once more at 14-14 with 10:30 left in the first half.

The Falcons rounded out the streak of consecutive touchdown drives on both sides as another long touchdown pass gave them a 21-14 edge over the Rebels with eight minutes remaining in the half.

After both teams traded punts, the Rebels made another trip into enemy territory with a 70-yard run by Jones gave them the ball inside of Lincoln County’s 10-yard line.

However, an interception in the end zone would end the drive just before the half came to an end.

The Rebels trailed 21-14 at halftime.

The Rebels got off to a strong start on defense in the second half as they forced a punt to get the ball back for their offense.

The ensuing drive ended in another game-tying touchdown for the Rebels as Jones carried the ball into the end zone from 13 yards out to put the score at 21-21 with 5:18 left in the third quarter.

The next two drives ended in punts before the Rebels made a defensive stand on fourth down to get the ball back on Lincoln County’s 39-yard line to start the fourth quarter.

The Rebels advanced the ball a little bit before lining up to kick a 42-yard field goal, and Arellano nailed the kick to give the Rebels their first lead of the day at 24-21 with 7:46 remaining.

However, the Falcons weren’t trailing for long as a 42-yard touchdown pass put them back in front by a score of 28-24 with six minutes left on the clock.

The Rebels started their next possession on their own 24-yard line and slowly worked the ball down the field as they advanced to Lincoln County’s 11-yard line with 23 seconds to go.

An incomplete pass on first down from the 11-yard line ran some time off the clock with a penalty for delaying the game pushing the Rebels backwards by five yards.

Seals was hit as he threw the ball on the next play with the pass being intercepted by the Falcons in the end zone with just 11 seconds to play. The Falcons were then able to kneel out the rest of the clock as the Rebels lost by four.

With the loss, the Rebels moved to 1-6 on the season and 1-2 in regional play.

They will next play Friday at home against Columbia Central High School. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.