White Oak junior Jake Pullen escapes Franklin center Lane Smith's tackle attempt near the sideline after a first quarter interception during a matchup Friday night in Palestine. (Victor Texcucano)

PALESTINE — The White Oak Roughnecks forced five turnovers and kept Franklin off the scoreboard en route to a 31-0 victory in the Class 2A, Division I Region III final Friday night at Wildcat Stadium.

The win pushes the Roughnecks (13-1) into the state semifinals against Cameron Yoe (13-1), a 28-26 winner over Hallettsville.

White Oak quarterback Dylan Gale was 17 of 29 passing for 294 yards and a touchdown.

Jansen McCurdy caught five passes for 101 yards. Gabe Michael hauled in seven passes for 116 yards, and Riley Lakin had two receptions for 48 yards.

Franklin, which was averaging 48.5 rushed per game heading into the contest, made it no secret that its intention was to run the football nearly every play. On the one play where the Lions decided to pass the ball, White Oak’s Jake Pullen swooped in for his first of two interceptions in the game and returned it to the Franklin 19-yard-line.

That set up a 1-yard touchdown by Riley Lakin, who finished the game with 109 yards and three scores on 30 carries.

When Franklin got the ball back, the Lions ran four straight plays before losing its first fumble of the half.

The Roughnecks turned it into a 23-yard field goal by Jack Rogers to make the score 10-0 late in the first quarter.

The Lions had their most successful drive of the game on their next possession, going 69 yards in 18 plays in almost seven minutes. On fourth down from the White Oak 8, Franklin attempted a fake field goal with a pitch to kicker Jacob Dorsett, but the Roughnecks stopped him short of the first down.

White Oak responded with a long drive of its own, only to fumble it away at the Franklin 21.

On the next play, Franklin’s Adam Lopez ran for an 18-yard gain, but Gabe Michael jarred the ball loose and recovered. That turned into a 6-yard scoring run by Lakin.

After another fumble recovery by McCurdy, the Roughnecks went 77 yards in 12 plays and scored on another 1-yard run by Lakin with 12 seconds left in the second quarter to take a 24-0 lead into the locker room.

The deficit had to be daunting for a Franklin team that despite entering the game with an undefeated 13-0 mark had only 19 completions from quarterback Dylan Smitherman all season.

On Friday night, Smitherman didn’t add to his total as he finished 0 of 5 with the two interceptions. The Lions did run 57 times for 222 yards, but turnovers and timely fourth-down stops by the Roughnecks made it tough for Franklin the entire game.

Morgan Brewer, who entered the contest with well over 2,000 yards rushing, finished with 62 yards on 18 carries.