ELLICOTTVILLE — The beginning wasn’t pretty, but the middle and end showed why the Franklinville/Ellicottville football team has aspirations of playing for a Section 6 title at Highmark Stadium.

The Titans shook off a slow start and buried Gowanda/Pine Valley with three straight second-half touchdowns Friday night en route to a 35-14 Class D playoff quarterfinal victory.

Second-seeded F/E (7-2) advances to a semifinal meeting with No. 3 Portville (7-2) at 7 p.m. next Friday in Franklinville. The Panthers defeated Frewsburg 49-14 in their quarterfinal.

The running of Gian Nuzzo and Hunter Smith propelled the Titans against seventh-seeded G/P (2-7). Smith registered two touchdowns and 91 yards on nine rushes while Nuzzo added 99 yards on 15 carries and another score.

A strong defense led by Owen Chudy and a blocked punt and return for a touchdown by Billy Slavinski rounded out the winning effort for F/E.

The Titans dominated G/P 47-0 in their regular season meeting three weeks ago. That didn’t bother the Panthers early.

G/P scored first on a Harlee Conklin run on fourth and goal from the two on the first play of the second quarter. The Panthers marched 64 yards on 10 plays, with Conklin running for a 44-yard gain to get G/P in scoring position.

F/E, meanwhile, came out sluggish, losing a fumble on their first offensive play and not gaining a first down until early in the second quarter.

Gowanda “did a few things we weren’t expecting. It took us some time to adjust,” F/E coach Jason Marsh said. “Once we got through halftime and made our adjustments I really liked our performance and effort in the second half.”

Smith got F/E on the board with a four-yard run that capped a 65-yard, 9-play drive at 8:10 of the second quarter. Smith ran for a first down on fourth and 2 to keep the possession alive and then added a 25-yarder to set the Titans up at the 5.

F/E took the lead for good 5:18 before halftime when Slavinski blocked a punt and took it in from five yards out. Smith’s 2-point run made it 14-8.

The Titans had a chance to build on their lead before halftime after Brad John intercepted a pass at the G/P 34 with 57 seconds left. But the Panthers took it right back on a pick off of a long Nuzzo sideline pass.

It didn’t matter. The game swung the Titans’ way for good when they produced two touchdowns in the final two minutes of the third quarter and another early in the fourth.

Nuzzo made up for the earlier miscue with a 10-yard scoring run. F/E marched 52 yards on 3 plays, with Smith ripping off a 35-yard run to key the drive. Nuzzo’s 2-point run made it 22-8.

F/E gained possession again two plays later after Chudy stripped the quarterback on a sack and Slavinski recovered at the G/P 21. Smith scored on a 5-yard run to make it 28-8.

The Titans again took over with a short field moments later after a Chudy sack turned it over to them at the G/P 30. Nuzzo converted a 4th and 19 with a 26-yard run, and Jacob Dahlke took it in from a yard out. John’s kick made it 35-8.

“Things aren’t always going to go perfect,” Marsh said. “The fact that they stuck together and didn’t panic and waited for us to make our adjustments, that’s the biggest thing to take out of it. Be patient. Trust the coaching. Trust each other.”

Conklin ran for 84 of his game-high 170 yards on 22 carries in the game’s final minutes, capping it with a 2-yard touchdown run for G/P.

Bren Brol led the Titans’ defense with nine tackles (8 solo). Braylon Wyatt added an interception.

F/E is aiming to return to the section final, where it lost to Randolph in 2021. First up is a meeting with Portville. The Titans won the regular season meeting in week 4 via a 16-8 overtime slugfest.

Whoever wins that one will likely face top-seeded and unbeaten Randolph in the championship round in Orchard Park. The Cardinals earned a quarterfinal bye.

“You get to this point in the season, you know you’re going to be playing a good team the next week,” Marsh said. “Portville is obviously a good football team. We’re going to have to play better next week than we did this week. I think you can expect another slugfest.”