Panther men’s soccer has earned their first conference win.
After starting their Mountain Eight schedule with one-goal losses to Brevard and East Henderson, Franklin continued their campaign with two more rivalry games. With a tie versus Pisgah and a thrilling win over Tuscola, the Panthers earned their first positive results in the conference standings.
On Sept. 17, they traveled to Pisgah to take on the Black Bears. Pisgah created several chances early on, winning a corner kick from Franklin’s left in the 12th minute. From there the ball bounced around Franklin’s 18-yard box for several seconds, taking an unlucky bounce off the crossbar and into the net.
Eight minutes later Franklin attacked deep into Pisgah’s half, where Arturo Soto drew a foul just inside Pisgah’s box. The sophomore then buried the penalty kick to tie the match.
Both sides traded chances for the next 20 minutes, until Franklin won a corner from Pisgah’s right late in the half. From there Adrian Cruz found Wyatt Parlier inside Pisgah’s box, who tucked a well-placed header just inside the near post. Franklin defended their 2-1 lead through the half’s final minute.
More than half an hour passed without a goal after the break, until Pisgah pushed deep into Franklin’s half in the 72nd minute. There Panther defenders initially blocked two Pisgah shots, but a Bear corralled the second deflection and equalized from 20 yards.
Franklin answered less than two minutes later, when Pablo Odilon found Sage Gray with a “through” lob over Pisgah’s heads. Gray outran defenders to the ball and scored with a running volley.
Up 3-2, Franklin stood less than seven minutes from victory, but disaster struck when Pisgah won a penalty kick just two minutes later. The Black Bears converted to tie the match 3-3, and held Franklin scoreless through the end of regulation. Still tied, both teams played 20 minutes of extra time, but couldn’t decide a winner and ended the match in a 3-3 draw.
On Monday, Sept. 22, the Panthers returned to Macon Middle School to take on Tuscola. There both teams played a quiet first 28 minutes, until Tuscola broke free from defenders for the game’s first goal. The Mountaineers defended their 1-0 lead 12 more minutes to the half.
Panther goalkeeper Drew Hodges kept his team in the match early in the second, making an impressive diving save on a shot from 20 yards. Franklin won a throw-in near the Mountie goal soon after, where Cam Lyons found Kevin Torres in Tuscola’s box for the equalizer. The Mounties answered less than two minutes later, stealing the ball from Franklin’s defense for a breakaway goal.
Less than four minutes after that Franklin won a free kick near midfield, where Eduardo Rios sent a high lob pass into the Mountie box. There Tuscola’s keeper saved an initial header from Torres, but the junior corralled the ricochet for his second goal of the night.
Franklin kept pressuring the Mounties from there, winning another free kick near midfield with six minutes to play. There Rios found Torres once again near Tuscola’s box, who found the inside of the far post for a hat trick.
Down 3-2, the Mounties doubled their efforts in the final minutes, forcing a difficult kick save from Hodges two minutes later. In the final seconds Tuscola sent a high bouncing ball into Franklin’s box, but Hodges impeded the Mountie attacker to preserve the win.
“We made a mistake early on in the first half that put us down one-nil at halftime, but what I love is that’s the most fight that we’ve seen coming back into the game,” said head coach Bryan Wilkinson after the match. “To go down, come back, go down again, and then to come back 3-2 after you’ve gone down 2-1, it shows character and fight. It’s a battle, it’s a scrap, and we don’t have the most ideal facilities – the fields are off – and so every game’s going to be like that. To see Kevin step up and the leaders step up [while] we’re carrying injuries, I’m real proud of them – they did very well.”