Crown us ... again. Soccer Dawgs win 10th-straight regional crown

Franklin County High School’s boys varsity soccer team claimed its 10th-straight district championship on Wednesday, Jan. 19 by knocking off the West Lincoln Bears, 1-0, on the road.

“It was an intense and physical game for us,” FC Soccer Dawgs Head Coach Jeff Long said following the game. “In the game, we outshot West Lincoln, 21-5, but managed only one goal.”

FC’s game-winning score came off a penalty kick by Parker Jordan after teammate Parker Marcengill was taken down in the box by West Lincoln.

“(Jordan) has been working hard on his free kicks for the past two years, was asked to take this shot and he responded,” Long continued.

“We asked a lot of our players to step up in this game because two — Kolby Cox and Landon Furlow — were out with season-ending injuries and Xavien Felton was out with an illness.”

On offense, Jamari Tolliver, Nathan Griffin and Marcengill paced the Soccer Dawgs with four shots each while Keyundre Felton and Terrence Fields had two apiece.

Drew Mullins, Kennon Johnson, Mason Emfinger, Zachary Kent and Jordan each recorded one shot for FC.

Griffin led the way with two shots on goal while Tolliver, Keyundre Felton, Marcengill and Jordan tacked on one each.

The defense had an impressive night with 72 total stops, with Kent and Johnson pacing the Dawgs’ effort with 10 each.

Others collecting take-aways against West Lincoln included: Colton Shaw, 8; Ethan Touchstone, 8; Keyundre Felton, 5; Fields, 5; Emfinger, 4; Griffin, 4; Tolliver, 4; Marcengill, 4; Chris Carraway, 3; Drew Mullins, 3; Jordan, 3; and Preston Cupit, 1.

Dakota Chisholm went the distance for FC as goalkeeper and collected this fifth shut-out win of the season along with five saves against West Lincoln.

He has 11 wins in goal for the 2021-2022 season.

Long said his boys’ program battled its way through some tough times during the season and found ways to persevere through it all.

“We rarely had our team at full strength throughout the entire regular season,” he continued. “Injuries, illnesses and disciplinary actions forced us to rely on some younger players stepping up. They filled in at different positions and picked up the slack.

“Our guys dug deep and found ways to win and collect a 10th-straight district title.”

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FC 3, HAZLEHURST 0

The Soccer Dawgs did not get the chance to face off against Hazlehurst last week as the Indians were dealing with coronavirus protocols and forfeited the contest, which went down as a 3-0 victory by Franklin County on the season tally sheet.

FC’s season record improved to 15-3-3 with last week’s wins with the team ending district play with a 10-0 mark.

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UPCOMING GAMES

Franklin County was slated to host Southeast Lauderdale in the first round of boys’ post-season play on Tuesday, Jan. 25.

Results of that contest were not available at press time, but will be posted online and will appear in next week’s print edition of The Franklin Advocate.