Soccer Dawgs blank Hornets, Bears

Franklin County High School’s varsity boys soccer program polished off a pair of district foes — beating Loyd Star, 3-0, on Friday, Dec. 16 and mauling West Lincoln, 8-0, on Monday, Dec. 12 — to enter the Christmas break with a 4-0 record in Class I District 7 play.

For the regular season thus far, the Soccer Dawgs are 11-0-1 overall.

FC 3, LOYD STAR 0

In a game pushed back a day following severe weather that blanketed the area last week, Franklin County traveled to Loyd Star and shut out the Hornets, 3-0.

“We had a sluggish start, but, once we began to play our game, things started opening up and we were able to execute,” FCHS Head Soccer Coach Jeff Long said.

The two squads battled to a 0-0 first-half tie with all of Franklin’s goals coming after intermission.

Landon Furlow found the net twice for the Soccer Dawgs thanks to feeds from Jamari Tolliver and Kolby Cox.

FC’s Jaquez Anderson also recorded a goal and Xavien Felton had an assist for the visiting team.

As a whole, Franklin County had 33 shots and 16 shots on goal with Furlow recording eight shots and four SOG.

Tolliver finished with six shots and three shots on goal with Anderson, Cox and Xavien Felton all credited with four shots and two SOG.

In addition, Terrance Fields had three shots and Keyundre Felton added two shots with the duo having one shot on goal apiece.

Chris Carraway had a shot and shot on goal and Tim Hutto earned a shot.

Defensively, Franklin County had 86 stops against the Hornets with Mason Emfinger and Fields combining for 11 each.

Parker Jordan saw eight take-aways for the Soccer Dawgs while Furlow, Cox, Drew Mullins and Preston Cupit added seven apiece.

Other players with defensive stops included: Xavien Felton, six; Carraway, six; Tolliver, five; Anderson, four; Keyundre Felton, three; Mason Orr, one; Max Turner, one; Parker Cupit, one; and Tim Hutto, one.

Goalkeeper Dakota Chisholm earned a shut-out against Loyd Star along with six saves to his credit.

FC 8, WEST LINCOLN 0

Franklin County dominated West Lincoln last week by not only scoring eight goals in 50 minutes of play, but also outshooting the Bears 37-5 before the game was called.

The Soccer Dawgs amassed 20 shots on goal in the outing.

“The boys put on a show, but the scary thing is we can play better,” Long said. “We missed several opportunities that should have been converted easily.

“Tolliver did a great job in setting up teammates for scoring chances and might have had five assists if those passes had been converted.

“Defensively, we were solid, but can do better getting involved in the attack instead of clearing everything.”

Still, Long said he was pleased with FC’s effort as he said his team played with passion and speed, which are two winning traits that are hard to beat.

Furlow and Tolliver both scored twice against West Lincoln with Anderson, Cox, Fields and Parker Cupit each finding the inside of the net once.

Cox led Franklin County with three assists as Tolliver had two and Fields, Tim Hutto and Xavien Felton had one each.

Tolliver paced the winning effort with eight shots and five shots on goal as Furlow tacked on seven shots and four SOG and Cox added six shots with two SOG.

Fields and Anderson both wound up with five shots apiece with the former credited with three shots on goal and the latter earning two SOG.

Xavien Felton finished with four shots and two shots on goal while teammates Keyundre Felton and Parker Cupit had one shot and one SOG each.

FC collected 52 defensive steals against West Lincoln with Emfinger and Fields combining for a team-high six apiece.

Carraway, Mullins, Cox, Furlow and Jordan accounted for five stops each.

Tolliver, Xavien Felton and Preston Cupit had four steals apiece with two for Anderson and one for Keyundre Felton.

Chisholm had two saves as keeper and earned the shut-out

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UPCOMING GAMES

Franklin County is slated to return to soccer action after the Christmas-New Year holidays with a non-district road game on Tuesday, Jan. 3 at Purvis.

The Soccer Dawgs will play at home on Thursday, Jan. 5 against West Lincoln with Purvis also playing the FC boys’ team at the Dawg House the following day.

Two more district games are on tap the following week at home as Franklin County takes on Wesson on Tuesday, Jan. 10 and Loyd Star on Thursday, Jan. 12.