FC girls blank District 7 soccer rivals Hazlehurst, Bogue Chitto

Franklin County’s varsity Lady Soccer Dawgs sewed up the top seed ranking in Mississippi High School Activities Association Class I District 7 play with key regional wins over Hazlehurst and Bogue Chitto.

The wins lifted FC to 9-0 in the region.

As a whole, Franklin County’s girls saw their season mark settle at 14-3-2 with a non-district loss to Ridgeland on Saturday, Jan. 14.

“I’m very happy for this team, and especially our seniors, who have been determined to lead this team to a successful and fun season,” FC Head Coach Jeff Long said.

“They took back the district title and have put this team in a good position for the playoffs. Their leadership, along with (Assistant) Coach Dana Smith’s efforts throughout this season, have really paid off.”

FC 7, HAZLEHURST 0

Lilly Hutto’s hat trick – three goals scored – helped set the tempo for Franklin County’s 7-0 shut-out victory over the Hazlehurst Lady Indians.

Also, Brooklynn Cupit scored two goals and Gre’yone Queen and Karlee Wallace found the net once each in the affair.

Queen and Kaitlyn Fussell had one assist each against the visiting team.

In all, the Lady Soccer Dawgs had 34 total shots and an impressive 21 shots on goal with Hutto’s eight shots and five SOG and Cupit’s seven shots and four SOG pacing the squad.

Karlee Wallace and Queen had six and five shots, respectively, with the duo credited with three shots on goal while Fussell finished with three shots and two SOG.

Briana Stokes and Edniya Gordon had two shots each with the former having two shots on goal and the latter having a single SOG.

Addison Lunsford had a single shot and SOG.

Defensively, Franklin County collected 59 stops with Addison Cooper having seven take-aways and Amberly Wallace, Braxton Martin, Karlee Wallace, Ken’niya McGowan and Hutto with six apiece.

Others with steals included: Carmon Coleman, five; Cupit, Fussell and Queen, three; and Lunsford, Stokes, Gordon, Jayla Ward, Bradi Wallace, Kendra Jones, Marlee Tindle and Meg Kelly, one each.

Goalkeeper Katherine Romero earned the shut-out win in the 60 minute, mercy-rule shortened competition.

FC 6, BOGUE CHITTO 0

The Lady Soccer Dawgs scored late in the first half and five more times after intermission to cruise to a 6-0 win over Bogue Chitto on Tuesday, Jan. 17 at the Dawg House.

Cupit and Amberly Wallace each scored two goals as Gordon and Fussell had a single goal apiece to help seal the victory.

Fussell and Karlee Wallace combined for two assists each offensively and Hutto added one.

With 34 shots in the game by FC, the team had 22 shots on goal.

Hutto and Karlee Wallace combined for seven shots apiece with the former claiming five shots on goal and the latter having three SOG.

Cupit wound up with six shots and three shots on goal while Amberly Wallace and Fussell had five shots each with four and three SOG, respectively. Gordon and Queen had two shots and two SOG each.

Sixty-nine defensive stops were made by Franklin County in the outing with Cooper setting the pace with eight and Martin, McGowan, Tindle and Karlee Wallace finishing with seven apiece.

Hutto and Coleman each had six take-aways while Cupit and Fussell were credited with five apiece.

Other defensive stops were made by Amberly Wallace, four; Queen, three; Gordon, two; and Kelly and Bradi Wallace, one each.

Romero earned another keeper’s victory thanks to two saves during the course of the contest.

RIDGELAND 2, FC 1

Franklin County scored in the first half and Ridgeland scored once each in the two halves of the game to take a non-district win over the Lady Soccer Dawgs on Saturday, Jan. 14.

Fussell scored FC’s lone goal and Cupit had her squad’s single assist against Ridgeland.

The Lady Dawgs had 12 shots and six shots on goal with Fussell and Karlee Wallace having three shots apiece with two and one SOG, respectively. Hutto, Queen and Cupit recorded two shots and one shot on goal each.

Amberly Wallace had 10 of Franklin County’s 70 defensive stops against Ridgeland as Cooper and McGowan added nine take-aways and Martin and Karlee Wallace had eight each. Hutto wound up with six stops for FC while Coleman tacked on five, Tindle contributed four and Fussell, Queen and Cupit were credited with three each.

Additionally, Gordon had two stops.

Despite surrendering two goals, Romero accounted for eight keeper saves in front of the net.