Franklin County, Huntland soccer teams compete in playday

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The girls soccer teams of Franklin County High School and Huntland High competed in a playday event on Saturday at FCHS as a final tune-up before the start of the 2023 season.

A majority of the scrimmages at the event consisted of a single 30-minute period with the final contest of the day between Franklin County and Spring Hill involving two 20-minutes halves.

The first matchup for the playday saw the Huntland Lady Hornets take on Franklin County’s JV team with Franklin County winning by a score of 2-0.

Ruby Webb got Franklin County on the board as she scored a goal about 11 minutes into the exhibition contest.

Gracen Baggett added a score of her own in the final seconds of the matchup to seal the win for the JV Franklin County squad.

After a brief break, the Lady Hornets then took on Franklin County’s varsity team with Franklin County emerging victorious again by a 3-0 margin.

Baylor Russell struck the first blow for Franklin County as she found the net with a shot about eight minutes into the scrimmage.

The lead would be doubled with 17 minutes to go as Cali Banks broke through for a score, and Banks scored again about 12 minutes later to put the game out of reach and give Huntland the loss by three.

The Lady Hornets ended their portion of the playday with a 4-0 loss to the Webb School Feet.

The Lady Hornets put their backups into the game for the entire scrimmage against Webb in an effort to get younger members of the roster experience on the field before the regular season began.

The game was scoreless until the 10-minute mark when the Feet scored directly off of a free kick from midfield which found the back of the net.

The Feet added two more goals in the next 10 minutes to put the Lady Hornets in a sizable 3-0 hole in the final third of the scrimmage.

The Feet scored one more time about seven minutes remaining to put the final deficit at four.

On the other field for the day, Franklin County took on the Smyrna Lady Bulldogs in varsity action with the scrimmage ultimately ending in a 0-0 draw.

The Lady Hornets were scheduled to have one more varsity scrimmage against Spring Hill, but an approaching thunderstorm led to a lengthy delay which ultimately required the schedule for the event to be rearranged.

When play was able to resume, Franklin County’s JV team took the field to play the Spring Hill JV Lady Raiders in what would be a 1-0 loss.

The Lady Raiders scored the lone goal of the contest with about 16 minutes remaining to put Franklin County behind for the first time at the event.

Franklin County was not able to find a goal in the time remaining before ultimately taking a loss.

The schools then had their varsity teams take the field with Franklin County and the Spring Hill Lady Raiders playing to a 1-1 draw.

The Lady Raiders were again the first team on the board as they scored about eight minutes into the first half to give Franklin County an early deficit.

Franklin County struck back before halftime, however, as Carly Smith fired a shot from the top of the goal box which got the past the opposing goalkeeper for an equalizer.

The score was tied at 1-1 at halftime.

Neither team was able to break the tie throughout the second half as the scrimmage would go to a draw.

On the other field, Franklin County’s JV squad took on the Smyrna JV Lady Bulldogs and closed out the day with a 4-0 win.

Riley Howell provided a pair of scores in the scrimmage while Baggett and Ruby Metcalf added one goal each to give the team its final edge.

The FCHS girls soccer team will open its 2023 season Tuesday at Lawrence County High School. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.

The Lady Hornets will have their first game of the 2023 season Thursday at Community High School. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.

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