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The Franklin County High School girls soccer team beat the Giles County Lady Bobcats 7-1 at home Tuesday in a semifinal game for the District 8AA tournament.

Franklin County pulled away early and fully turned the game into a blowout with a flurry of goals late in the second half as the team advanced to the district championship game.

Franklin County head soccer coach Kent Bean said a defense-focused game plan from the Lady Bobcats frustrated his offense for most of the day, but his players were able to eventually break through to secure the victory by a wide margin.

“We controlled the game pretty much the whole time. We gave up one shot and one goal off a quick counter, but when you’re on the attack so much, you can kind of fall asleep on defense,” he said. “I thought the girls played well, handled it and were patient. It paid off in the end. Eventually, we wore them down.”

Franklin County’s first goal came about two minutes after the opening kickoff as Baylor Russell received a pass from Sadie Moore and tapped the ball past the opposing goalkeeper.

Russell scored again with about 10 minutes to go in the first half as she found the net with a shot off an assist from Caitlyn Cashion for her second goal of the day and her 13^th of the season to make it a 2-0 game.

Franklin County’s lead grew further in the final seconds of the first half as Carly Smith received a pass from Baylor Russell and took a shot which bounced off the inside of the left goal post and rolled across the line with eight seconds remaining in the period. It was the first goal of the season for Carly Smith.

Franklin County led 3-0 at halftime.

The deficit continued to grow in the second half as Cali Banks redirected a corner kick from Osiris Rodriguez into the net with 28 minutes left in the contest to push the score up to 4-0.

Franklin County’s momentum was briefly halted with 24 minutes to go as Russell left the game with an apparent injury. Bean said after the game that the severity of Russell’s injury was unknown at the time, but his team will need to be prepared for whatever comes next as the postseason continues.

“We’ve relied on depth all year, and that’s kind of the whole reason,” he said, referring to the ever-present potential of injuries to key players. “If (Russell’s) not able to go, it’ll be a huge loss for us, but everybody else has just got to step up and fill shoes.”

About a minute after play resumed, the Lady Bobcats created a breakaway opportunity and scored on their only shot of the day to make it a 4-1 game with 22:28 remaining.

However, Franklin County went back on the attack in the last 10 minutes of the game with Cashion firing a shot in from just outside the goal box with 8:18 to go to bring the score to 5-1. It was the second goal of the season for Cashion, and Valeria Gomez provided the assist on the play.

A long pass from Karly Neal was received by Banks in front of the goal with seven minutes left, and Banks put a shot into the net from there for her second goal of the day and her 15^th of the season as the lead grew to 6-1 late.

Ruby Webb provided the final blow for Franklin County as she scored off a corner-kick assist from Carly Smith with one minute left to put the final deficit at six. It was Ruby Webb’s first goal of the year.

With the win, Franklin County improved to 13-3-1 on the season.

The girls soccer team will next play Thursday at home against Tullahoma High School in the District 8AA championship game. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.