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Program captures fifth straight district championship

The Franklin County High School girls soccer team beat the Tullahoma Lady Wildcats in a penalty-kick shootout at home Thursday in the District 8AA championship game.

The teams were scoreless through 100 minutes of game time across two halves and two overtime periods with Franklin County getting a 4-3 victory in the shootout to emerge victorious and claim the team’s fifth consecutive district title.

Franklin County head soccer coach Kent Bean said he couldn’t be prouder of how his team performed in a marathon of a game with incredibly high stakes.

“It’s already an emotional night, and then you go into overtime, there’s even more emotion, and then it ends in PKs. That’s a lot of stress on them,” he said, referring to his players. “We had some young girls out there taking those kicks. I’m just proud of them keeping their composure and just them fighting all day.”

Bean also paid tribute to senior goalkeeper Brenna Carroll for recording a shutout in the course of normal play and making two saves during the penalty-kick shootout to help secure the victory.

“We had two great saves by Brenna in the shootout. That’s incredible. It’s tough enough to get one. To get two, that’s just awesome,” he said before summing up his overall feelings on the victory over a long-time rival. “There’s only one thing that feels better than winning, and that’s winning against Tullahoma.”

Franklin County’s best chance to score in the first half came with about 13 minutes remaining in the period as Baggett was able to get the ball around Tullahoma’s charging goalkeeper. However, the opposing goalie recovered and dove on the ball before Baggett could tap a shot across the goal line.

The score was tied at 0-0 at halftime.

Baggett got another shot past Tullahoma’s goalkeeper with 23 minutes to go in the second half, but the ball hit off the front of the left goal post and was ultimately cleared away to keep the score tied.

Valeria Gomez nearly broke the tie for Franklin County with about six minutes left in regulation as she hit an on-target free kick that was headed toward the corner of the net, but Tullahoma’s goalie was able to get a hand on the ball and deflect it just over the goal to leave the game scoreless.

The teams ended the second half tied at 0-0

Overtime consisted of two 10-minute periods with the teams swapping sides in between.

The game was stopped for an extended period of time with 4:36 left in the first overtime period after a majority of the Tullahoma fans in attendance were ejected following a collision between Carroll and an attacker for Tullahoma as Carroll was holding the ball.

The Tullahoma fans took issue with the offensive player for Tullahoma being whistled for a foul on the play, and the head referee for the game ultimately decided to eject almost all of Tullahoma’s cheering section after the crowd continued to dispute the call while the Tullahoma player involved in the play was being tended to for an apparent injury.

When play resumed, neither team was able to get on the board through the rest of the first overtime period or the entire second extra period as the game entered the winner-take-all shootout.

With Tullahoma kicking first for the entire shootout, both teams were successful with their attempts in the first round as Osiris Rodriguez nailed her attempt for Franklin County following an opening strike from the Lady Wildcats.

The score remained tied after the second round as Carroll made a diving stop to deflect Tullahoma’s kick away, and an attempt by Gomez deflected off the top right of the crossbar and out to leave the score at 1-1.

Carroll came up with another big stop in the third round as she handled a kick down the center from Tullahoma’s kicker to give her team another chance at an advantage.

Caitlyn Cashion capitalized on this opportunity as she buried a shot in the back of the net to give Franklin County a 2-1 lead at the shootout’s halfway point.

Both teams added to their score in the fourth round with a brief tying score by Tullahoma being countered by a successful kick from Savannah Parkerson to put Franklin County back in front by a 3-2 margin.

The Lady Wildcats’ fifth kicker hit her shot to tie the score at 3-3 and keep the game going as Karly Neal stepped up for Franklin County with the game on the line.

Neal then came through with the winning shot as she found the back right corner of the net with her kick to clinch the 4-3 victory in the shootout as the team celebrated near midfield.

Following the conclusion of the tournament, Baylor Russell, Cashion, Rodriguez, Parkerson, Baggett, Cali Banks and Sadie Moore were named to the all-tournament team. Carroll was named the MVP of the District 8AA tournament.

Cashion, Samantha Pfister, Banks and Russell were named first-team all-district for the season, and Moore, Neal, Mollye Casey and Gomez were named second-team all-district.

For individual district awards, Rodriguez was named as a co-MVP, Parkerson was recognized as the Defensive Player of the Year, Carroll received co-Goalie of the Year honors, and Baggett was named a co-Freshman of the Year.

With the win, Franklin County improved to 14-3-1 on the season.

The girls soccer team will next play Tuesday at home against DeKalb County High School in a semifinal game for the Region 4AA tournament. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.