PEARL RIVER — Franklinton trailed just 1-0 at halftime, but allowed six second-half goals in a 7-0 loss to Pearl River on the road Friday.
“I don’t know, it just seemed like maybe we tried to give too much individual effort the second half versus a team effort and the only way we’re going to be successful against teams that have a fair degree of skill like Pearl River, we’re going to have to play team soccer,” Franklinton coach Nate Murray said. “If we play our game, there’s no reason we don’t hang with them and possibly win, but there has to be a mindset of commitment from our kids throughout the week and during the offseason.”
Franklinton’s defense was solid throughout the first half as the Demons trailed just 1-0 at halftime.
The Demons’ defense did a good job of keeping Pearl River from using the middle of the field and forcing the Rebels outside and keeper Carson Ragas was a wall in net.
“It’s the first year (Ragas) has played keeper and it’s a shame he hasn’t played keeper every year we’ve had him because he’s been a presence in the back that has saved a lot of goals for us,” Murray said. “But the bottom line is, we’ve got to score goals to win and we didn’t score tonight. We had some opportunities in the first half, but those didn’t pan out.
“It’s tough getting down a man too (a player for Franklinton got two yellow cards; the second was in the ninth minute of the second half). It’s just tough to do that, being a man down and trying to make some runs. It’s asking a lot of some guys when we don’t have a lot of available substitutions.”
Franklinton held Pearl River scoreless until the 39th minute of the first half. Jason Banegas made a perfect pass to Coltin Pittman, whose header hit the back of the net.
It was 1-0 at halftime.
But the Rebels tallied six goals in the second half.
Pearl River made it 2-0 in the fourth minute of the second half on a goal by Eduar Machado.
Logan Anglin tallied the next two goals in the 17th and 20th minutes for a 4-0 lead.
Yared Alvarado made it 5-0 four minutes later.
The final two goals came late on netters by Machado and Omar Dejli.
Franklinton’s best chances came in the first half, but keeper Blaine Bourgeois was tough in net and held the Demons off of the board.