Photos and Story by: Charles Pulliam (@cspulliam)
FRANKLIN – It might not have been the best showing for the Franklin High School boys soccer team Tuesday night, but the Admirals will take it, especially in the always tough District 11-AAA.
Franklin captured a 3-2 victory at home against Ravenwood to improve to 5-1 overall.
"We did enough to win with some great individual efforts to get some great goals," Admirals coach Mike Burgoyne said. "It definitely wasn't our best 80 minutes together, but that's because Ravenwood is a great team … luckily we just found a way to score one more goal than they did."
The match featured seven players – four Raptors and three Admirals – on the pitch against one another for the first time since winning the Mid South Conference under-19 title together on a team that featured plenty of other Williamson County players in mid-March. The group Tuesday combined for three goals and three assists.
"We all know one another pretty well, so we just decided we were going to charge, charge and go at them and go at them until we break them down," Franklin's Bradley Whelan said. "They're a great team so it feels good to get this one."
Whelan, one of those travel team members, scored twice in the match, including a strike from about 30 yards to give Franklin a 3-1 cushion in the 62nd. Landon Robbins scored the Admirals second tally with a booming kick from the 40 to the upper left of the goal just five minutes earlier, but the Raptors didn't back down.
Jaydon Chisolm scored in front of the net on a feed from Nick Dang in the 65th to make it 3-2. Benji Wright produced several breakaway opportunities for Franklin late, but couldn't convert as Ravenwood's keeper Joey Goslak made several tough saves as well. Franklin freshman Aiden Moss also continued to impress in goal for the Admirals on the other end turning away several looks down the stretch.
"The boys didn't give up and battled all the way to the final whistle," Ravenwood coach Adam Harris said. "I was really proud of their effort.
"We knew they were very good going forward and we worked on some things and had some success, but it's easier said than done."
Harris was frustrated when his team allowed an early goal for the second match in a row after Whalen fired a rocket off a Jack Shields pass from the top left of the box just 90 seconds into the match for the early advantage.
Ravenwood recovered and managed several opportunities while controlling the tempo for much of the first half. The Raptors scored the first-half equalizer in the 31st when Dang converted a header off a perfectly-placed free kick by Dominic Miller. Ravenwood's top look prior was turned away by Shields near the midway point in the opening half after Moss was stranded high.
Burgoyne's team produced 25 goals in their previous four matches heading into Tuesday.
"I don't know if they were just expecting all these goals to start rolling in, but Ravenwood started to out-play us," said the coach, who also celebrated his birthday Tuesday. "I'm ultimately happy we got the result, but I know we can do better. It's a good message for us moving forward."
The Admirals head to Mt. Juliet Thursday before battling Brentwood in another district clash next week at home.
Ravenwood (2-3-3) hosts Father Ryan Friday and takes on Summit in Spring Hill next week.
