The Columbus North and Franklin Central boys soccer teams remained in a deadlock throughout much of Thursday night’s Conference Indiana East Division contest.
The Flashes and Bull Dogs had many chances to break the tie in the first half. In the second half, the offense finally woke up.
Franklin Central struck first to break the scoreless tie. North then picked two goals of their own to take the lead. Despite emotions running high toward the end and the Flashes attempts of adding another goal, the Bull Dogs hung on for 2-1 victory.
“Franklin Central did a good job, and they are a good team,” North coach Andy Glover said. “We didn’t exactly put together a mature performance in the first half, and the team realized that and deserved much better. These guys stepped up to the challenge in the second half.”
The Bull Dogs’ go ahead goal came in the 61st minute. Alex McGill, who looked to be offside when he received the touch pass, was on a wide-open breakaway to the goal. He kicked the ball past Flashes keeper Drew Mueller and into the net.
“The second half, we kept our heads up, and we kept the ball and got some good deflections, and it went it,” McGill said.
McGill also scored the first goal of the game for North (2-2, 1-0).
Franklin Central’s goal came in the 47th minute when Jaron King booted the shot past Bull Dogs keeper Mark Salle-Tabor for a 1-0 lead.
North finished with 10 shots, with seven of them on goal. The Flashes had 11 shots, with seven on goal.
Salle-Tabor and Zach Green, who was the keeper in the first half combined to record six saves.
