After holding Perry Meridian boys soccer team to one goal in the second half, the game quickly got away from Franklin quickly in the second half.
“At the end of the day, they’ve got more horses than we got,” Franklin coach Tony Harris said. “We played them earlier in the year and lost 6-3. We had a game plan in the first half and it didn’t go completely our way with a couple of mistakes. They just attack you all night long. It’s been the story for us all year, but they’re a good, good team.”
Bawi Ting Lian scored three goals in the Falcons’ 5-0 victory over the Grizzly Cubs Tuesday night in the first round of the Class 3A Sectional 13 at Center Grove. Perry Meridian (11-3-1) will meet Southport, an 8-0 winner over Greenwood in Tuesday’s opener, in the 7 p.m. semifinal today.
Center Grove will play Roncalli at 5 p.m.
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Francis Ballah and Sang Lian had the other two goals for Perry Meridian, which scored two goals in less than two minutes to take a 4-0 lead with 27-plus minutes left.
"They bring so many weapons at you from all angles and all over the field," Harris said.
It was the final game for nine Grizzly Cub seniors, including six starters.
“We have a big group of freshmen and sophomores that are coming on and I’m happy with the program is at, but we’re going to miss these nine seniors,” said Harris, whose team finishes 5-12.
Like Franklin, Greenwood coach Dan Weber is impressed with Mid-State Conference rival Perry. However, he said Southport might be even a bit better.
“They’re very good, they’re very complete and they’re very fast,” Weber said. “When you tire one out, they’ve got more coming in that are just as good and just as fast. We played two teams ranked higher, but that was the best team we faced this year.”
Southport scored seven goals in the opening half.
“We’re young and we had a much better second half,” Weber said. “They were still shooting; it’s not like they backed off, and we were able to hold them to one goal. That’s a positive. I started one freshman, sometimes two and started at least three sophomores.”
The Woodmen lose four seniors, three of them starters.
“I’m excited about our future because I know we’re young,” Weber said. “I know we have a lot of young talent. We’ve just got to get the experience. Even though we’re playing a good team, you have to learn from it and get better. We had three wins and a tie. I feel like we should have had six wins. I think they’ll get better as time goes, and over the next couple of years I think you’ll see Greenwood make a name for itself.”
