Whiteland’s Ethan Boone, right, heads the ball during Thursday’s match at Franklin.
Chris Williams | For the Daily Journal
In recent years, Franklin-Whiteland boys soccer matches have provided some of the county’s best sporting drama, with numerous white-knuckle finishes.
The host Grizzly Cubs didn’t allow for any such drama on Thursday evening.
Ethan Elsner scored once in each half and Franklin padded its lead atop the Mid-State Conference standings with a comfortable 6-0 victory.
“When we get to going in that first half, and we can lock them in and press, we just have the size to impose some things with corner kicks,” Franklin coach Tony Harris said. “We didn’t score enough on them, but we just keep it down there, and it just mounts pressure.”
The Grizzly Cubs (6-1, 4-0) applied heavy pressure from the outset, racking up five corner kicks in the first four minutes of play. Those set pieces yielded a handful of opportunities, but Whiteland junior goalkeeper Jake Witherington turned away three early shots, including a pair at close range, to keep the game scoreless.
Late in the eighth minute, though, Franklin broke through after junior Matt Payne was taken down inside the box on a breakaway. Senior Cole Hufford converted the ensuing penalty kick with 31:34 left in the first half, and the floodgates quickly opened.
Senior Dylan Harris made it a 2-0 game three and a half minutes later, charging in just in time to hammer home a rebound goal after Witherington had deflected the initial attempt. Elsner then got the first of his two tallies, banking a shot home off the inside of the left goal post with 21:15 remaining on the first-half clock. Payne assisted on that score.
“Just a lot of mistakes early on, and that’s hard to come back from,” Whiteland coach Justin VanHorn said after the loss. “Franklin’s a really good team, and you can’t let teams like that jump on you. They’re really good at set pieces — throw-ins, corners — and we just gave up a lot of those.”
A well-placed cross by sophomore Aybram Moore found its way to senior Riley Flora at the back door, making it 4-0 in the 22nd minute, and junior Jace Patterson put in the fifth Grizzly Cub goal nine minutes before intermission.
The Warriors (2-6-2, 0-1-2) had an apparent goal waved off late in the half due to an offside call.
Elsner’s second goal came just seconds after halftime, as he cashed in on a right-to-left cross from classmate Brayden Petro.
Franklin netminder Adam Ott wasn’t tested often, but the senior did make three saves in his 75 minutes of action. Backup Cohen Betts made a stop as time expired to preserve the clean sheet.
Witherington was considerably busier at the other end; he finished the night with 16 saves.
“He’s really stepped up,” VanHorn said. “His freshman year, he didn’t play goalkeeper; he played field for JV. He decided he wanted to make the jump, and it’s been a nice insert from Nolan (Ferguson) a few years ago. He’s really kind of coming into his own now, so we’re excited about that.”
The Grizzly Cubs, meanwhile, are excited about chasing their first conference title in a decade. With three games left, they’re holding a clear inside track at this point.
“These seniors have not won it, so it’s a big deal,” Harris said of potentially winning that league crown.
