In an intense and oftentimes contentious Mid-State Conference boys soccer matchup, Franklin ended Whiteland’s five-match shutout streak, but fell just short of ending the host Warriors’ six-match win streak.
After falling behind 4-0, the Grizzly Cubs responded with three second-half goals, all from Owen Atkison, but couldn’t find the net a fourth time as the Warriors escaped with a 4-3 conference victory.
“We always want to beat Franklin,” said Whiteland striker Shawn Sullivan, who matched Atkison’s three goals. “We’ve only beaten them like, once in school history. We were playing really hard in the beginning and were really confident, and then in the second half, I think we slowed down a little bit. (Franklin) is a good team, so you can’t do that.”
Whiteland (7-3, 3-1) has now won its last seven matches after dropping its first three. It appeared to be on its way to a sixth straight shutout, but Franklin (4-4, 3-1) erased that opportunity with a dominant second half.
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The Grizzly Cubs, who controlled the ball for the majority of the second half, scored their first goal when Atkison tapped the ball into the net amidst a crowd of defenders from just a few feet out with 30:14 to play. He scored again on a penalty kick with 12:51 left, and he connected again from 25 yards out with 2:18 to play.
That third goal made for some nervous moments on the Whiteland sideline, but the Warriors fended off the Cubs’ challenges from there.
“We know (Sullivan) is really, really good, and we let him have his way in the first half,” Franklin coach Tony Harris said. “He’s handsy, he plays the game hard, the refs let him play a little bit, and that got us beat. In the second half, we attacked them, and it changed the way the game went down.”
All three of Sullivan’s goals came on breakaways. Drake White set up his third and final goal, and then Mason Mendoza’s goal from the right side with 5:27 remaining in the first half gave Whiteland a 4-0 lead and proved to be the difference.
“I knew at halftime when we were up 4-0 that that game was not over,” Whiteland coach Justin VanHorn said. “We weathered the storm for a while, but then they started scoring goals and our guys started getting nervous, but they weathered it.
“We are clicking as a group,” VanHorn added, referring to the difference between the Warriors’ early-season struggles and their current success. “We just came out of the gate against some good teams, but we’re finding our stride at the right time. Now we’ve got to hope that Franklin knocks off Plainfield (Whiteland’s lone league loss) so we can get a share of the conference.”
Whiteland returns to action Monday at Greenwood Christian. Franklin will host Brownsburg on Saturday.
