Greenwood’s Emmanuel Jackson, center, takes a shot that became the first goal of Thursday’s victory at Franklin.
Rob Baker | For the Daily Journal
After losing its season opener against Perry Meridian in heartbreaking fashion, Greenwood wanted to make sure that it got into the win column on Thursday evening.
That the Woodmen did so on the home field of longtime nemesis Franklin made it that much sweeter.
Greenwood scored two first-half goals and held off a furious Grizzly Cub charge down the stretch to earn a 3-2 triumph in Mid-State Conference action.
“Against Perry, we played our hearts out and we almost got the job done,” Woodmen sophomore Emmanuel Jackson said. “But tonight, we just gave it all we had, started off strong with a goal and kept it from there.”
The visitors set the tone early on, generating some pressure that led to a clean look at the goal for senior Alex Baugh. Franklin goalkeeper Cohen Betts was able to make a diving stop, but the attempt got the ball rolling; Greenwood (1-1, 1-1 Mid-State) got two more shots in the 13th minute from Kaden Wilking and Jackson.
Both of those went wide, but Jackson found the mark shortly thereafter. Possessing the ball in a crowd near the top of the box, the young midfielder took a few dribbles to his left to create some space and then fired a left-footed laser just inside the left goalpost with 23:12 to go in the first half.
“I work on that sometimes with my dad after practice,” Jackson said. “Just in, out, in, out, shot — and seeing it in game just feels better.”
The Woodmen doubled their lead in the 29th minute thanks to a fortunate bounce. A loose ball inside the box glanced off several players before taking a bad bounce off the head of a Franklin defender and sailing just beyond the reach of Betts and into the net.
Franklin (0-2, 0-1) came out at the outset of the second half with a greater sense of purpose and knocked on the door throughout the next 10 minutes. A good shot by freshman Aaiden Branch that was smothered by Reynolds. A hard shot from the right by junior Aybram Moore that was knocked aside. A firm point-blank attempt from senior Matt Payne that was deflected away by a Greenwood defender.
But after all of those scoring threats, it was the Woodmen who struck next. With 17:08 remaining in the match, sophomore Jose Moreno fired a right-to-left shot past Betts moments after a corner kick to stretch the margin to 3-0.
Franklin, though, wasn’t done.
Just 84 seconds after Moreno’s tally, the host team caught a break when a Grizzly Cub shot was saved by Greenwood netminder Iker Valle Navarrette — who had just entered the game after the third goal — and then caromed off of a Woodmen player and back into the net.
Another deflection led to Franklin’s second goal. Valle Navarrette saved a Moore penalty kick, but the live ball found its way back to Moore and he knocked it in with 7:08 to go to make it a one-goal game.
That was as close as the Grizzly Cubs got, though. A last-ditch attack led to a shot at the tying goal in the final seconds, but that shot went wide to the left and Greenwood was able to close it out.
Franklin coach Mike Spongberg was proud of his team for battling back and believes the result might have been different if the match had been 10 minutes longer or if his team had brought that same late-game energy from the beginning.
“We’ve got to learn how to play with that intensity for a full 80 minutes,” Spongberg said, “not just simply turn it on and turn it off when we feel like it.”
Greenwood coach Dan Priscu, meanwhile, continues to see progress from his squad, which posted the first winning record in its history last season.
“It is definitely kind of a new feel, because this is the first group that is not used to how things used to be,” he said. “Still some things to learn, but this group is starting to shape into somebody that can give anybody a game, and we’re real proud of that.”
