For nearly 75 minutes of Monday night’s 13th District boys soccer championship match, it had been a quiet night for Franklin-Simpson’s leading goal-scorer on the season, Oscar Lopez. Important note, for nearly 75 minutes.
Lopez broke a 3-3 tie with two goals in the final 5 ½ minutes of the match to give the Wildcats a 5-3 win over the Todd County Central Rebels, ending the Rebels’ bid to win back-to-back district titles. The win was the Wildcats’ third over Todd County Central this season.
The Wildcats got on the board first when Brody McAlister was able to head in a crossing pass from the left side to give Franklin-Simpson a 1-0 lead at the 8:30 mark.
The Rebels responded with a pair of goals over the next 15 minutes, with a little help from the Wildcats.
Spencer Pool’s shot at the 11:00 found the net after making contact with a Franklin-Simpson defender to pull the Rebels even at 1-1.
It happened again at 23:15 when Jason Salazar’s shot bounced off a defender into the net and gave Todd County Central a 2-1 lead.
Less than six minutes later, the Wildcats pulled even when Brody McAlister broke open on a run down the middle. McAlister got his shot past John Mark Campbell to tie the match at 2-2 at the 29:00.
Franklin-Simpson got back to the lead at the 38:30 when Andy Garcia got through congestion in the box and found the net to put the Wildcats up 3-2 going into the half.
The second half began with the Wildcats turning up the pressure on the Rebel defense. The Todd Central defense responded, keeping the Wildcats out of the net for much of the half, including two big stops near the 55:00 mark, which included a diving save from John Mark Campbell on a shot that appeared to be headed in and might have locked up the win. The Rebels also slammed the door on the ensuing corner kick, which also appeared to be a certain score.
Todd County Central broke through and grabbed the momentum at the 67:30 mark. The Wildcats were called for a hand-ball off a corner kick right in front of the goal. Memphis Bell drilled the penalty kick and set the stage for Oscar Lopez.
Lopez broke the tie at the 74:30 mark when he broke clear on a run down the middle of the field and rocketed a left-footed shot into the top right corner to put the Wildcats up 4-3.
Lopez then nailed down the win two minutes later when he crossed through traffic in the box to the left side and sent another left-footed shot into the right side of the net to send Franklin-Simpson to the title.
Franklin-Simpson (14-6-1) and Todd County Central (12-7-0) will now both advance to the 4th Region tournament. The draw for the tournament is Friday morning in Bowling Green.
Three Rebels were named to the All 13th District team, which was based on regular season play. Those three were Memphis Bell, Charlie Campbell, and Sam Perez.
