For sixty-five minutes Monday night, the Christian County Colonels had Franklin-Simpson right where they wanted them. The Colonels had battled the Wildcats to a 0-0 tie as their match on the pitch at the Stadium of Champions entered the final 15 minutes.
Both teams had seen their opportunities throughout the night. Both had seen those opportunities turned away.
Then Franklin-Simpson senior Ben Banton took over. Banton pulled a hat trick over the final 15 minutes of the contest as the Wildcats took home a 3-1 win at the Stadium of Champions.
As the second half of play moved on, the match had all the feeling that the first team to score would end up winning, and that proved all too true for the Colonels.
Banton found the net for the first time at the 65:00 mark after Christian County goalie Josh Settle deflected a pass in front of the net, Banton took the deflection and drilled the shot to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead. Before the Colonels could catch their breath, Banton struck again, this time at the 67:45 mark to extend the lead to 2-0.
The Wildcats would then seal the win when Banton found the net off a three-on-one break to push the margin to 3-0 at the 79:00 mark.
Christian County added a late goal following a huge collision in front of the Franklin-Simpson net in the waning seconds to avoid the shutout as Brian Linares scored to make the final score 3-1.
For the first 60 minutes or so, the match played out fairly even in terms of possession and shots on goal. However, Franklin-Simpson controlled most of the final 20 minutes, spending a significant part of that time in Christian County’s end of the field.
Franklin-Simpson goes to 1-0 with the win, while the Colonels fall to 0-1.
Christian County is set to return to action Saturday morning when they host Webster County.
One postgame note, the Colonels’ contest with Hopkinsville that was postponed due to the Tigers being in COVID protocols has been rescheduled for September 7.
