Three second half goals by the Fort Mill boys’ soccer team powered them over the Nation Ford Falcons.
Fort Mill won 3-0 to improve to 6-4 overall and 3-3 in Region 3-5A and the Falcons dropped to 5-9 and 2-4 in the region. The match was a tale of two halves for the Jackets.
“One of the most simple things we did was create chances,” said Fort Mill head boys’ coach Henry Kalungi. “Nation Ford did a good job in the first half. We cleaned things up at the half. This is something we can build on.”
The Falcons opened with a corner kick about two minutes into play coming up empty in the process. Nation Ford controlled the first five minutes, before possession started being more 50-50.
Fort Mill got an early shot on goal in the nine-minute mark, but Falcons’ keeper Alex Schifano was able to make the save.
A Jackets player for a yellow card about 16 minutes in the first half leading to a free kick for the Falcons about midfield.
Fort Mill had two shots on goal soon after but Schifano made some clean saves. The Jackets got their first corner kick of the game midway through the first half, but the shot was long.
The Falcons got their first true shot on goal at the 29-minute mark, but Cullen Patterson made the save in goal for the Jackets. Three minutes later Nation Ford drew a yellow card, as the Jackets came up short on the kick.
The remaining eight minutes of the first half was controlled by Fort Mill as they had several good looks at the goal, but were unable to convert anything. That led to both teams going into the locker room scoreless.
In the second half, Fort Mill started strong and scored on a breakaway up the middle as Carter Eppes launched a shot up into the top right corner to put the Jackets on the board about 56 seconds into play. Fort Mill continued to control possession and got another close shot off within the first five minutes of the second half.
The Jackets controlled possession more through much of the second half despite the Falcons occasionally getting good looks about midway through.
Fort Mill added a second goal in the 62nd minute off the foot of Andrew Kowalski slipping the ball into the bottom right corner for the Jackets.
Things got a little chippy with about 11 minutes remaining in the second half. Fort Mill was shown another yellow card, but again the Falcons failed to score on the kick.
Nation Ford started controlling the ball more with about 10 minutes left in the game, but Fort Mill again capitalized on a breakaway with Eppes scoring his second goal of the match in the 75th minute to put the Jackets up 3-0.
Mac Banks: mac@fortmillprepsports.com, @fortprep
