The Hopkinsville boys’ soccer team earned a couple of wins in the Colonel Showcase at the Stadium of Champions on Saturday, holding on to get past Owensboro 5-4 and breezing past Franklin-Simpson 8-0. The Tigers took 2nd place behind Graves County, and improve to 10-5-1 overall.
Just as it had on Thursday in a 5-2 loss to McCracken County, the Tiger attack got started quickly against the Red Devils. Within 18 minutes, Hoptown led 4-0 and looked to be in control. Welby Horn finished off an assist from Zach Moore in the opening minutes, and Tyler Greenwell doubled the lead soon after. Ryan Roussel scored unassisted, before Zach Bryant found the back of the net off a pass from Greenwell. Joshua Head got a goal back for Owensboro with 14 minutes left, and the Tigers led 4-1 at the half.
The Red Devils pulled to within 2 when Head converted a penalty kick just a couple of minutes into the second half. The Tigers held the Red Devils at bay until Andrew Saltsman scored with 15 minutes to play. Owensboro evened the score inside of the last 10 minutes on a goal by Grayson McFarland, and looked likely to score again. However, Hoptown’s Moore had other ideas as he rose above the pack to head home off a Roussel corner kick and give the Tigers the 5-4 victory.
Hopkinsville had a quick turnaround with only a couple of hours rest until it squared off with Franklin-Simpson, but the Tigers were ready. Roussel had them in front 5 minutes into the game, but they had to wait until the last 10 minutes of the half to add to the lead. Hoptown forced the Wildcats into an own goal, followed by a Roussel penalty kick just 2 minutes later for a 3-0 lead at the break.
Roussel completed his hat trick 7 minutes in to the second half, and Greenwell gave the Tigers a 5-0 advantage a minute later. Greenwell was on target again less than 5 minutes later off an assist from Moore, followed by first-half goalkeeper Xavier Bussell’s first goal of the season. With 9 minutes to play, Steven Hermosillo finished the game off with his 5th goal of the season.
The Tigers have a big test on Tuesday with a trip to Murray to face Calloway County. The Lakers are 12-3 and haven’t lost since a 1-0 setback to Lafayette (11-1-3) on September 1, while only allowing 3 goals in their last 9 victories.