It was the best of halves, it was the worst of halves.

On Thursday night, Frankfort High came out strong in the opening minutes of its game against Anderson County at Sower Soccer Field. Things quickly soured for the Panthers in the final 20 minutes of the half, however.

"The first 23 minutes of soccer was as nice a game as I have seen," FHS coach Sherrill Smith said. "And we were very impressive. We had the momentum, we had more opportunities and from there on it just changed."

Did it ever.

Anderson County poured in four goals in the latter part of the first half to take a 4-0 lead at halftime. The Bearcats added three more in the second half to win the game 7-0. Sam Williams led the attack for Anderson County, recording a hat trick.

Smith said his team's downfall began when his players found themselves out of position.

"We had people that started not playing their positions and it just fell from that point on," he said.

What should have been a highlight of the game for the Panthers turned into a debacle when Andrew LeMay got tangled up with Anderson County goalkeeper Drew Bamberger 10 minutes into the second half after a shot that nearly went in for the Panthers.

LeMay was issued a red card after he appeared to kick Bamburger, who had dived near LeMay's feet to deflect the shot.

Smith said Bamburger was holding on to LeMay's leg, and the foul should have gone the other way.

"We thought it was a penalty kick that should have gone our way," he said.

In addition to the red card, the Panthers' received three yellows.

FHS will try to bounce back this weekend at a tournament in northern Kentucky where it will face Covington Latin and the winner of Grant County-Conner.

"It's a tough little tournament, but hopefully we can turn the corner," Smith said.

FCHS 4, Sayre 0

After getting shut out in the first half, Franklin County coach Zac Donnelly said his team came back with the best half of soccer it has played all year
Thursday against Sayre on Sower Soccer Field 2.

The Flyers scored four goals - two within a minute of each other - to earn the win and improve their record to 6-2 on the season.

"That is the best half we've played this year," Donnelly said. "We came out tough, focused. We stuck three balls in the net in the first 10 or 12 minutes."

Lyndon McKee broke the 0-0 tie off an assist from Bryce Burton just three minutes into the second half. McKee returned the favor seven minutes later, passing it up to Burton, who juked a defender and the goalkeeper for a score.

Burton added another goal just over a minute later at the 29:15 mark, boxing out a defender and slipping into the net to push the score to 3-0. Oscar Urbina capped off the impressive half with an additional score with eight minutes remaining.

Donnelly said shifting Adam Jones into the central midfield and Reed Roberts up top was key to the team's second half explosion on offense.

"I think Adam coming in the middle was getting more balls, we were having more offense that way," he said.

"We gave up a little defense, a little speed in the back, but he controls the ball real well in the middle."

Donnelly said he was pleased that his team didn't have any defensive lapses and pitched a shutout on the night.

"That's something I've been harping on, no mental mistakes. We didn't have any that game," he said.

After dropping a tough game to Western Hills last week, Franklin County has rebounded with a pair of dominating wins, beating Covington Latin 10-1 Tuesday.

"That was a real tough and disappointing loss," Donnelly said of the Western Hills match. "We got together as a team and talked about the things we need to improve - one of them being staying focused for 80 minutes.

"I think the last two games we've played real well and I hope to build off that."