SHORT GAP, W.Va. — Despite a scare from its county rival, Frankfort did enough down the stretch to maintain its unblemished record.
Keyser was within a goal at halftime before Dom Musgrove and Wyatt Kesner removed all doubt with second-half scores, as four Frankfort players combined to power the fourth-ranked Falcons past the Tornado, 5-2, on Tuesday night.
“I’m glad we got a good result,” Frankfort head coach Jason Vaughan said. “We got a goal early, I thought we had control. They got that goal back, and I think we let off the gas a little bit. The defense seemed disorganized. It just took us a while to get back into it.”
Frankfort maintained its unbeaten record with the victory, improving to 4-0-1. The lone blemish is a scoreless tie to fifth-ranked Calvary last week.
Keyser fell to 1-4, though the result Tuesday was an encouraging one.
Jarrod McElwain planted one of the better high school goals you’ll see into the top right corner from outside the box along the right side of the pitch to pull the Golden Tornado within 3-2 at the half.
Keyser scored just one goal across two lopsided losses to the Falcons last year.
“We came out ready to play,” Keyser head coach Chris Altobello said. “We let them have too many corners in the first half. A common theme is, we have to do a better job of clearing the ball. We’ve got to be able to clear the ball, to our own player, maintain possession and set up our offense.”
After the moment of brilliance from McElwain, Frankfort cleaned up its defense in the second half, holding Keyser without a goal and dominating possession in the process.
Still, it took a goal from Kesner at the buzzer to find a second Frankfort goal against a stout Golden Tornado defense in the second half.
“Our defense played much better in the second half,” Vaughan said. “(Keyser) had a lot of guys back there, they were physical. And when our guys would try to dribble through, we didn’t have much success. We had to move the ball around and try to score different ways.”
Liam Orndorff scored two of the Falcons’ first-half goals, and Jake Getz tallied the other. Van Ritchie and Noah Weaver had an assist each.
Frankfort keeper Alyn Weaver came up with six saves, rebounding from a hard collision with a Keyser forward in the 33rd minute that drew a warning but no card.
Keyser goalie Max Herndon, a freshman, made his third start in net after the Golden Tornado’s expected starter was injured.
Herndon prevented an Orndorff hat trick by stopping a penalty kick during the second half, guessing correctly on a well-struck chance to his left to keep it out.
“He is absolutely not afraid to get down and dirty,” Altobello said. “Sometimes it gets him in trouble when he doesn’t come up with the ball. But being thrown into the fire like he has been, he’s done well. There have been obvious freshman mistakes, but it’s all fixable.”
Braylen Blowe scored Keyser’s first goal off an assist by McElwain.
The second half had another point of interest off the field.
There was a brief stoppage after a spectator’s child wandered through the fence onto the field and threw a tantrum, sprawling out in the bench area.
An adult eventually made their way down to the pitch to remove the child, and the game resumed after several minutes.
After a week off, Keyser is back in action at Hampshire on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
“Now we’re getting into the meat and potatoes of our season,” Altobello said. “Next week we start with Hampshire and our regional play. Even with the limited number of players that we have, everybody’s in shape, everybody’s ready to go. … Over the next week, we’re going to get better.”
Frankfort hosts Berkeley Springs on Thursday at 6 p.m.
“This is a team that most people thought was really going to drop off due to our loss of nine seniors,” Vaughan said. “We’ve really challenged them to step it up. We’ve used the term ‘leftovers. Don’t be leftovers.’ They haven’t been. We’re really excited with our performances in the region.
“This is another good result against a good, strong team. Keyser looks really sharp, and I’m happy for them.”