Saturday afternoon's men's soccer match at Faught Stadium often felt like two different games.

The first half felt more like a pedestrian affair that both teams seemed content to finish with a scoreless draw. The second was a whiplash-inducing swap of counterattacks that felt as if it could yield a goal at any moment.

In the end, Berea took better advantage of their chances than host Franklin did, netting a pair of goals on second-half breakaways to skip town with a 2-0 win over the Grizzlies.

"Pretty disappointing," Griz coach Josh Hughes said after his team fell to 2-13-1 overall and 1-6-1 in the HCAC. ""Not a good performance today in a game we needed to win, but we got some young guys a good bit of experience in a game where we needed some guys to step up due to suspensions."

Missing one starter due to a red card in the previous match and two more because of accumulated yellow cards, the Grizzlies nonetheless battled through a 0-0 slog of a first half before picking up steam in the second. Russell Bilohlavek put a shot on goal in the 52nd minute that was followed by three others in fairly short succession. But after an Enzo Crivari shot was stopped in the 58th minute, Berea quickly sent the ball the other way and got a fast-break opportunity, with Tobore Takpor putting one home with 32:25 to go in regulation.

Franklin continued to penetrate the Mountaineer defense for quick-strike opportunities, with attempts on frame from Crivari, Jacobo Alarcon and Eric Peiffer over the next 15 minutes. Berea, though, held the fort and got some insurance on another Takpor goal, this one on another breakout with 6:20 left.

Easton Terry made six saves for the Grizzlies, a couple of those at close range.

Up next is Franklin's season finale, a road trip to Transylvania on Wednesday night.