Ben Salmon scored a brace, but it was not enough to power the Charles Henderson Trojans over the

Citronelle Wildcats in the first game of the Southern Shootout soccer tournament.

Citronelle opened the scoring by converting a penalty kick ten minutes in to the game. The Wildcats doubled their advantage ten minutes later, beating keeper Mason Owens at the far post.

The Trojans responded quickly, however, as Salmon took the ball on the restart and dribbled the Citronelle defense before firing in his first goal of the season from 12 yards out to cut Citronelle’s lead to 2-1 heading in to halftime.

Citronelle enjoyed the majority of possession at the beginning of the second half and were rewarded with their third goal of the night with 20 minutes left in the game.

Charles Henderson did not lay down, however, and responded with their own goal to cut the deficit back to one. Salmon dribbled to the endline and was tripped in the penalty box.

Salmon sent the keeper the other way on the ensuing penalty kick.

A frantic final five minutes saw the Trojans test Citronelle’s keeper, but each chance went begging. TheWildcats were able to hold on for a 3-2 win.

Charles Henderson coach Rick Braisted said he was proud of the way his team composed itself during the game.

“The team didn’t give up when we got down 3-1,” Braisted said. “The players still had a positive attitude, and nobody got upset with anyone else.”

Braisted said his team would continue to work on the fundamentals.

“We basically need to improve our fundamental skills—passing, trapping, dribbling and communication,” Braisted said. “This is our first game of the season. We only have 16 players, so we haven’t been able to do a full scrimmage yet at practice. This is the first time we have been able to see what our team looks like in a game situation.”