Owensboro Catholic scored on their first seven drives — with each touchdown coming from a different player — and largely dominated McLean County in the second round of the 2A playoffs Friday night at Steele Stadium. The final score of 47-32 was not reflective of how lopsided the game played out.
The Aces raced out to a 20-6 lead and extended it to as much as 47-14 late in the third quarter. McLean County closed the gap during the fourth quarter, when Catholic largely had JV and freshman players on the field.
The Aces went to work early, combining an efficient offense with a stingy defense. Jack Terry scored on a 7-yard run less than 2 minutes in. McLean County then turned the ball over on downs, leading to a 9-yard touchdown reception by Tutt Carrico.
The Cougars’ next two drives both ended with unsuccessful fake punts from their own territory. After the first, Catholic needed just one play for Deuce Sims to catch a 22-yard fade pass in the end zone. After the second, a short drive led to Brady Atwell scoring on a 1-yard touchdown keeper.
A couple of missed extra points left the Aces up 26-0 early in the second quarter.
“I’ve got playmakers all over the field,” Atwell said. “I just try to give them the ball and let them make a play. We just have so many weapons so it’s easy for me to just go out there and execute what Coach Morris game plans, and we just make big plays.”
Head Coach Jason Morris said the Aces are clicking on both sides of the ball.
“We spread the ball around and just take what the defense gives us,” he said. “We’ve got weapons at all five spots, the four receivers and running back. And obviously we have a really good quarterback who just keeps getting better.”
The Cougars finally found some momentum and scored on a 17-yard TD pass late in the second quarter, but the Aces needed only about 90 seconds to score again.
This time, it was an 11-yard touchdown strike to Waryn Ebelhar that pushed the lead to 33-6 heading into halftime.
It was more of the same through the third quarter. The opening drive from McLean County stalled, and the Aces wasted no time adding to their lead. Freshman running back Miles Edge followed up a 16-yard powerful run up the gut with a 25-yard sprint up the sideline to find paydirt.
“The future is bright with Miles Edge,” Morris said. “He’s gonna be a really good one. He’s our JV running back this year, and he’s played in almost every varsity game for us. He’s played a lot of defensive snaps, but he’s a very capable runner and catcher.”
Cougars quarterback Brodie Cline broke a few tackles on a 52-yard TD scamper, but the Aces scored three plays later. Ebelhar hauled in a catch and picked up 59 yards, then Noah Rhinerson punched it in from the 3 for a 47-14 lead that held through the end of the third quarter.
McLean County scored on a safety and a pair of touchdowns in the fourth quarter with the game already out of reach.
The Aces now turn attention to a third-round rematch with Lexington Christian Academy. The game will be played at Steele Stadium at 7 p.m. this Friday.
Last year, LCA pulled away from Catholic late in the game for a 49-21 victory. LCA went on to the state championship game, where they lost 23-21 to Beechwood.
“This is a game that we’ve been waiting for since we got beat in the third round last year,” Morris said. “We’re set up to play at home, we’ve got everything we want, and we can’t wait. There was about a 5-6 minute period there in the third quarter (against LCA last year) that we kind of imploded. You take that away and we went nose and nose with each other.”
Atwell said he thinks the Aces have what it takes to advance to the semifinals.
“I just feel like our team’s ready,” he said. “We’ve built this year and this season for this game. We thought we had a good game and we fell apart in the second half last year, but this year I don’t think that’s gonna happen. I think it’s gonna definitely be a different turnout.”
