Having spent nine seasons on Daviess County’s coaching staff, Quadarius Wallace returns to the Panthers as the team’s new head coach after spending last year at Owensboro. When being introduced to his team, Wallace reveled in the excitement stemming from his former players.
“It was a really cool experience because I had already coached a lot of the guys, and we had relationships, even when I was at Owensboro, I was still caring about the kids,” Wallace said. “Football has allowed all of us to have relationships that go beyond the field. So, when I first got back, it was a really cool feeling to return and see the excitement on the kids’ faces.”
After splitting time at quarterback last season, Garrison Barker enters the season as the starter. Last year he completed 37 of 99 passes for 296 yards and three touchdowns. Barker will have plenty of familiarity surrounding him as the majority of his offensive line and weapons return, including Kaden Tierney, Cannon Clark, Jace Hunt, Hudson Foreman, Braeden Warren, and Jayden Hamilton.
“This offseason, we have just been getting one percent better every day,” Barker said. “We have several new coaches joining us who are former Daviess County players. I think that’s made it a lot easier for everyone to learn the offense and defense with former alumni being there.”
On the defensive side of the ball, the Panthers return the majority of their defense led by Jaleel Carter, Lincoln Williams, Jaxx Hendrix, Isaiah Irvin, Josh Coffey, Logan Cantrell, Gavin Velotta, Hunt, and Tierney.
“The defense is really great,” Hunt said. “I think defensive backs wise, we have a lot of great talent, and I think that the defense is a really strong part of our team.”
Wallace acknowledged that with taking over the program, his goal is for the team to sustain the style of play they want to run.
“We want to be disciplined, be tough, and make sure we do things that are part of our brand,” Wallace said. “We have a few unmentioned goals, and they are unmentioned because we fall in love with the process. If we take care of the process every day, give it everything we’ve got, and can say hey, I was all in today, everything else will take care of itself.”
The Panthers kick off their season this Friday at Logan County against Russellville, before returning home a week later to host Owensboro Catholic. Daviess County will also host Owensboro and have road matchups against Christian County, Henderson County, and McLean County. In district play, they host Central Hardin on Oct. 3 and Meade County on Oct. 17, and travel to South Warren on Oct. 17. They end their season on Halloween night in a city-county matchup at Apollo.
