With the support of another dominant outing by the defense, Owensboro’s offense found a groove with four second-quarter touchdowns Friday night, and the Red Devils rolled past Owensboro Catholic for a 36-7 win at home.
The defense has led the way in all three games so far for Owensboro (2-1), and they kept a high-flying Aces’ offense to only 180 yards — 63 of which came on the lone touchdown reception for Catholic (2-1) late in the game.
OHS head coach Jay Fallin said he felt like they had a good game plan coming in, wanting to limit what the Aces can do offensively and attack them defensively. Though it took a handful of drives to get their first score, he thought they executed well.
“In a big emotional game, it’s going to be tough for the offense to get going early,” he said. “Being jacked up, juiced up, ready to go doesn’t really lend itself necessarily to executing on offense as much as it does on defense. We knew we might have some jitters and struggle offensively early, but if the defense could keep them off the board we’d get going and we’d be fine.”
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For a full photo gallery from the game, click here.
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Each team went 3-and-out on their opening drives. A promising drive for the Aces then went backwards after a couple of penalties, but OHS gave it back with a fumble in Catholic territory.
The Red Devils’ defense again came up with a stop, helped in large part by a 6-yard sack by Kobe Skortz. Though they only recorded one more sack, Owensboro was able to apply pressure on Aces’ quarterback Drew Hartz all night with just a three-man rush.
Despite not bringing him down, the Red Devils were able to keep him from finding targets.
“That was the game plan,” Fallin said. “We were going to rush three and drop eight and be in every passing lane. We were able to be in a five-man box and defend the run game, and that makes it really difficult to move the ball on offense.”
The Owensboro offense finally broke through in the second quarter had four consecutive scoring drives leading into halftime
The first came on a 16-yard run by Ethan Avery, who skirted around the right side untouched for a score. On the first play of the ensuing Catholic drive, Javius Taylor intercepted Hartz on the 14-yard line. Three plays later, Avery ran 3 yards up the middle and dove across the goal line for his second touchdown.
With the offense moving and the defensive getting constants stops, first-year quarterback Gavin Wimsatt was able to find his footing and put together his best outing so far. He finished 16-for-25 with 213 yards and two touchdowns passing, adding 28 yards and a score on five carries.
“My offensive line was doing a great job giving me time so I could see the field perfectly,” Wimsatt said.
Following a missed field goal by the Aces, Wimsatt capped off a four-play, 79-yard drive by finding Ben Flaherty wide open in the middle of the end zone.
On their next drive, Wimsatt heaved a long pass to a streaking Tyren Hayden for a 56-yard score, pushing the lead to 28-0 at the half.
“What Gavin does really well is move in the pocket and avoid that rush,” Fallin said. “When that happens, it’s very difficult for defensive backs to stay in coverage for a long period of time. We were able to exploit that a couple times.”
Owensboro scored on the first drive of the second half to start a running clock with 8:55 to play in the third quarter. Wimsatt caught a high snap and avoided trouble near the line of scrimmage before scrambling through the defense for a 21-yard score on a designed quarterback run.
Catholic responded a play later with their only touchdown, as Hartz connected with Dre Thruston for a 63-yard catch-and-run.
The final drive for the Aces ended with an interception by Julius Eberhart, and the Red Devils were able to run out the clock.
Avery finished with 85 yards and two scores on 16 carries for Owensboro. Hayden caught three passes for 104 yards, while Treyvon Tinsley finished with 48 yards and a team-high seven catches.
Hagan Edge was the leading rusher for Catholic, gaining 39 yards on nine carries. Thruston’s touchdown catch was his only reception, while Braden Mundy gained 57 yards on a team-high six catches.
The Red Devils outgained the Aces 338-180 overall on offense, including 213-152 through the air and 125-28 on the ground.
Owensboro’s Skortz and Catholic’s Chris Boarman each had five tackles and a sack to lead their respective defenses.
Owensboro continues a stretch of three consecutive city-county games next week when they travel to Apollo (1-2). Catholic will also be on the road as they take on South Spencer (0-3).
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2019 football coverage is presented in part by Owensboro Health Orthopedics & Sports Medicine.
