A year ago, Owensboro beat Daviess County 4-1 in the 9th District Championship to snap the Panthers’ streak of 11 straight titles. Last night in front of a packed crowd at Owensboro Catholic, the Red Devils defended their title – beating Daviess County 3-1.
“It feels good. Trying to build a program takes a lot of hard work,” Owensboro Head Coach Ryan Haley said. “When you are building it and years go by and you aren’t quite there. Us winning it last year, I don’t think it was a fluke. I think it was much deserved and earned. Seeing it happen again in year two is a result of all the hard work we have been putting in year-round with the boys and the program.”
Peter Mbayo started the scoring early in the first half, capitalizing on a feed from Dax Garrison. Shortly after, Jackson Sigler fed Valor Smith, who had sat out the entire regular season after transferring from Apollo, for a 2-0 lead.
Early in the second half, Mbayo pushed the lead to 3-0 after ripping a laser into the back of the net. The Panthers got on the board in the 50th minute when Gabe Sandefur found Sa Mu.
Less than three minutes later, Daviess County came close to cutting the lead to one, but a Red Devils defender kicked a shot attempt out of the box at the last second.
Daviess County had some other scoring opportunities down the stretch, but had no answer for goalie Kaleb Davidson.
“He played phenomenal,” Haley said. “He was coming off his goal line and winning battles, and he’s a big boy to. He played probably one of the better games of his season.”
It was a tale of two halves for Daviess County, but they were unable to overcome their early struggles.
“We did not start the game well and then gifted them a goal, which you can’t do against a quality opponent,” Daviess County Head Coach Dale Armistead said. “We began the second half and gave up an early goal by losing track of where the player of the year was. After that, we finally began to connect passes, get the ball in dangerous areas, create some shots, and were able to score. We created several more opportunities, but couldn’t put the finishing touches on the ball.”
Both teams have advanced to the 3rd Region Tournament, with the draw for later this week and the first round starting this Saturday at Apollo.
