Since taking over as the Head Coach of Owensboro High School’s boys soccer program in 2018, Ryan Haley has led the Red Devils to five 3rd Region Championship appearances – falling short to Daviess County every time. Last night in his sixth attempt, Haley and the Red Devils were finally able to get over the hump, beating the Panthers 4-1 to win the school’s first 3rd Region Championship title since 2012.
“It’s a long season starting in July and getting to the region championship,” Haley said. “As a coach, this is my first time winning it, and I’m forever going to remember this team that made that possible. Daviess County did an excellent job and played a tremendous first half. They really put us on our back foot, and they had us a little discombobulated. Thank goodness for halftimes, as we were able to talk to our boys and keep them level-headed.”
The Panthers started the game as the aggressor, taking the battle to Owensboro and forcing multiple turnovers. In the 23rd minute, Carter Hoak beat Owensboro goalie Kaleb Davidson with a header thanks to an Ethan Dailey corner. Daviess County had multiple opportunities down the stretch, but entered halftime with a 1-0 lead.
“We wanted to kind of sit in, but we also wanted to press,” Daviess County Head Coach Dale Armistead said. “So, we took a couple of guys and kind of really just tried to press so they couldn’t just play balls in and had to play them in under duress. They were playing balls out of bounds on that pressure and we were causing turnovers left and right. We had tons of opportunities and buried one, but we needed to bury two.”
At halftime, Haley reminded his team to do what they do best and told them to calm down because he believed they were panicking at times. Refreshed, the Red Devils offense returned to form and in the 52nd minute, Jackson Sigler found Denis Juma for the equalizer.
Three minutes later, Peter Mbayo ripped the eventual game winner off a dime of a pass from Kennedy Payne. Once they finally claimed the lead, Owensboro continued to turn up the pressure, leading to Mbayo finding Brian Payne in the 59th minute for a 3-1 lead.
The Panthers had some opportunities of their own, but Davidson and his defense stood tall. In the 75th minute, Mbayo iced the game after dribbling past multiple defenders and then unleashing a rocket that the Panthers goalie, Harrison Dunaway, had no chance at.
For Dunaway, this was his first appearance of the season, after sitting out the majority of the year due to an injury. He finished with 10 saves, including stopping a header from Juma, a save that Haley acknowledged not a lot of keepers could have made.
“Harrison played great,” Armistead said. “But there isn’t much you can do when you have the player of the year point-blank on you right in the middle of the pitch.”
Turning their attention to the State Tournament, Owensboro will open their run against the 2nd Region winner on Oct. 20th at 7 pm.
