It was a bit of a slow start for Owensboro Catholic, but that didn’t stop them from rolling to a 50-0 win Friday night over South Spencer at Steele Stadium.
They did get on the board early, but the Aces (2-2) played a little sloppy on their way to a 23-0 halftime lead. Head coach Jason Morris said he’s glad the team was more disciplined over the final two quarters, but they’ve still got work to do.
“We’ve got to start putting a whole game together,” he said. “There are a lot of things like penalties and turnovers that we’ve got to get cleaned up for us to be a championship-level team that we want to be. I’m glad the way our kids hung in there and bounced back in the second half to play more like we expected them to play tonight.”
It was the first game for former Aces’ head coach John Edge against his old squad, but he said the focus for both teams was all about trying to get a win.
“You’re job is to beat whoever you play,” Edge said.
Morris echoed those thoughts. Though the teams did gather together after the game for a prayer and a few thoughts from each coach, those 48 minutes on the field were all about the game.
“Once the game got going, it was just like any other game,” Morris said. “We’re competing against each other trying to win. He’s in a different stage right now that I am, and we both understand that.”
The Aces got their first touchdown just over 1 minute in when Hagan Edge caught a 52-yard pass from Drew Hartz for a quick lead. OCHS wasn’t able to capitalize again until Hartz connected with Nick Mills for an 18-yard touchdown 3 minutes into the second quarter. The extra point was no good.
Mills hauled in another long pass but was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct just before crossing the goal line, negating the score. Von Williams fumbled two plays later, but the Aces defense stepped up to regain possession.
Edge added another touchdown, this time on a short run, and the Aces added a field goal just before the clock expired.
OCHS came out hot in the third quarter, with Harold Hogg scoring on a 39-yard run 2 minutes in, but the extra point was missed for a second time. Williams scored his first touchdown of the night off a 13-yard pass, and a 36-0 lead started a running clock for the remainder of the contest.
Williams added another touchdown with an 11-yard run late in the third quarter, and Noah Todd provided the final score with a short dive late in the game.
Edge said South Spencer got in a bad spot early and could never recover.
“When you get down, you’ve got to battle back,” he said. “Unfortunately, when things got bad, we just let it get worse instead of fighting through.”
Going forward, Morris said the focus for the Aces will be to play hard on every down. Last week, they beat Owensboro 45-32, but he said it was another game where they only played well in spurts. They can’t afford to do that every game.
“We felt like last week we gave good effort, but it was just good enough effort,” Morris said. “This week and the rest of the year, we want our best effort on every single play, no matter what the scoreboard is. If we’re going to beat Mayfield in mid-November, we’ve got to be used to playing that way. We can’t just flip the switch that week. That’s our goal — to play our best every single snap for the rest of the year.”
That will start with a tough matchup Friday, when they make the short trip across town to face an undefeated Apollo (4-0) team that’s coming off a 52-0 win at Butler County. The biggest win came in week two with a 17-10 win over Mater Dei.
Morris said the Aces will need to be prepared for a talented team, and he wants to repay the Eagles after losing to them a season ago.
“We’ve got to get our minds focused,” Morris said. “They beat us last year, and we want a little bit of revenge. We’ve got to get our minds right to get those little things fixed so we can put a complete game together.”
