Aces fend off Eagles in final minutes

September 15, 2018 | 2:58 am

Updated September 15, 2018 | 2:58 am

Drew Hartz (12) takes a quarterback keeper 25 yards for a score. | Photo by Ryan Richardson

Owensboro Catholic held strong in the waning moments to hold off a late attack from Apollo, and the Aces’ football team came away with a 33-30 victory Friday to give the Eagles their first loss.

Catholic (3-2) scored the first 20 points of the second half for a commanding lead, but the Apollo (4-1) offense was surging in the final minutes. The Eagles put together back-to-back scores barely more than 1 minute apart, and they had one last chance to claim the lead when they took over at their own 21 with 1:59 to play.

A pass near midfield bounced off an Apollo receiver, and Sam Harrington pulled in the interception to seal the win for OCHS.

It’s the second time this season the Aces have caused a crucial last-minute turnover, and head coach Jason Morris said the team found out they need to close games strong after their loss at Daviess County to start the season.

“Our kids had to fight to stay in that (DCHS) game the whole way, and they came up short in the fourth quarter,” he said. “We learned from that. They told each other it would never happen again, and so far it hasn’t. We’ve actually been the stronger team in the fourth quarter in all of our wins.”

It wasn’t just the fourth-quarter effort, though, as the Aces executed right out of the gate. On the opening drive, Jace Kessler intercepted Apollo quarterback Colby Clark in Eagles’ territory. A few plays later, Drew Hartz found Hagan Edge in the endzone for his first touchdown of the night.

The next drive ended in a turnover on downs for the Eagles to set up another quick strike. Harold Hogg took a reverse and passed to Nick Mills for a 26-yard gain. On the next play, Hartz dropped a pass perfectly into the back corner of the end zone for Ya Ya Gray. A missed extra point left the lead at 13-0.

“We came out well prepared,” Morris said. “The kids were excited and wanted to get revenge from last year’s loss to Apollo.”

The Eagles answered with a pair scores in the first half. The first came on a Clark-to-Geoffrey Johnson 36-yard slant. The second came when Mariano McKenzie broke a handful of tackles on his way to a 20-yard rushing touchdown, giving Apollo a 14-13 lead. The Eagles added a 30-yard field goal from Wes Knott late in the second quarter.

Apollo head coach Phil Hawkins said based on their performance so far this year, he wasn’t surprised they took a few drives to get rolling. And even though they fell in a big hole in the second half, he was glad they didn’t quit.

“I have recognized a potential issue in this team in all four of our other games, and that is the ability to come out fighting early,” Hawkins said. “I was proud they fought back the way they did. They certainly ended the first half the way they needed to and gave themselves a chance at the end of the game. But you can’t turn the ball over when it’s a one-shot deal. We had our shot and we didn’t get it done.”

The Aces went to their ground game in the second half after they had shown signs of stalling. Morris said he was partly to blame, but they made the changes they needed to in order to win.

“We went into halftime and made some adjustments to take advantage of a few things we didn’t take advantage of in the second quarter,” Morris said. “I’ll take the blame for that. We kind of got greedy and tried taking too many shots when we should have been running the ball a little bit more.”

Once they started feeding him, it didn’t take long for running back Von Williams to find paydirt. He carried it 51 yards on the opening drive of the third quarter, and three plays later ran it in from 8 yards out. A missed extra point gave the Aces a 19-17 lead that they never lost.

Neither team scored again in the quarter, but Williams added a 48-yard score 58 seconds into the fourth. The final score by the Aces came on a 25-yard keeper by Hartz, when he tucked the ball and dove through a couple defenders to get just over the goal line.

The Eagles offense, meanwhile, was having trouble keeping a drive alive until an interception by Gage Hayden set them up near midfield. Clark rolled into the end zone on a 2-yard keeper, but the 2-point conversion failed. Apollo recovered an onside kick, and Clark found Hayden for a quick 24-yard touchdown.

Trailing by 3 with 3:45 to play, the Eagles left it up to the defense to get the ball back. On 3rd-and-1, a high snap pinned the Aces deep and forced a punt. Apollo’s final possession ended with the interception.

Hawkins wanted the win, but said he can’t complain about having only one loss.

“I don’t feel any different about our team,” he said. “We’re going to win a lot of games. Here’s the irony of the whole thing. We’re 4-1, and we know the history of the program. We’re disappointed that we’re not 5-0 — I like that about us.”

The Eagles now move on to a road game at 7 p.m. Friday at Graves County (1-4). The Aces are also away with a 7 p.m. game at Butler County (0-5).

Now that they are starting their conference schedule, Morris is expecting the success to continue.

“Winning is contagious,” he said. “That’s the goal — to win out. You’ve got to do that one game at a time and one day at a time. The kids are focused right now. They know these first five games were a good test for us going through the rest of the season.”

September 15, 2018 | 2:58 am

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