It was a strong defensive outing, but the Owensboro offense was never able to really get going in a 21-12 home loss Friday night to Bowling Green.
Both teams had more opportunities to put some points on the board, but the defenses held strong, stopping multiple red zone drives. Red Devils’ head coach Jay Fallin said the teams were constantly trying to figure each other out and had to adjust throughout the night.
“In any defense, there’s going to be holes,” he said. “We played chess all night. They’re trying to find the holes in our defense, we’re trying to keep changing where those holes are. Sometimes they’re going to make good calls, sometimes we’re going to make good calls.”
Both teams scored on their opening drives and added touchdowns in the second quarter. Bowling Green struck first with a 1-yard run only 3 minutes in. OHS marched back down the field with an answer, and Will Warren connected with Treyvon Tinsley for a 9-yard score. The extra point was blocked, leaving the Devils in a 7-6 hole with 7:17 left in the quarter.
Each team went on to turn the ball over on downs in the red zone, and Warren threw an interception in the end zone on a 1st-and-goal from the 4-yard line.
The Purples broke through again with a 17-yard passing touchdown, though Owensboro had an answer less than 1 minute later. Warren found Tinsley for their second touchdown of the game, this time a 69-yard strike. The 2-point conversion failed.
The Devils had the ball and were driving late in the half, but an untimely penalty stalled the drive for a halftime score of 14-12. Fallin was disappointed Owensboro couldn’t come up with another score despite driving deep on multiple occasions.
“We didn’t score when we were in the red zone in the first half,” he said. “We have to score when we get in the red zone.”
The Purples went on to add one more touchdown, but it didn’t matter, as the Devils weren’t able to score again. It’s a total turnaround from last week when Owensboro lost 45-32 to Owensboro Catholic.
“Last week, we couldn’t get a stop and our offense was pretty efficient,” he said. “This week, we get stops but we can’t get the scores we need. If we can get everybody on both sides of the ball playing to their capabilities, we’re going to be a really good football team in November.”
Fallin said it was an impressive effort to keep Bowling Green contained, and his defense played their assignments well despite starting in bad field position at times.
“That’s a very good offense that we just held to 21 points, and we didn’t always put the defense in good positions with special teams,” he said. “They’ve got a bunch of fantastic football players over there, and coach (Mark) Spader does an excellent job. I’m very proud of the resilience our guys showed at multiple times tonight, particularly the defense in the second half. There were a lot of opportunities where they could have blown it open.”
Fallin said he knows the team has high potential — they just have to play well on both sides of the ball in all four quarters. He doesn’t want to take a loss but said the games that truly matter come later in the year.
“People don’t remember football games in August and November,” he said. “They remember football games in November and December.”
While he’s looking toward playoffs, the Devils do have a big matchup Friday, when they host Daviess County (3-1).
The Panthers game against Hancock County only lasted one quarter due to weather conditions, but the 20-0 win counts for Daviess County. The only mutual opponent so far this season is the Aces, who lost to the Panthers 49-26 in the first week of the season.
