It took 14 minutes to get the first goal Tuesday night, but the Daviess County boys soccer team started scoring in bunches on the way to a 10-0 victory over Grayson County. The Panthers (19-2-1) only needed 44 minutes to mercy rule the Cougars (11-8-0) in the Region 3 semifinal at Apollo.
Panthers head coach Doug Sandifer said it took a little while for the team to get things going, but they quickly took care of business to move on to the championship.
“We got contributions from several different players, whether it was assisting goals or on the other end of it scoring a goal,” he said. “I’m pleased with that. It’s the region tournament. You want to get it done and move on to the next one.”
Hunter Clark scored first for the Panthers when he connect on a cross from Jacob Boling, and Daviess County took a 9-0 lead into halftime. Seven players scored goals throughout the night, including a hat trick from Boling two scores for Brian Winkler.
Also scoring for Daviess County were Max Miller, Carson Thomas, Tylen Terry and Ethan Easterday. Picking up assists were Hayden Glover (2), Tanner Andersen, Declan Armistead, Boling, Winkler, Easterday and Terry.
Sandifer said the next step is to get ready for the championship game Thursday.
“We’re healthy and that’s a big key,” he said. “We just want to play our best on Thursday and hopefully that will be good enough. We want to put our best effort forward and hopefully that’s good enough to move on.”
Even though Sandifer said the team hit a lull toward the end of the season, they are refocused and have a strong drive now.
“They have a mission now that they want to achieve,” he said. “We are back to a purpose and what we are going after.”
The Panthers play again Thursday at Apollo in a rematch of the District 9 championship, as they play Owensboro for the fourth time this season. The Red Devils (16-5-1) beat Ohio County 4-0 in the second semifinal game Tuesday night.
Daviess County has won the three meetings so far this year, most recently a 5-0 win for the district title. The Panthers also got 4-3 and 9-0 wins during the regular season.
