Week three features another city-county matchup, as Owensboro will host Owensboro Catholic in the only game in town. Daviess County and Apollo will each look to bounce back from losses, but they’ve got tough matchups on the road that will require plenty of focus.
This week’s headlines:
OWENSBORO vs. OWENSBORO CATHOLIC
• OHS to battle Catholic in city-county matchup
DAVIESS COUNTY at MADISONVILLE-NORTH HOPKINS
• Panthers getting back to basics as they look for first win
APOLLO at CENTRAL HARDIN
• Eagles’ confidence level high after personnel changes
For live scoring updates from each game Friday, follow us on Twitter @OwensboroSports.
OWENSBORO vs. OWENSBORO CATHOLIC
OHS to battle Catholic in city-county matchup
The Owensboro defense has allowed 10 points through two games. Owensboro Catholic has scored 114. Each team is confident heading into the city-county matchup, and they’ll rely on different strengths as they try to get a win.
For the host Red Devils, head coach Jay Fallin said they were able to keep a positive outlook despite a 10-8 home loss to Evansville Central last week.
“We played really well defensively,” he said. “We limited a really good team to 10 points. Even though we weren’t doing a good job of moving the ball on offense and the defense has to play a lot, they did a nice job.”
This week, they’ll have to slow down a hot offense with a plethora of options — veteran quarterback Drew Hartz has thrown nine touchdowns total to five different receivers. Jackson Staples caught three in their opener, and Hagan Edge caught three in week two.
“We’ve had almost 10 guys touch the ball in both games,” said Catholic head coach Jason Morris. “We’re going to try to spread it around as much as possible. Drew is doing a good job of getting it to whoever is open. As the game goes on, you always have a couple players stepping up and we’ll try to ride those guys.”
The approach comes as no surprise to Fallin and the Red Devils.
“Everything goes through Drew,” he said. “He does a good job of finding open receivers, so we have to do a good job of making sure we’re solid on our coverage and our assignments. They’ve got really good players all over the field and we have to communicate with one another and be in the right place.”
Owensboro’s offense is still developing under first-year quarterback Gavin Wimsatt, and they’re also still working on filling a void in the backfield. So far, Ethan Avery, Lukas Howell and Wimsatt each have a score on the ground.
“We have every confidence that the offense is going to get rolling,” Fallin said. “We just have some inexperience in some critical positions right now. There are going to be some frustrations, but the offense is going to get rolling.”
The Catholic defense is also in a bit of a rebuilding mode, but Morris is pleased with the progress so far. He said they’ll have to focus on containing Wimsatt in order to limit any big threats.
“You can tell he’s a very talented kid,” Morris said. “He’s a little bit more mobile than the quarterback they had last year, so we’re going to have to keep him in the pocket and not let him get loose. We have to stay disciplined on defense and not give up the big play.”
Morris said the majority of the focus for the Aces will be to simply execute and play their own game cleanly.
“We just have to worry about ourselves and fix any kind of issues that we have from the last couple games,” he said. “As long as we take care of our responsibilities, success will take care of itself.”
For Owensboro, Fallin said staying on assignment on defense and being steady on offense will be key this week.
“Offensively we did well at times last week, but we have to execute for entire drives and put the ball in the end zone,” he said. “Championship teams are built on great defense and special teams. We feel really good that we have both of those phases of the game playing well right now.”
DAVIESS COUNTY at MADISONVILLE-NORTH HOPKINS
Panthers getting back to basics as they look for first win
Daviess County is still developing a roster full of inexperience, and head coach Matt Brannon said they’ve worked on some of the basics this week as they search for their first victory.
He said practices have been about tackling and pursuing the ball on defense, as well as making some modifications to the offense.
“We tried to simplify some things for our quarterback in terms of giving him easier throws and easier reads,” Brannon said. “We’re trying to work more complexly on our run game knowing that we’re going to get a lot more pressure and people trying to stop that.”
The passing game has struggled so far, as first-year quarterback Joe Humphreys has gone 20-for-43 for 216 yards with four interceptions and no touchdowns.
Most of the production for the Panthers has come from the ground game, where Brannon plans to rely on the backfield duo of Shane Riley and Lance Newman. Riley has 289 yards and three touchdowns on 47 carries, while Newman gained 96 yards on 13 rushes last week.
“With Lance Newman having such a good week last week, it gives us an opportunity to develop a 1-2 punch,” Brannon said.
First, though, the Panthers will have to slow down a Madisonville-North Hopkins team that scored 41 points in week one and 43 in week two.
The offense is led by a trio of stars — quarterback Hayden Reynolds (408 yards, 5 touchdowns, no interceptions), running back Jeriah Hightower (412 yard, 4 touchdowns) and wide receiver Deljuan Johnson (313 yards, 4 touchdowns).
The Maroons also return nearly the entire roster from last year’s team that went 10-3, losing 12-10 in the third round of the state tournament to eventual champion Franklin-Simpson.
“It’s a very experienced group,” Brannon said. “They were successful last year and didn’t lose many from that team. They’re athletic and have a lot of speed. It’s going to be a challenge. I think they’re going to be a contender when it comes to the postseason.”
APOLLO at CENTRAL HARDIN
Eagles’ confidence level high after personnel changes
It was a rough outing in week two for Apollo, but head coach Phillip Hawkins said the Eagles are ready to bounce back. The second-year coach made some changes on defense — which has allowed 109 points through two games — and he’s hoping it will make an immediate impact.
“We had to make some serious changes about what we do on the defensive side of the ball,” he said. “We made those changes — they’re really more personnel changes than they are philosophy — and we’re just having to play some of these athletic kids on both sides of the ball.”
That means guys like Harold Hogg, Brandon Husk and Geoffrey Johnson will be playing both ways going forward. Hawkins said the Eagles had to get some extra speed and athleticism on defense.
They’ll face another tough opponent this week with a road trip to Central Hardin, who have a pair of blowout victories including a 49-10 win over Daviess County in week one.
The Bruins’ have a dynamic playmaker in Gavin George, who leads the team with 204 receiving yards and two scores to go along with four interceptions.
Their offense is fairly balanced — 476 rushing yards to 403 passing yards — but Hawkins thinks Apollo has the talent to counter any attack.
“They do a lot of good things,” he said. “When we do the right thing, I think we’re pretty balanced. We’ve got some athletic kids too that they can’t forget about. We need to get some stops and keep the game close. I think we can compete if we’re allowed to do what we do best offensively.”
The Eagles’ offense has had most of its success on the ground, led by Hogg (290 yards) and quarterback Damian Lovinsky (176 yards). Lovinsky has also thrown for 352 yards.
Hawkins expects a tough matchup against Central Hardin, but he’s hoping the experience pays off down the road.
“I made the schedule tough for a reason,” he said. “We have to learn to compete in these kinds of games and win them so district games come a little easier down the line.”
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2019 football coverage is presented in part by Drew Cunningham, agent at State Farm.
