Josh Head streaked up the middle of the field to chase a long pass, took a touch and punched in a shot to the right side of the net. And just like that, he lifted the Owensboro boys’ soccer team to a 3-2 home victory over Daviess County with 1:32 left in overtime Thursday.
The Red Devils (9-3-1, 4-1 9th District) twice held a one-goal lead in regulation, but the Panthers (10-1-2, 4-1) responded each time. After a scoreless first overtime period, OHS led a furious offensive attack that finally ended with Marcos Barrera Jimeno setting up Head for the golden-goal win.
The Red Devils had not beaten Daviess County since a 1-0 penalty-kick win on Aug. 29, 2014.
“It’s something I knew that we’ve had the ability to do,” said Owensboro head coach Ryan Haley. “To the boys, it’s the world because they haven’t won this game in a long time. I believed in them all season. They gave full effort tonight. They played two halves of soccer, plus double overtime.”
Haley said with Head battling illness, the coach almost didn’t put his leading scorer back on the field.
“I was very reluctant to put him out, because he didn’t look well,” Haley said.”He wanted it, because he’s been on the losing end, as well. The boys wanted him out there, so he really stepped up. I’m proud of him for that.”
Owensboro never trailed and used a goal in the first 10 minutes of each half to put pressure on the opposition, though DC scored equalizers late in both periods.
Andrew Saltsman opened the scoring for OHS with a header off a cross from Jake Hunt in the eighth minute.
The Panthers finally broke through with 2:46 to play in the half when Neh Reh took possession near midfield, weaved through a trio of defenders and rolled in a shot from 15 yards out.
Head scored his first goal of the night less than five minutes into the second period, finishing on a shot after Paxton Jenkins’ first attempt was deflected.
The final DC goal came with 11:39 to play. Jacob Boling scored on a header after Carter Hoagland sent in a pass on a free kick.
“I’m disappointed to lose in the end, but we came back twice,” said Panthers coach Doug Sandifer. “I’m proud of the fact that we didn’t hang our head and give up even though we were down twice. The boys played hard and gave everything they had.
“Both teams missed some opportunities probably to win the game in regulation. From that standpoint, it could have gone either way. Obviously in overtime, things could go either way. They got a good chance and finished on it. I have no complaints about my team’s effort.”
Haley was excited to finally break through against the Panthers, but he knows there’s still plenty of season ahead.
“It was a pretty tight, contested battle,” Haley said. “But at the end of the day, we’re super happy and we’ve got to move forward because we’ve got games this weekend. Most likely, we’ll end up seeing them again this year. It’s nice to trade licks.”
Owensboro’s Radley Worth and Daviess County’s Cody Clark each recorded 10 saves in goal.
Owensboro will play a pair of games Saturday in the Colonel Classic at Henderson County. Daviess County is off until a Tuesday road match at Madisonville-North Hopkins.
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2019 soccer coverage is presented by Worth Insurance Group.
