Daviess County will have a chance to win their sixth consecutive 3rd Region boys’ soccer tournament championship after easily dispatching Muhlenberg County 7-0 Wednesday night.
The game began Tuesday but was suspended due to weather concerns with the Panthers leading 2-0 with just under 11 minutes to go in the first half.
When play resumed Wednesday DC’s Jacob Boling scored 31 seconds in, and Hayden Bowsell’s header off a cross from Carter Hoagland pushed the lead to 4-0 before halftime.
“I thought we came in tonight much more efficient, much more focused probably,” said DC head coach Doug Sandifer. “We were a little dissatisfied with how the first 30 minutes went last night, and I challenged them today.”
Sandifer said he let the players dictate the outcome, taking a hands-off approach from the sideline.
“I told them I was going to leave them alone, it was their game, and the next 50 minutes was how they wanted to play,” he said. “I didn’t say much at all to them during the game. I wanted them to take charge, and they did.”
The Panthers added all three of their second-half goals in the first 10 minutes, as Declan Armistead scored one and Hunter Clark knocked in two.
Sandifer sent in the second unit after that, and despite maintaining possession for most of the game they weren’t able to break through again.
DC now moves on to play Owensboro in the 3rd Region championship for the sixth year in a row — the Panthers have won the last five and are 2-1 against the Red Devils this year. Sandifer expects a close game this year after two of the three regular season meetings were decided in overtime.
“Play a solid game, do what we do well, try to minimize mistakes,” he said. “It’s going to be a battle, we know that. We’ll see how it goes. I think both teams are prepared and ready to go. In a lot of ways we are (evenly matched). The game results have shown that.”
Kickoff is scheduled for 7 pm. at Owensboro Catholic’s Independence Field.
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2019 soccer coverage is presented by Worth Insurance Group.
