It was hard for Doug Sandifer to contain his emotions after the Panthers won yet another big game on their magical run toward a boys’ soccer state title.
In what was supposed to be a bit of a down year by Daviess County’s standards, Sandifer’s young team has taken down one opponent after another.
“I can’t even express how unbelievable this is for this group and how proud I am,” said Sandifer, who’s coached the team to great success over the last decade. “Not just tonight and getting here, but their entire body of work. The team is 20-2-2, with one senior playing and about six juniors and a bunch of freshmen and sophomores. The crazy thing is some of these juniors, it’s their first year on varsity.”
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For a full photo gallery from the game, click here.
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After their 1-0 victory over Warren Central in the state tournament quarterfinals Saturday night, Daviess County is now back in familiar territory.
With a state championship in 2016 and runner-up finish the next season, the Panthers are now headed to the Final Four for the third time in the last four years. They also went in 2010, and they’ve made the Elite Eight five out of the last six seasons.
“It’s just unbelievable to sustain that with the kids we’ve lost to graduation,” Sandifer said.
As they’ve done all year long, Daviess County used a pesky defense and consistent attack to earn their quarterfinal win over the Dragons (20-5-1).
The lone goal came off a shot by senior Jacob Boling in the 26th minute. He found an opening up the middle and rifled one through the box, where it first glanced off a defender before bouncing out of the keepers hands and slowly into the net.
“We always rely on our defense first, which turns into attack,” Boling said. “Our defense played phenomenal tonight. We got lucky and put one in early and that was just great for us.”
Sandifer told his guys before the game that if they just do what they do well — defend as a team and be disciplined — they’d get chances to score.
“We peck away and peck away,” he said. “Tonight I said let’s shoot the ball. It’s kind of wet. Good things happen when you shoot. Before (Boling’s goal) we had a few corner kicks that I thought their keeper didn’t handle well, and we were just maybe a step late.”
Warren Central had very few chances, as the Panthers dominated possession from the opening kick. A furious final five minutes gave the Dragons two of their best looks of the night, but DC escaped unharmed.
“Our goal since the beginning of the year is no goals in the first and last five minutes of every half,” Boling said. “We play our hardest defense then.”
Sandifer was especially proud to come away with another victory over a team whose roster was filled with experience.
“The last three teams we’ve played — Owensboro, Madisonville and now (Warren Central) — are senior-dominated teams,” he said. “These young kids are coming out and biting at their ankles all game long and just pestering them and playing good soccer to get us to a Final Four. I’m just so proud of them.”
The Panthers will now play 16th Region champion East Carter (19-3-1) on Wednesday in the state semifinals in Lexington. A time and exact location was not known immediately following the game. A win would earn them a spot in the championship on Nov. 2.
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2019 soccer coverage is presented by Worth Insurance Group.
