With yet another strong performance from a stingy defense, Owensboro cruised past Grayson County for a 51-9 home victory to finish off district play undefeated.
Using a pair of short touchdown runs by Javius Taylor, the Red Devils built a 23-0 lead after the first quarter. Taylor then returned a kickoff 85 yards for a score in the second period as Owensboro (8-1, 5-0) pushed their advantage to 44-3 by halftime.
“Obviously I’m pleased,” said head coach Jay Fallin. “You come out and take care of an opponent with a running clock by halftime, an opponent that is outmanned. You want to come out and play well and take care of it and establish that margin early. That allows you to be a little bit more flexible in the second half with what you do and subbing some different guys and getting them some opportunities.”
The Red Devils imposed their will on the defensive side, with the only Cougars’ points coming on a field goal that followed an interception.
“Until the last play before the half, they had negative yardage as an offense,” Fallin said. “That’s another good defensive performance by the varsity group, particularly when they were put in a pretty bad situation with the interception. They came out and answered the bell, held them to a field goal, just about blocked it.
“That’s the kind of things that you have to do if you want to be a championship caliber team, because you’re going to make mistakes.”
Owensboro struck early in the game when quarterback Gavin Wimsatt hit Steven Stevenson for a 51-yard score. On their second drive, Taylor punched in a 3-yard run to double the lead.
The Red Devil defense then got a pair of sacks deep in Grayson County territory, setting up a safety when the Cougars were called for intentional grounding in the end zone. A 10-yard run for Taylor finished off the first-quarter scoring for OHS.
Grayson County’s field goal came midway through the second period, but Taylor returned the ensuing kickoff all they way to paydirt.
The Red Devils later recovered a fumble on a Cougars’ punt return, and Wimsatt connected with Tyren Hayden for a 23-yard touchdown on the next play. Wimsatt also had a 79-yard scoring pass to Treyvon Tinsley just before halftime.
Grayson County scored on the OHS reserves in the fourth quarter, and a final touchdown for the Red Devils came on a 13-yard run by Taquan Robinson.
Fallin said despite the score, the offense didn’t have their best performance.
“I really feel like we could have played better on offense,” he said. “Two punts in the first half and an interception. We had a really hard time establishing any kind of running game early on. To make the kind of (playoff) run we want to make and do the things we want to accomplish, we’re going to have to do better at running the ball.”
Wimsatt finished 9-for-17 with 236 yards, while Tinsley had two catches for a team-high 115 yards. Kobe Skortz led the defense with two tackles, also recording one of the Red Devils’ five sacks.
As OHS now prepares to host Henderson County in the regular season finale, Fallin said they’ll have to move on and increase intensity.
“Not our cleanest effort or our best execution (tonight), but as a staff and as a team we have to get back to the drawing board and decide what we have to do to get better,” he said. “They’re always a very physical team, very well coached. They’re going to come in hungry to win, and we’re going to have to match their intensity from the start and be prepared to play hard.”
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2019 football coverage is presented in part by Drew Cunningham, agent at State Farm.
