Though they had a stellar performance from running back Shane Riley, the Daviess County football team was handed their first loss in district play Friday night, falling 50-36 on the road at McCracken County.
Riley recorded three touchdowns in highlight fashion for the Panthers (2-5, 1-1 Class 6A District 1). He got off to a quick start, amassing 162 yards on the ground with two touchdowns less than four minutes into the game — recording both a 95-yard and 67-yard touchdown.
His third rushing score came with 10:52 remaining in the fourth quarter, when he rushed up the sideline for a 99-yard trip to the end zone.
Riley finished the night with 276 yards rushing and 42 yards receiving, good enough for a game high.
“I’m really proud of the effort from our offensive line and especially Shane Riley,” said Panthers head coach Matt Brannon. “He has been plagued the last couple of games with fumbles, but he continues to work and had a tremendous night tonight. He is dangerously fast in the open field and showed his speed tonight.”
Still, it wasn’t enough to counteract the balanced attack of the Mustangs (4-2, 3-0), who managed to put the Panthers in tough situations all evening.
“They have an explosive running back and a quarterback that does a great job spreading the ball around,” Brannon said. “They were good up front, and that’s an area where we’ve had an advantage for the majority of our games. It was difficult to defend all of their weapons.”
DC quarterback Joe Humphreys finished with six completions for 99 yards and one touchdown that he completed to Carter Hamilton for 31 yards. Bryson Parm added 82 yards on the ground with one touchdown, also reeling in 22 receiving yards.
As the Panthers head into their bye week, Brannon continues to see promise in his young team and looks forward to returning to the gridiron on Oct. 18 when they face Henderson County at home.
“We are a young team and I’m happy with the way we are trending,” he said. “We are still making mistakes in all phases, but our effort and fight never fade. We showed a lot of grit tonight against a really good McCracken team.”
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2019 football coverage is presented in part by Drew Cunningham, agent at State Farm.
