Though Owensboro Catholic rolled through their district without a loss, the Aces aren’t going to take Friday’s first-round playoff matchup with Todd County Central lightly.
When the two met in the final week of September, the Rebels — undefeated at the time — carried a lead late into the second quarter before Catholic turned the tide and pulled away for a 48-24 victory.
Todd County Central only won a single game the rest of the year and finished as the 4-seed in Class 2A District 2, but Catholic head coach Jason Morris said it won’t be as easy of a win as it may look on paper.
“It’s really unfortunate that we have to play Todd County because they match up against us better than they do pretty much anybody in our district,” he said. “Our defensive weakness has been stopping the run, there’s no secret to that, and that’s what their strength is. In my opinion, Todd County is a very formidable opponent and they’re a whole lot better than a 4-seed.”
The Rebels are a run-first team, with most of the work going to lead back JaTwan Graham (1,058 yards, 12 touchdowns). Quarterback Nolan Bryce is the other main playmaker on offense. He’s got 475 yards and eight touchdowns on the ground to complement 982 yards and 11 touchdowns as a passer.
Meanwhile, the Aces will rely on star quarterback Drew Hartz, who leads the state in passing yards (3,571) and touchdowns (49). Hagan Edge (1,283 yards, 20 TDs) is the top target, though Braden Mundy, Dre Thruston and Jackson Staples have combined for 2,000 yards and 25 touchdowns receiving.
Catholic’s dominant six-game win streak came to an end last week with a tough 56-35 loss to Apollo. Morris said the Aces just have to put that game behind them and play solid football.
“Nothing changes with us as far as focus level,” he said. “Our focus level was fine last week. We ran up against a team that was really good that night, and we didn’t play our best ball. There’s no reason to panic or anything like that.”
Morris said two big keys going forward will be limiting the rushing attack on defense and eliminating mistakes on offense.
“We’re going to try to fix a few of the issues we had stopping the run, and offensively we’ve got to take care of the football,” he said. “You can’t have three turnovers in the second half and win big playoff games.”
Catholic hosts the Rebels at 7 p.m. Friday. With a win, Catholic would play at home again next week against the winner of 2-seed McLean County vs. 3-seed Hancock County.
For Morris, though, there’s no looking past the Rebels.
“Todd County played us really close at their place,” he said. “We’re taking them seriously. We know from this point it’s just basically survive and advance. You take it one game at a time.”
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