Apollo downs Ohio County on PKs to advance to 3rd Region Championship
Going into last week’s 9th District Tournament, Apollo coach Ryan Poirier wasn’t a fan of going to PKs despite their win over Owensboro Catholic earlier in the season.
Now a week and two wins on PKs later, Poirier and his Eagles are in the 3rd Region Tournament Championship for the first time since 1992 after they took down Ohio County 2-1 Tuesday at Muhlenberg County.
“They’re just ecstatic,” Poirier said of his team. “Playing really well. It was a tough game, both teams played so hard. Both teams played, honestly, pretty well. Our first half wasn’t great but I challenged them. In the second half we figured it out.”
The game was scoreless at the break and for the first 20:00 of the second half until senior Harrison Bowman did what he’s done all year.
Bowman found a sliver of daylight and after a small miscue by the keeper, the ball found its way into the net for the 1-0 Eagle lead.
“It was kind of a mistake on his part but that shot was moving, it had something on it,” he said of the keeper letting it by. “It wasn’t an easy one to corral.”
A handball in the box gave Ohio County a PK late in the game and they converted on the equalizer. OC had another shot to win the game not long after but Apollo kepper Steven Teran had other plans.
Teran kept an Ohio County shot toward the corner of the goal out and it sent the game to extra time and eventually PKs, where he shined again.
“It was huge,” Poirier said. “I think that might have gave him a little confidence because he saved three of their PKs.”
When it got time for PKs, Poirier said he wasn’t concerned.
“Once it was overtime and PKs, it was kind of like old news, this is what we we’ve been doing,” he said. “Oddly, it’s kind weird to say I’m comfortable with going to PKs but I really am.”
The Eagles are playing with house money now as they’ll meet Daviess County in the 3rd Region Final, a rematch from last week’s 9th District Final that the Panthers won 6-1.
“That’s what we’ve been telling them,” he said. “The pressures not on us. We still don’t get respect in rankings and different things around the state … It doesn’t matter who we lose to or who we beat. We don’t care about that.”
After their win last week over Catholic, Poirier said some of his players said their legs were a little tired after the long match a few days before, and the Eagles will be in that situation again without a rest day.
“We talked about it at the end,” he said. “We have opportunity, we have momentum. We can look at it as we’re tired, but we can look at is that we just beat two really good teams and we have momentum.”
Apollo and Daviess County are scheduled to start at 7 p.m. for the 3rd Region Tournament Championship at Muhlenberg County.
Panthers blank Grayson County, grabs 2nd-straight 10-0 win
After two days of the 3rd Region Boys’ Soccer Tournament, Daviess County has two wins and has outscored its opponents 20-0, but tonight they’ll take on a familiar foe at Muhlenberg County.
The Panthers’ latest 10-0 victory came at the hands of the Grayson County Cougars on Tuesday, which set up a 9th District Final rematch with Apollo.
DC coach Doug Sandifer said it doesn’t matter what happened with Apollo a week ago as anything can happen.
“It could go either way,” he said. “Obviously, we know them, they know us, from that standpoint, it kind of equals it out. I don’t know if it gives either team an advantage or disadvantage but it is what it is. They’re the opponent in front of us and that’s who we have to play. We’ll do the best we can.”
DC’s Hunter Clark scored two goals in the first five minutes then Declan Armistead and Tanner Andersen scored in the sixth minute to put the Panthers up 4-0.
Clark finished with a hat trick as Anderson added another goal for the Panthers. Hayden Boswell, Sean Higgs, Nick Vincent and Carson Thomas also found the back of the net for DC.
The Panthers won the state title in 2016, so the seniors on the current squad were 8th-graders when Daviess County won the trophy. They also made it to the championship game a season ago.
Sandifer said he and his staff have made it clear that they can’t focus on winning a state title before they’re playing for a state title.
“We just constantly remind them that we have to play one game at a time,” he said. “Play the game that is immediately in front of you and you can’t think about the next step until you’ve climbed the one right in front of you. Apollo is the one that we have to play next and that’s all we’re going to worry about. You try to get them, obviously, to not look past anybody along the way and go one game at a time.”
Daviess County and Apollo meet at 7 p.m. tonight at Muhlenberg County.
