Going into Wednesday’s match with Owensboro, the Apollo Eagles had lost their last five matches against the Red Devils but coach Ryan Poirier and his team wanted to change the narrative.
With a brace from Harrison Bowman in the final 20:00, the Eagle defense held the Red Devils to a goal in the closing minutes for the 2-1 victory and the No. 2 seed in the upcoming 9th District Tournament.
“It’s big,” Poirier said. “We knew County would be tough but we said you know what, we’re going to give them our shot. They got us, it’s fine. If we take care of the other two then we put ourselves in a good position for postseason play. Anytime you’re going to beat a district opponent, it’s exciting, it’s a close, tight game. Both teams, the kids know what that means.”
The first half was scoreless with both teams getting chances but the second took a turn in favor of the home team.
“We didn’t have the same momentum as them,” Bowman said of the opening frame. “I feel they played a little harder in the first half but they were tired because we had a deeper bench so we came out in the second half with more intensity.”
Teranse Twihenya’s shot went off the crossbar but went inside the goal to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead with 24:30 left.
Minutes later, Bowman found the ball free in front of the net and hammered it home for the brace and a 2-0 Apollo lead.
Bowman said a formation chance recently put himself and Twihenya up top and it’s helped put the Eagle offense ahead of the compeititon.
“We’ve been working really well together,” Bowman said. “Putting in a lot of goals.”
Owensboro’s Saw Thaw launched a shot that went just past the goalkeeper for the Red Devils’ lone goal of the contest.
Poirier said his team has been through the ringer this season but they’ve continued to battle and it shows in their 6-3 record.
“We’ve had a lot of injuries and some of the kids tonight that were key have been resting and we’ve been bringing guys up, next man up,” he said. “They’re going to rest and they’ve been wanting to play. They could have played the last few games but wanted to be sure and getting those other guys starting then other guys coming off the bench. We’ve gotten so much deeper.
“We had a lot of guys that hadn’t played a lot of varsity or any varsity at all. We’ve got several starting now that this is their first year playing varsity and they’re looking more like veterans. You never want injuries and it’s terrible not having them because they want to be out there, we want them out there and we’re better with all our guys out there but it’s maybe a blessing in disguise. It’ll help our team be deeper.”
Of the Eagles’ six wins, four have come by a goal, including their last three after Wednesday.
Poirier said they’ve been trending upward.
“We’re winning close games against good teams,” he said. “Last year we had a little trouble closing out some of those close games. This team is not losing close games. They’re coming out and they’re putting the close games away, that’s a great thing to have especially when it comes to postseason.”
Apollo plays Tuesday at home against Henderson County while Owensboro plays today at home against Warren Central.
Apollo 2, Owensboro 1
OHS (1-5-1) 0 1–1
AHS (6-3) 0 2–2
OHS: Saw Thaw (goal); AHS: Teranse Twihenya (goal, assist), Harrison Bowman (goal), Eh Wah (assist)
